Federal immigration officials were at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday, March 23, 2026, to assist with airport security as the partial closure continues. The airport told travelers to prepare for at least four-hour waits to get through security on Monday. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
Transportation Security Administration officials are struggling to afford essentials as they approach their second missed full paycheck since a funding shortfall began last month, union leaders said at a virtual news conference Tuesday.
Officials with the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 44,000 TSA officers across the country, called on Congress to immediately find a solution to the partial government shutdown that began Feb. 14. More than 400 TSA workers have quit their jobs since the shutdown began and thousands have missed shifts.
Mac Johnson, who represents TSA workers in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, said his members are increasingly telling him about difficulties financing food, housing costs, car insurance and other essentials.
Some have turned to selling plasma to make ends meet, he said.
“It’s not that these employees and their families are hungry,” Johnson said. “They are starting to starve, literally starve, because they don’t have the financial means to provide food for their families. That’s why we not only strongly encourage but also demand that Congress and this administration sit down like adults and resolve this matter so that these employees don’t find themselves in a difficult position.”
Dispute over crackdown by immigration authorities
After two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in January — and other tumultuous episodes sparked by President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation drive — Democrats in Congress demanded changes in immigration policy as a condition for funding the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the TSA and conducts most immigration screening.
Senators have suggested in recent days that they could be nearing a deal to fund the non-immigrant portions of the TSA, but union officials said their members need to be paid immediately.
“We have been hearing about optimism and progress for weeks,” said AFGE President Everett Kelly. “Our members can neither eat optimism nor pay rent with progress.”
As airports experience TSA staffing shortages while officers miss work, security lines at some airports are tense for hours.
Even if the shutdown ends, it could take two weeks to a month for workers to receive their refunds, said Aaron Barker, the head of the Georgia airport union, and Johnny Jones, the secretary-treasurer of the statewide AFGE group for TSA workers.
That could potentially mean it will take weeks for staffing levels to return to normal as officials continue to miss shifts to seek gig work or other quick payouts, they said.
TSA officers have missed a partial and full paycheck since mid-February. Another paycheck is due this weekend, AFGE officials said.
Blaming
Asked about the TSA workers’ situation, DHS provided a statement from spokeswoman Lauren Bis that closely resembled remarks she made a day earlier in which she blamed Democrats for the shutdown.
“American travelers are facing HOURS of waits at airports across the country, more than 450 TSA officers have quit and thousands have called in sick from work because they cannot afford gas, child care, food or rent,” Bis said.
At the U.S. Capitol, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer criticized Trump for demanding that a national voter identity law be included in an agreement to reopen DHS.
“We wasted a day of trial because of Donald Trump’s tantrum,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a speech. “One day may not seem like a lot to the president, but it is another day of TSA agents waiting unnecessarily for checks, another day of travelers standing at security for hours.”
ICE “in the way”
The administration has deployed agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, another DHS agency, to a handful of airports to assist TSA workers. ICE remains fully funded despite the closure of DHS because last year’s Republican spending and tax cuts bill provided money for immigration enforcement.
White House border czar Tom Homan said ICE agents would assist with tasks such as guarding exits and would not conduct activities that require extensive training, freeing up TSA officers to spend time operating X-ray machines and other more specialized tasks.
But AFGE officials said ICE officers would not assist.
“Everything ICE does gets in the way,” said Hydrick Thomas, president of the AFGE Council for TSA Workers. “We are still trying to figure out why they are there. There is no way ICE will help us make passengers feel safe.”
