Senators are discussing a proposal to end the Homeland Security budget stalemate by funding much of the department, including Transportation Security Administration airport workers who are going without pay. The deal would exclude U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's removal operations, which have been core to the dispute.
As U.S. airports remain jammed with long lines due to short staffing at TSA, President Donald Trump ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to provide airport security, alarming some lawmakers. At least 458 TSA officers have quit altogether, according to DHS.
DHS is now being overseen by Markwayne Mullin, whose nomination the Senate approved on Monday. Mullin has tried to present himself as a steady hand, saying his goal as secretary would be to get the department off the front page of the news.
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In Houston, passengers spent hours Tuesday navigating meandering security lines that twisted and turned across multiple floors at Georgia Bush Intercontinental Airport.
“It looks like maybe it’s about an hour per floor. Maybe,” said traveler Griffin Davis. “And you have to go down to the third floor, up to the second floor, outside, back inside.”
Brisa Hendricks said she missed her flight from Houston to Minneapolis on Monday after waiting four hours to get through airport security. She returned to the airport Tuesday, rescheduled to depart that night.
“So we got here extra early,” Hendricks said. “And we’ve been in line for about two hours now.”
Like other travelers, Steven Roche was trying to estimate how much longer he’d be waiting in line. After two and a half hours, there was no end in sight.
“It looks like probably another hour or so to go,” said Roche, who was flying from Houston to Las Vegas. “Yeah, it’s insane.”
Getting the Department of Homeland Security reopened is “my No. 1 priority,” a freshly sworn-in Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told DHS employees Tuesday afternoon in an email viewed by The Associated Press.
Doing so would ensure employees “receive the paychecks you’ve earned,” Mullin said.
He also vowed to work alongside staff to “keep our borders secure, enforce our immigration laws, safeguard U.S. cyber infrastructure, deliver rapid relief to Americans in the face of natural disasters, and deter terror threats.”
People in black aprons assembled cheesesteaks along tables set up in the walkway between Terminals B and C on Tuesday, filling rolls from silver buckets as they moved past storefronts.
Organizers say they achieved a new Guinness World Record for the longest line of cheesesteak sandwiches, with 1,291 lined up inside a departure hall to mark National Cheesesteak Day. The display far surpassed the previous benchmark of 500 sandwiches.
“We went for the world record for the longest cheesesteak in history,” said Clarence LeJeune of MarketPlace PHL, a company that operates airport concessions. “Today we accomplished that goal here in Philadelphia.”
After the record was certified, volunteers handed out the sandwiches to travelers, airport workers and TSA staff, who have been working without pay during the government shutdown.
The cheesesteak, which originated in Philadelphia in the early 1900s, is widely considered the city’s signature food.
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“Instead of solving the problem of paying TSOs, the administration sends ICE,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA workers, during a Tuesday press call. “That’s like giving a person dying of pneumonia a teaspoon of cough syrup. It doesn’t address the problem, and it’s not gonna work.”
At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport, ICE officers have been monitoring lines of travelers. But AFGE Local 554 president Aaron Barker says that’s a job that city workers, not federal TSA officers, already do.
The White House’s “Rapid Response” social media account on Tuesday posted a news clip showing short lines at Atlanta’s airport, claiming that the difference was thanks to Trump’s deployment of ICE officers.
Barker told reporters the shorter lines have “nothing to do with ICE presence being there,” noting that ICE officers in Atlanta weren’t participating in screening and that Tuesdays typically see shorter lines because it’s not a peak travel day.
Democrats are insisting that any bill to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown must contain some changes to how immigration enforcement operations are conducted.
That demand could prove problematic to getting a spending bill done after Republicans said they were willing to move forward without funding some ICE operations as part of a deal to fund the rest of the department.
“If you’re not going to have funding, I don’t know how all of a sudden now you can demand reforms,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Tuesday.
But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said strong reforms were needed, “and we need to rein in ICE.”
“We’ll be sending them an offer back, and I can assure you it will have significant reforms in it,” Schumer said.
Under longstanding rules, Congress members can bypass airport checkpoints and get escorted to the front of the line — a privilege that sharply contrasts the hours many passengers are facing right now at some airports.
The “End Special Treatment for Congress at Airports Act,” sponsored by Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn, would require lawmakers to undergo the same TSA screening as everyone else. It would also bar the use of federal funds to provide U.S. lawmakers with expedited or preferential access at security checkpoints.
“Nobody should be above the rules and regulations imposed on the American people, and a member pin on your lapel should not give you carte blanche to skip airport screening lines while everyday Americans are forced to patiently wait their turn,” Cornyn said when he introduced the bill earlier this month.
The bill passed the Senate last week.
Union leaders representing transportation security officers across the U.S. reiterated the financial strain many workers are facing as the shutdown drags on.
“Stop asking me about the long lines. Ask me if somebody’s gonna eat today,” said Hydrick Thomas, TSA Council 100 president of the American Federation of Government Employees, on a Tuesday press call.
Thomas, who has been employed with TSA for nearly 24 years, stressed that workers are struggling to pay rent and meet other critical expenses like utilities and child care. Those who have quit, he added, are “quitting because they have no choice.”
He and others underlined that TSA workers have been in this position before, pointing to the record 43-day full government shutdown that also left TSA workers without pay last fall.
“Why are we making TSA employees the pawn on the chessboard?” Thomas asked.
The president, when asked Tuesday whether he would back a deal that would separate funding for immigration enforcement operations from the rest of the Department of Homeland Security, said, “They’re working on all of that.”
Senators are drafting language on a potential agreement that would include funding for DHS agencies, such as TSA, but not enforcement and removal operations at ICE.
“That’s a detail that they’ll explain later,” Trump said.
The White House had said earlier that discussions were ongoing but that the rough contour of the deal “seems to be acceptable.”
Trump spoke as he hosted a swearing-in for Markwayne Mullin to lead DHS.
“Today I walked straight to the front,” Amanda Stewart wrote on Facebook, where she shared a video of a handful of people walking up to a mostly-empty TSA checkpoint inside Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
After hearing about Monday’s delays — during which lines stretched out to the airport parking garage — Stewart was worried she would miss her flight to Kansas City, Missouri, especially because she left her home in Houma, Louisiana, later than she had hoped.
But the maze of stanchions set up to control long lines was empty, and she sailed right through security, she said.
Stewart noticed similarly calm conditions when she landed at Kansas City International Airport.
“A decision was made to take it offline due to the estimated wait times being inaccurate,” an airport spokesperson told The Associated Press in an email Tuesday.
“Our system is designed to track passenger flow at the beginning of the security checkpoint area,” said Alnissa Ruiz-Craig, interim director of communications and media affairs at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. “With the increase in passenger traffic, sometimes extending to our baggage claim area and beyond, it does not capture that portion of the queue and, in turn, is not providing an accurate projection.”
Atlanta’s airport is one of the world’s busiest and has been the scene of hourslong waits to get through security in recent days.
Federal immigration officers didn’t appear very busy Tuesday at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
Security check-in lines were fairly short and seemed to move without delays. Many flights were canceled two days after Sunday’s deadly collision between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck.
More than a dozen federal officers wearing tactical vests were on duty Tuesday at one of LaGuardia’s three terminals. Four of them stood near the checkpoint where TSA agents were reviewing passenger IDs, but weren’t actively assisting.
Elsewhere in the terminal, an Associated Press photographer saw immigration officers huddled in small groups, talking among themselves and occasionally chatting with passersby. Some officers were sipping coffee.
At least 300 inbound and departing flights at LaGuardia were canceled Tuesday, and about the same number were delayed, according to the tracking site FlightAware.
At Philadelphia International Airport, two TSA security checkpoints are temporarily closed, but passenger lines at the remaining checkpoints were moving smoothly, with wait times under 10 minutes Tuesday morning.
An Associated Press journalist also saw several ICE agents in the terminals, positioned away from the main TSA screening areas.
A protester was also at one of the checkpoints holding a sign criticizing ICE.
“Next to safety, Delta’s no. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment,” Delta Air Lines said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The airline cited the “impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown” in its decision.
The airline’s congressional services typically include airport escorts and red coat services. The suspension means that members of Congress who fly with Delta will be treated like other passengers based on their SkyMiles status, the company confirmed.
Delta’s Capital Desk reservations line remains open.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported news of the service’s suspension.
Federal officers wearing green tactical vests were seen working alongside TSA agents Tuesday behind a security checkpoint at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
The two federal officers stood with TSA agents at an X-ray machine used to scan baggage at one of the airport’s five terminals. One officer’s vest identified him as ICE personnel. The second had a vest patch that read: “federal agent.”
Security lines appeared to be moving normally at O’Hare, with no obvious signs of delays.
An Associated Press photographer at the airport also saw five agents in black vests designating them as Homeland Security officers walking through a different terminal and getting into a vehicle parked outside.
Since the shutdown began Valentine’s Day, at least 458 TSA officers have quit altogether, according to DHS.
Nationwide on Monday, nearly 11% of TSA workers who were scheduled to report for duty — more than 3,200 — missed work.
DHS figures show the callout rate at some major airports was three or nearly four times higher:
William P. Hobby International Airport in Houston: 40%
Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport: 37%
George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston: 36%
John F. Kennedy International Airport: 34%
Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans: 35%
Baltimore-Washington International Airport: 30%
Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport confirmed that CLEAR and TSA PreCheck were not available at its checkpoints on Tuesday. George Bush Intercontinental saw some of the most significant disruptions, with wait times for general screenings averaging about four hours as of midday.
Other airports have narrowed the availability of priority screenings.
Miami International Airport, for example, noted on its website that several of its priority and PreCheck lanes were also closed at certain checkpoints on Tuesday — but those options were still available at other entries.
Airport conditions have become increasingly unpredictable as the shutdown drags on, with staffing shortages driving uncertain wait times.
Complicating matters, the airport wait times listed in the MyTSA mobile app and third-party trackers may be outdated right now because TSA isn’t actively updating its websites during the shutdown.
So what can travelers do in the meantime?
Travel industry analysts recommend checking an airport’s website and social media feeds. Many airports have been posting timely updates and guidance on the social platform X, often including terminal-specific information.
Even so, conditions can change quickly. Travelers should check early and often, not just before leaving for the airport. Build extra buffer time into travel plans and have backup options in place, such as renting a car or flying out of nearby airports.
Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport suggested travelers should find a bathroom before getting into security lines, where the wait could last as long as four hours Tuesday.
The airport said lines could stretch down to the subway tunnel, which was “not designed for queuing and does not have restrooms or food options.”
Faster security options, known as CLEAR and TSA PreCheck, were not available for travelers at terminals A and E. People were moving slowly in at least eight lines at times.
Travelers headed to LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports in New York — as well as Newark Liberty International in neighboring New Jersey — still couldn’t check online TSA wait times Tuesday morning.
All three airports said this week that they had temporarily suspended the live security wait times they typically provide on their websites, due to “rapid” changes in passenger volumes and TSA staffing.
Beyond TSA waits, LaGuardia saw additional delays and cancellations after it temporarily shut down following Sunday night’s fatal collision between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck on the airport’s runway.
“Please allow for significantly more time and check with your airline for the current status of your flight,” the airport wrote on social media Monday.
Nationwide on Sunday, 11.8% of TSA agents missed work — the highest rate of the shutdown so far — with over 3,450 officers calling out, according to DHS. More than 400 officers have quit during the shutdown, the department said.
Some have accused the government of using TSA workers as pawns in the ongoing budget fight. And aviation unions have raised additional safety concerns in light of the Trump administration’s deployment of ICE officers.
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations would be funded, as well as Customs and Border Protection — but with new guardrails to position officers from those divisions in their traditional roles, rather than as they have been used more recently in immigration roundups.
It would also include immigration operations changes that Democrats have demanded, including mandating officers to wear body cameras and identification.
Since so much of ICE is already funded through Trump’s big tax breaks bill, and immigration officers are still receiving paychecks during the partial government shutdown, senators said the new restraints also would be imposed on operations that rely on that funding source.
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A National Transportation Safety Board specialist who was trying to get to New York’s LaGuardia Airport to help investigate a deadly collision between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck ran into wider airport delays on Monday.
The air-traffic control specialist, who was flying from Houston, “was in line with TSA for three hours,” NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said during a news conference Monday evening. The NTSB called officials there to “beg” to get her through, Homendy said.
Routine funding for the department has lapsed since Feb. 14, leading to long waits at U.S. airports as Transportation Security Administration agents call out rather than work without pay.
Democrats are demanding that the Trump administration make changes in immigration enforcement operations following the deaths of two U.S. citizens during protests this year in Minneapolis. Trump has refused the latest proposal, and talks have stalled.
A day after the Trump administration began deploying federal immigration officers at some airports’ security checkpoints, long lines and hourslong waits persisted.
Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport said wait times at standard security checkpoints ranged from three and a half to four hours Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International urged travelers to allow at least four hours for both domestic and international screenings.
Baltimore-Washington International advised passengers to arrive three hours before their flights, noting that while wait times were “currently minimal,” that could change.
After weeks of missed paychecks, many TSA agents have called in sick or even quit their jobs under the financial strain. That’s forced some airports to close checkpoints at times, with wait times swinging dramatically.
Some airports are reporting shorter wait times — including Los Angeles International and Detroit Metro Airport, whose online trackers showed average waits of just several minutes early Tuesday.
Federal law enforcement officers are a routine presence at international airports. Customs and Border Protection officers screen arriving passengers, and Homeland Security Investigations agents conduct criminal inquiries tied to cross-border activity.
But immigration agents are rarely visible at TSA checkpoints, the front line of domestic air travel.
On Monday, Associated Press journalists observed ICE officers and agents patrolling terminals and lingering near long lines of passengers at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International, John F. Kennedy International in New York, Newark Liberty International in New Jersey, George Bush Intercontinental in Houston and Louis Armstrong International outside New Orleans.
A handful of other airports — including Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International — also confirmed ICE would be on-site.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said his office was monitoring the deployment of federal officers at O’Hare International.
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“All I can say is that the discussions have been very positive and productive, and hopefully headed in the right direction,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters late in the evening: “Both sides are working in a serious way.”
Senators are discussing a proposal to end the Homeland Security budget stalemate by funding much of the department, including Transportation Security Administration airport workers who are going without pay, but excluding ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, which have been core to the dispute.
The potential breakthrough came after a group of Republican senators headed to the White House late Monday to meet with President Donald Trump. Senators said they expected the negotiators to work through the night, hammering out the details and present written proposals for both parties to discuss Tuesday at their weekly caucus lunches.
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Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers collect cheesesteaks for their coworkers that were made for a Guinness World Record attempt on National Cheesesteak Day at Philadelphia International Airport, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Travelers wait in a security check point line at Philadelphia International Airport, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Federal law enforcement officers move through Philadelphia International Airport, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Federal immigration officers walk though the terminal 1 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Delayed flight times are displayed at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Air travelers progress through the long lines for the TSA security checkpoint in Terminal C at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
Federal immigration agents walk through Terminal A at Newark International Airport (EWR) in New Jersey, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
People wait in a TSA security line at Terminal A of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in Newark, N.J., U.S., Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
