Saturday noticed the very best call-out price of TSA officers at airports for the reason that partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown started, in line with unique knowledge from the Transportation Security Administration first obtained by ABC Information.
Over 3,250 officers referred to as out Saturday, March 21, in line with TSA knowledge, accounting for 11.51% of the scheduled workforce.
Airport safety strains are rising nationwide as TSA officers, who haven’t acquired a paycheck for over three weeks, name out of labor. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump posted on his social media platform that he’ll deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brokers to airports starting Monday except Democrats comply with a funding bundle to finish the DHS shutdown.
Democrats are demanding reforms to ICE and Customs and Border Safety insurance policies earlier than they are going to vote to fund the DHS.
Air vacationers endure lengthy strains and two-hour wait occasions on the TSA safety examine level at Terminal E on the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, on March 20, 2026, in Houston.
Michael Wyke/AP
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that ICE brokers are educated and may help with airport safety. ICE has remained funded by appropriations from the Trump’s tax and spending invoice handed final summer time, whereas key DHS businesses like TSA, the Federal Emergency Administration Company and the Coast Guard are left unfunded.
Duffy mentioned that ICE does have correct safety coaching, however may additionally assist by simply managing strains.
ICE brokers are anticipated to be at 14 airports nationwide, a number of sources accustomed to the scenario instructed ABC Information. The variety of airports ICE brokers may very well be at may change, as plans are nonetheless being ironed out, in line with sources.
“We’re merely there to assist TSA do their job in areas that do not want their specialised experience, similar to, , screening by the x-ray machine, not educated on that, we cannot do this,” White Home Border Czar Tom Homan mentioned Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “However there are roles we will play to launch TSA officers from the non vital position, similar to guarding an exit, to allow them to get again to the scanning machines and transfer folks faster.”
There was an almost four-hour wait Sunday throughout the 11 a.m. hour to cross by TSA checkpoints at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, in line with the TSA.
Saturday, the airports with the very best TSA personnel call-out charges have been William P. Pastime Airport in Houston, with 47.4%; George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, with 42.4%; Louis Armstrong New Orleans Worldwide Airport, with 34.1%, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport, with 33.6%; and John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport in New York, with 33.4%.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens mentioned in a press release Sunday that he was knowledgeable that federal personnel from HSI and ICE will likely be deployed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport starting Monday morning.
Federal officers mentioned the deployment isn’t meant to conduct immigration enforcement, and all federal personnel will report on to TSA, in line with the assertion.
The president of the union that represents TSA staff issued a press release Sunday blasting what he referred to as the Trump administration’s “menace” to ship ICE to airports.
Air vacationers endure lengthy strains and two-hour wait occasions on the TSA safety examine level at Terminal E on the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, on March 20, 2026, in Houston.
Michael Wyke/AP
“ICE brokers should not educated or licensed in aviation safety,” American Federation of Authorities Workers Nationwide President Everett Kelley within the statement. “TSA officers spend months studying to detect explosives, weapons, and threats particularly designed to evade detection at checkpoints – expertise that require specialised instruction, hands-on apply, and ongoing recertification. You can’t improvise that. Placing untrained personnel at safety checkpoints doesn’t fill a spot. It creates one.”
“Our members at TSA have been displaying up every single day, with out a paycheck, as a result of they consider within the mission of preserving the flying public secure,” Kelley mentioned. “They should be paid, not changed by untrained, armed brokers who’ve proven how harmful they are often.”
Different airports with call-out numbers over 20% Saturday included Baltimore/Washington Worldwide Thurgood Marshall Airport, Chicago Halfway Worldwide Airport, Charlotte Douglas Worldwide Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor Worldwide Airport, Lengthy Seashore Airport, Pittsburgh Worldwide Airport, and Luis Munoz Marin Worldwide Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Airports with excessive wait occasions Saturday included Luis Munoz Marin Worldwide Airport, with wait occasions of roughly two-and-a-half hours in the usual TSA line; George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, with wait occasions of over two hours; LaGuardia, with wait occasions of 1 hour and 40 minutes, and Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport, with wait occasions of an hour-and-a-half.
