TSA workers try to survive second shutdown and ICE influx: ‘We need to be paid’

Passengers wait in a long TSA security screening checkpoint line inside the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta international airport in Atlanta, Georgia, on 23 March 2026. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA

Workers with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are reeling from the White House’s deployment of immigration law enforcement into airports as TSA workers enter their sixth week without pay as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown continues.

More than 400 TSA workers have quit since the shutdown began in February, with major US airports reporting high call-out rates among workers, leading to longer security wait times. On Sunday, more than, 3,450 TSA officers called out of work, with as many as 40% of officers at some airports calling out that day, according to DHS data.