At least 480 TSA officers have quit since Wednesday, which amount to about 11 percent of TSA officers. Through the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” ICE agents are still being paid because their agency still receives funding, this makes their salaries shut down proof. TSA workers rely on annual funding which has been stalled since February 14th, 2026, this forces 50,000 workers to work without pay. ICE agents have been filling in for TSA workers that are not showing up to work, their primary duties are controlling the crowds, managing lines and checking traveler IDs to free up certified TSA officers screening.
Ice Agents will be sent to the following airports: Atlanta (ATL), New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), Houston (IAH), Baltimore (BWI), and Phoenix (PHX). Because of ice agents, long security lines at airports have started to shrink thanks to the extra help. Travelers flying across the country have waited in security lines so long at some airports that they have snaked through terminals and parking lots because checkpoints are closed due to a shortage of T.S.A officers. On Friday, more than 3,560 T.S.A officers, or about 12 percent of the agency’s work force did not show up to work. At certain airports, the callout rate was about 40 percent. ICE agents are now training with T.S.A officers, checking travel documents and passports to help load passengers’ luggage onto the conveyer belts.
On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order for T.S.A employees to receive a paycheck as soon as Monday, the first time they would be paid in more than a month. A quote from President Trump: “ICE is there to help our brothers and sisters in TSA. We’ll be there as long as they need us, until they get back to normal operations and feel like those airports are secure.”
Some of the busiest airports in the United States continue to ask travelers to arrive hours before their departure time in order to get through security lines. Baltimore – Washington International Airport said Sunday that checkpoint wait times are significantly longer than normal and can on average take 2-4 hours to move through the lines. TSA will also have to decide whether to reopen checkpoints they closed at airports due to inadequate staffing, which led to passengers standing in screening lines that clogged check in areas or showing up far too early for their flights. A handful of airports have experiences daily TSA officer call out rates of 40 percent or higher. Nationwide on Thursday, more than 11 percent of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work. Although the President signed an executive order on March 27th to pay TSA workers, Border Czar Tom Homan states that “ICE agents will remain at airports until operations return to 100 percent.”
