‘People are being evicted’: TSA union says shutdown is pushing workers to economic brink

Despite an influx of ICE agents, U.S. Transportation Security Administration morale is flatlining after 39 days without pay because of the partial government shutdown, union leaders said Tuesday.

“There’s a lot of despair in employees’ eyes when you walk through the checkpoints,” TSA worker and American Federation of Government Employees official Johnny Jones said during a briefing.

“No federal employee in the United States should be starving, having any difficulty paying the rent, (or) the mortgage,” added Mac Johnson, president of an AFGE local representing Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and North Carolina. “We demand that Congress and this administration sit down like adults and resolve this matter.”

DHS has been unfunded since Feb. 14, amid a stalemate between Republicans and Democrats, who are seeking immigration enforcement reforms such as prohibiting ICE officers from wearing masks.

This week will mark the third missing paycheck for employees.

Jones’ family is cutting back on spending and canceled spring break vacation plans. “We’re in conservation mode trying to stay afloat as long as we can,” he said.

Other colleagues are resorting to food pantries, explained Jones, president of a local that represents Dallas Fort Worth International Airport workers.

“Stop asking me about the long lines. I got people being evicted,” said Hydrick Thomas, an AFGE leader in New York and New Jersey.

There have been more than 3,450 cases of TSA agents not showing for work since mid-February. With spring break travel at its peak, passengers are waiting in security lines for hours at airports in Houston and Atlanta.

O’Hare International Airport screening times have been relatively normal so far. “You’ve got to remember, O’Hare is a huge airport so there’s tons of employees and tons of checkpoints,” said Christine Vitel, a TSA officer and AFGE executive for Local 777.

Also, “officers are coming in because of the fear getting put on us about disciplinary actions,” for absenteeism, she noted.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers started arriving at major airports to assist the TSA Monday on President Donald Trump’s orders.

“Huge thanks to our ICE agents deployed at airports nationwide, helping keep TSA lines moving so Americans can fly safe and on time,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security posted on X Tuesday, showing a video of an agent handing out water bottles.

Union members questioned the deployment of ICE agents, saying they aren’t trained to work with the public or on screening protocols.

“That’s like giving a person dying of pneumonia a teaspoon of cough syrup; it doesn’t address the problem and it’s not going to work,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said.

Jones called it “a distraction to the real story of TSA officers going to work without being paid. The ICE officers are being paid. This is kind of like an insult to the employees.”