The FAA's order to cut flights nationwide due to the government shutdown is set to take effect

The Federal Aviation Administration 's unprecedented order to scale back flights nationwide because of the record-long government shutdown is set to take effect Friday morning.

The 40 airports selected by the FAA span more than two dozen states and include hubs such as Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the order.

In some metropolitan areas, including New York, Houston, Chicago and Washington, multiple airports will be impacted, while the ripple effects could reach smaller airports as well.

Airlines scrambled to adjust their schedules and began canceling flights Thursday in anticipation of the FAA's official order, while travelers with plans for the weekend and beyond waited nervously to learn if their flights would take off as scheduled.

More than 810 flights have been called off nationwide, according to FlightAware. Delta Air Lines said it would scratch roughly 170 flights Friday, and American Airlines planned to cut 220 a day through Monday.

The FAA said the reductions would start at 4% and ramp up to 10% by Nov. 14. They are to be in effect between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. and impact all commercial airlines.

The agency said the cutbacks are necessary to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who have been working without pay for more than a month. Many are pulling six-day work weeks with mandatory overtime, and increasing numbers of them have begun calling out as the financial strain and exhaustion mount.

“You can’t expect people to go in to work when they’re not getting a paycheck,” said Kelly Matthews of Flat Rock, Michigan, a frequent business traveler who has canceled most of her upcoming trips. “I mean it’s not a matter of them not wanting to do the job — but you can’t afford to pay for gas, your day care and everything else.”

The order comes as the Trump administration is ramping up pressure on Democrats in Congress to end the shutdown.

Airlines said they would try to minimize impact on customers. Some planned to focus on slashing routes to and from small and medium-size cities.

Carriers are required to refund customers whose flights are canceled but not to cover secondary costs such as food and hotel accommodations unless a delay or cancellation results from a contributing factor that is within the control of the airlines, according to the Department of Transportation.

Industry analyst Henry Harteveldt warned that the reductions will “have a noticeable impact across the U.S. air transportation system.”

The cuts could also slow package service as two airports on the list are major distribution centers for delivery companies: FedEx in Memphis, Tennessee, and UPS in Louisville, Kentucky, the site of this week’s deadly cargo plane crash.

Associated Press journalists Hallie Golden in Seattle, Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, and Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York contributed.

Travellers head down an escalator after clearing through a security checkpoint in Denver International Airport Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Travellers head tdown an escalator after clearing through a security checkpoint in Denver International Airport Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Travellers head down an escalator after clearing through a security checkpoint in Denver International Airport Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Travelers stand in line at a security checkpoint at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

A passenger flying with Arajet to Santo Domingo waits to check in at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025 in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Travelers walk though the terminal at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Planes are seen at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Planes are seen at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

A plane flies by a control tower at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Travelers walk through the terminal at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

An information sign displays a delayed flight at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Southwest Airlines Flight SWA4331, traveling from New York's LaGuardia Airport, makes its final approach onto Dallas Love Field Airport Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

A Southwest Airlines airplane lands at Midway International Airport, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A ground crew worker signals a plane next to a Delta Airlines aircraft at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in SeaTac, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

The New York City skyline is seen behind a plane approaching Newark International Airport in Newark, N.J., Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Planes are seen in front of an air traffic control tower at Newark International Airport in Newark, N.J., Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Planes taxi in front of an air traffic control tower at Newark International Airport in Newark, N.J., Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A plane lands at Newark International Airport in Newark, N.J., Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

ROGERS, Ark. (AP) — Northwest Arkansas has emerged as a hot spot in the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the result of one county’s partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and aggressive traffic stops by police.

The region offers a window into what the future may hold in places where law enforcement agencies cooperate broadly with ICE, as the Department of Homeland Security offers financial incentives in exchange for help making arrests.

The Associated Press reviewed ICE arrest data, law enforcement records and interviewed local residents. Here are some takeaways from that reporting.

More than 450 people were arrested by ICE at the Benton County Jail from Jan. 1 through Oct. 15, according to ICE arrest data from the University of California Berkeley Deportation Data Project analyzed by AP. That’s more than 1.5 arrests per day in the county of roughly 300,000 people.

Most of the arrests were made through the county’s so-called 287(g) agreement, named for a section of immigration law, that allows deputies to question people who are booked into the jail about their immigration status. In fact, the county’s program accounted for more than 4% of roughly 7,000 arrests nationwide that were attributed to similar programs during the first 9 1/2 months of this year, according to the data.

Under the program, deputies alert ICE to inmates suspected of being in the country illegally. They are usually held without bond and eventually transferred into ICE custody. They are typically moved to the neighboring Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville and then taken to detention centers in Louisiana for potential deportation.

About half of those arrested by ICE through the program in Benton County had been convicted of crimes, while the other half had charges pending, according to the data. But the severity of the charges varied widely.

Jail records show those on recent ICE holds include people who had been arrested on forgery, sexual assault, drug trafficking, theft and public intoxication charges.

Offenses related to domestic violence and unsafe driving were among the most common.

Local observers say they have tracked an uptick in people facing ICE detention after traffic stops involving violations such as driving without a license.

The program produces uneven criminal accountability. Charges are often dropped before defendants are convicted or sentenced so they can face deportation proceedings.

ICE now has more than 1,180 cooperation agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies, up from 135 at the start of the new administration. It has offered payments to cover costs of training, equipment and salaries in some circumstances.

Arrests under the programs have surged in recent months as more agencies get started, ICE data shows.

The growth has been particularly pronounced in Republican-led states such as Florida, where new laws encourage or require such cooperation.

Earlier this year, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law requiring county sheriffs to cooperate with ICE through either a 287(g) program at the jail or a program in which they serve ICE warrants to expedite detentions and removals.

Residents born in other countries said they were afraid to drive in northwest Arkansas regardless of whether they had legal status.

Some said they leave home only to go to work, have groceries and food delivered rather than eat out, and avoid leisure activities.

One 73-year-old man born in Venezuela said that his apartment “is a kind of jail,” because he fears getting arrested and deported when he ventures out.

The area includes communities of people born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Marshall Islands.

Activists say the fear of ICE is acute in places like Springdale, a heavily Latino city that straddles Benton and Washington counties. The Springdale Police Department and others in the region say they have no affiliation with Benton County’s ICE cooperation program nor any ability to enforce immigration law. Nonetheless, people they arrest can wind up at the Benton County Jail and face questions over their status.

A Rogers police officer pulled over 35-year-old Cristina Osornio in September and cited her for driving without insurance and a suspended license. She was running an errand for her job at the time.

The officer found Osornio had a warrant for missing a court appearance in a misdemeanor case, and took her to the Benton County Jail.

She was jailed for four days on an ICE hold, records show, even though she is a permanent legal resident who has lived in the U.S. since she was 3 months old. Osornio said the detention was “very scary” and that she was released without explanation.

Her husband, who had entered the country illegally, had a different outcome.

Records show he was arrested in a misdemeanor domestic violence case last year and put on an ICE hold at the jail. He was transferred into ICE custody in January and has since been deported to Mexico.

Osornio said that being separated from her husband has been devastating financially and emotionally. The family lost their home, and their two young children miss their father, she said.

Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa. Associated Press data journalist Aaron Kessler and AP reporter Andrew DeMillo contributed to this report.

Flags are seen near a roadside memorial, Nov. 17, 2025, in Lowell, Ark. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

A child's drawing showing Edwin Sanchez-Mendoza and Cristina Osornio's family is seen on their refrigerator, Nov. 18, 2025, in Rogers, Ark. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Cristina Osornio shows a photo, Nov. 18, 2025, in Rogers, Ark., of her and her husband, Edwin Sanchez-Mendoza, who signed deportation papers after being held in an immigration detention center for several months. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Cristina Osornio unpacks a box of groceries that was delivered to her home by a member of a community group, Nov. 18, 2025, in Rogers, Ark. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

A Springdale, Ark., police officer waits to pull over speeding drivers along Old Missouri Road, Nov. 18, 2025, in Springdale, Ark. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)