A partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has disrupted airports across the United States, with DHS saying nearly 500 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have quit amid the funding lapse.
About 50,000 TSA officers have been working without pay since mid-February after Congress failed to fund DHS. Long security lines have formed at major airports, worsened by a spring-break travel surge — roughly 5% higher than last year — prompting the agency to warn it might have to close some small airports if staffing problems persist.
President Donald Trump announced on Thursday he would issue an order to “immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation.” Posting on Truth Social, he said the move was meant to “quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports” and added, “It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!”
Trump also deployed hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to several airports. While ICE officers are paid and available, they lack TSA-specific training and cannot perform screening, though some have been helping with ID checks using TSA equipment, guarding entrances and exits, assisting logistics and managing crowds.
The DHS funding gap dates to a deal last fall that restored most federal funding but left DHS on temporary financing; that temporary funding has since expired. The White House has discussed using emergency funds to pay TSA staff without Congressional approval.
Negotiations remain stalled. Democrats say full DHS funding must come with guardrails and reforms to ICE amid public outcry over immigration raids and incidents involving federal agents. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said reforms have been a priority “from day one.” Republicans argue Democrats’ demands endanger security; their counterproposal would fund most of DHS but exclude ICE enforcement and removal operations and add measures such as body-camera requirements for immigration officers. That proposal, however, omits other Democratic requests like visible agent identification and bans on raids near schools, churches and other sensitive sites.
ICE and other DHS law-enforcement units continue to be paid in part because a tax-cut and spending bill pushed last year allotted additional funds to DHS, including about $75 billion earmarked for ICE operations, enabling immigration enforcement to keep operating despite the funding lapse.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
