Major US airports return to normal as TSA workers get paid
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Passengers waiting in a queue at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint in Baltimore airport on March 29.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON – Major US airports that suffered massive disruptions for weeks after 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security officers went unpaid since mid-February say operations are returning to normal.
Airports in Baltimore, Houston, New York, New Orleans and Dallas, which have all experienced massive delays in recent weeks, all reported very short lines on March 30. The stand-off brought chaos and in some cases security lines topping four hours, the longest in the TSA’s nearly 25-year history.
President Donald Trump signed an emergency directive on March 27 ordering that TSA workers be paid despite a failure of Congress to end the 45-day-old partial government shutdown, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said workers started getting paid on March 30.
DHS said most TSA officers on March 30 received a retroactive pay cheque that included at least two full two-week pay cheques and plans to provide workers with the remainder of a partial missed pay cheque from the beginning of the shutdown as soon as possible.
Asked why Mr Trump did not sign the order earlier to pay TSA officers, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said an “existential crisis” at US airports prompted the emergency action last week.
Tens of thousands of other DHS workers are still not being paid.
Ms Leavitt said Mr Trump wants Congress to return to Washington immediately to pass legislation to fully fund DHS.
Absences on March 27 hit a high since the shutdown began, with 3,560, or about 12.4 per cent of workers, not showing up and massive lines reported at many major airports. More than 500 airport security officers have quit since February.
More than 33 per cent of workers did not show up on March 27 at New York JFK, Baltimore, Atlanta and New Orleans airports, and 45 per cent of workers did not show up on March 27 at Houston’s two airports.
Democrats in Congress have held up funding for DHS while demanding changes in rules governing its immigration operations, after its agents in Minneapolis shot and killed US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Congressional Democrats had proposed funding TSA separately while negotiating reforms on how DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operate.
Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives on March 27 rejected a bipartisan Senate compromise to end the six-week deadlock over DHS funding and passed a Bill to fund all of DHS.
Airports are grappling with a school spring-break travel surge with about 5 per cent higher volume than in 2025.
Hundreds of US immigration agents and Homeland Security Investigations officers began deploying at 14 US airports last week to aid security screening and the White House said they would remain in place until operations returned to normal. REUTERS
