TSA wait times grow as ICE officers begin assisting at airports

WASHINGTON - Federal immigration officers are being sent to airports around the country to help ease the strain on Transportation Security Administration workers who have gone unpaid for weeks amid a battle that has led to a pause in funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

The partial shutdown is contributing to long lines during screening at some of the nation’s largest airports.

The White House has not said which airports will receive assistance, and border czar Tom Homan said Sunday the plan was still being finalized. Airports in the Washington region have largely avoided major delays in recent weeks, though Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport experienced long lines over the weekend and urged travelers to arrive three hours early.

FOX 5’s Melanie Alnwick says roughly 50,000 TSA employees have not received full pay for five weeks, and the agency says more than 350 officers have quit. With spring break travel underway, some airports have reported security lines stretching for hours.

President Donald Trump said Sunday he intends to move forward with deploying immigration enforcement officers to help TSA by guarding exit lanes or checking IDs unless Democrats agree to fund DHS. Democrats are demanding changes to federal immigration operations and show no sign of backing down.

Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA workers, criticized the plan, arguing that ICE officers are not trained in aviation security. "Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe," Kelley said Sunday according to the Associated Press. "They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be."