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The Trump administration deployed ICE and other Homeland Security agents to 14 of the nation’s airports on Monday to help shuttle passengers through overcrowded TSA checkpoints. In one airport, the security line wait-time was up to six hours.
The agents are filling in for TSA officers in some places due to mass call-outs during the partial government shutdown that is keeping the officers from receiving their paychecks.
More than 3,400 TSA officers – nearly 12% of all TSA officers who were scheduled to work – called out on Sunday, which is the most since the start of the partial shutdown.
Amid severe staffing shortages, some travelers navigating George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston dealt with six-hour wait times. Lines there snaked up three floors, starting in the basement’s subway corridor before passing through the baggage claim area.
Security lines at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport extended all the way outside the terminal.
Across the country, travelers expressed hope that federal agents might help ease the TSA bottleneck, but others were skeptical, including TSA officer and union representative Pascual Contreras.
“I don’t believe that they’re trained in a way that they can help us,” Contreras said. “I’ve seen them outside standing around, I don’t know if they are doing anything.”
President Trump has told federal agents not to wear masks while operating in airports. He has also said they may soon be joined by National Guard troops if a deal to end the shutdown is not reached.
Senate talks aimed at ending it hit a new roadblock on Monday after Mr. Trump called on Republicans to hold out for passage of an elections bill that Democrats strongly oppose — though some key senators suggested Monday a deal to fund parts of the Department of Homeland Security is still possible.
