Pressure is mounting on the US Congress to end a funding shutdown that has resulted in travel disruptions, missed paychecks and even warnings of airport closures, but lawmakers have yet to resolve the underlying issue of reining in US President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement operations.
Senators were expected to vote yesterday on a Republican proposal that would fund the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and much of the US Department of Homeland Security, except the enforcement and removal operations conducted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but it is expected to fail.
Democrats say the plan does not go far enough at putting guardrails on ICE, US Customs and Border Protection and other federal officers who are engaged in the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps, particularly after the deaths of two Americans protesting the actions in Minneapolis.
Photo: AFP
With Congress set to leave town by the end of the week for its spring break recess, calls are intensifying for an end to the 41-day stalemate that has put the livelihoods of TSA officers at risk as they provide airport security without pay.
“This is a dire situation,” TSA Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill testified at a US House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday.
She described the multiple hardships facing unpaid TSA workers —piling up bills and eviction notices, even plasma donations to make ends meet — and warned of potential airport closures if more employees refuse to come to work. Daily callout rates have increased to 11 percent nationwide.
“At this point, we have to look at all options on the table,” she said. “And that does require us to, at some point, make very difficult choices as to which airports we might try to keep open and which ones we might have to shut down as our callout rates increase.”
Trump initially signed off on the plan the Republican senators brought to him late on Monday, but on Tuesday he said he would not be happy with any deal.
While the Republican offer added one new restraint on immigration officers, funding the use of body cameras that had previously been agreed to, it excluded other policies that Democrats have demanded — such as that federal agents wear identification, remove their face masks and refrain from conducting raids around schools, churches or other sensitive places.
Democrats had been in several days of talks with the White House, including with border czar Tom Homan, which appeared to be making progress toward a deal. The White House presented its own offer with several items Democrats had been demanding, including officer IDs and training. Those negotiations broke down over the weekend.
McNeill told lawmakers that multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40 percent callout rates and more than 480 transportation security officers have quit during the shutdown.
She cited the growing financial strain on the TSA workforce.
“Some are sleeping in their cars, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second jobs to make ends meet, all while being expected to perform at the highest level when in uniform to protect the traveling public,” she said.
McNeil also said TSA officers working at the nation’s airports have experienced a more than 500 percent increase in the frequency of assaults since the shutdown began.
“This is unacceptable, and it will not be tolerated,” she said.
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