TSA Workers Struggle Amid Shutdown Stress and ICE Airport Deployment: 'We Need to Be Paid'

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers say the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown is taking a mounting toll as missed paychecks, rising absences and the arrival of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at airports deepen strain on an already depleted workforce, a new sprawling piece from The Guardian has revealed.

"It definitely impacts morale when we are expected to show up to work every day and fulfill the duties and the missions that we love and support, keeping the public safe, and we're not being paid," Antoinette Wade, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1047 and a TSA officer in Jackson, Mississippi, told the outlet. "Basically, we need to be paid."

The shutdown, now entering its sixth week, has led to more than 400 TSA workers quitting since February, as The Guardian reports. On one recent Sunday, more than 3,450 TSA officers called out of work, with some airports reporting call-out rates as high as 40%, according to Department of Homeland Security data. The staffing shortages have contributed to long wait times at major airports.

To address the disruption, the Trump administration sent ICE officers to 14 airports this week. But labor officials and some administration sources have questioned how much relief the move can offer. Everett Kelley, president of the AFGE, told The Guardian that ICE agents "are not trained or certified in aviation security," adding that placing them at checkpoints "does not fill a gap. It creates one."

According to CBS News, the order also caught ICE officials off guard, with one DHS source telling the outlet, "I have no idea what we're doing." Border czar Tom Homan said ICE agents would not handle specialized screening tasks such as X-ray machines, but could instead assist with crowd control or monitoring entry and exit points.

Wade said the latest shutdown has been harder on workers because many are still recovering from the previous lapse in funding last fall. "A lot of people took out loans, maxed out credit cards, did what they had to do to survive during that time," she said. "This shutdown definitely feels a lot different, more intense."

The political standoff may now be shifting as The Hill reported on Tuesday that President Trump signaled support for a Republican-backed plan to fund DHS without money for ICE removal and enforcement operations, with that funding potentially addressed later through reconciliation.