Major US airports were still warning travelers to arrive several hours early on Sunday even after President Trump signed an executive order to restore pay for Transportation Security Administration officers — and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents drafted in to fill the gap show no signs of leaving soon.
The DHS partial shutdown hit its 44th day on Sunday, surpassing the record set during a 43-day government-wide shutdown last autumn. Tens of thousands of TSA employees have been working without pay since DHS funding lapsed on Valentine’s Day, and the strain has been severe: nearly 500 officers have resigned since the shutdown began, and daily callout rates have soared, hitting 11.8% of the national workforce on Thursday alone — the highest yet recorded. At some individual airports, absenteeism exceeded 40%.
Trump deployed ICE agents to airports about a week ago to cover security checkpoints as TSA staffing collapsed. White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that the ICE deployment would continue “as long as they need us, until they get back to normal operations.” He added that how long agents stay depends partly on how many TSA officers have quit permanently and won’t be returning regardless of pay. Maryland Governor Wes Moore emphasized that the ICE agents at Baltimore-Washington International were there to speed up passenger screening — not for immigration enforcement.
When Does the Pay Actually Arrive?
Homan said he expected TSA officers to begin receiving backpay as soon as Monday or Tuesday. Charlotte Douglas International Airport confirmed Sunday that payments could begin arriving Monday. But the rollout isn’t without complications — TSA management was given very little notice to begin processing payments, and the union representing TSA workers raised concerns that some officers may not receive full backpay, particularly those who couldn’t afford to show up for shifts they were owed.
“It is a disaster in progress,” said Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees’ TSA chapter.
Lines Are Still Long — Relief May Be Days Away
George Bush Intercontinental in Houston warned of wait times potentially reaching four hours or longer. Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta and LaGuardia in New York issued similar advisories. Baltimore-Washington reported some easing on Sunday, but still asked passengers to arrive several hours early. New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong Airport gave the same guidance.
Caleb Harmon-Marshall, a former TSA officer who tracks the industry, said the crisis won’t resolve quickly even with pay restored. Officers need to feel confident they won’t face another unpaid stretch before they return or stop calling out. He estimated it could take another week or two for lines to return to normal. The TSA also faces decisions about whether and how quickly to reopen checkpoints and express lanes that were consolidated or closed due to understaffing.
J.P. Morgan analysts noted that TSA callout rates peaked at 12.4% on Friday before easing slightly to 10.3% on Saturday, and expected them to continue declining as paychecks arrive. Callout rates exceeded 25% at airports serving Houston, Baltimore-Washington, JFK, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Philadelphia.