US airports ask for donations for unpaid TSA staff amid partial government shutdown | US politics
A growing number of U.S. airports are asking for donations to support employees affected by the partial government shutdown, with airport security guards missing their first full paycheck on Friday.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees have been working without pay at airports across the U.S. since the shutdown began in February after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a funding deal. Democrats have since refused to support a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security, TSA’s parent agency, without first securing guaranteed immigration enforcement reforms.
During the shutdown, TSA workers were faced with continuing to work at airports without pay or finding other ways to earn income.
In response, some airports have begun opening food pantries, while others have asked community members to donate small grocery and gas gift cards.
However, lines at security checkpoints have occasionally lengthened as some TSA employees fail to report for unpaid duty. For example, lines at Miami international airport on Thursday occasionally doubled the normal transit time for security checkpoints.
A video of a security line stretching into the parking lot at New Orleans international airport went viral a few days ago.
The Guardian reached four other international airports: Denver, Orlando, Las Vegas and Cleveland. Even on a busy travel day like Friday and during the busy spring break travel season, they saw relatively normal lines and security wait times, according to officials who spoke to the Guardian.
Asked at the Miami airport how many colleagues had called out, one agent replied: “Not enough. Nothing happens without the public feeling some pain.”
At the Miami airport, Praharsha Pinninti, a recent college graduate heading to Raleigh, North Carolina, said she found the salary issue “crazy.”
“I think it’s extremely unfair,” Pinninti added, describing the legislative impasse as “a test of time, it’s a test of patience and it’s a test of our integrity as an issue.”
airports Denver, Seattle, Vegas, reno, cleveland, Orlando’s, New York and New JerseyThey all accept donations.
Keylen Villagrana, Denver airport’s public information officer, told the Guardian that the facility had received “dozens” of gift cards from the public.
Any donations to TSA employees are the federal government’s responsibility. regulations. For example, employees are not allowed to accept cash or cash equivalent cards such as Visa gift cards. Regulations also say that all gift cards must be worth $20 or less.
Meanwhile, staff at the Las Vegas international airport recently set up a food and essential supplies warehouse to support TSA workers during the closure. Airport spokeswoman Amanda Mazzagatti told the Guardian the facility received baby food, toiletries, household essentials and non-perishable food items.
The Las Vegas food pantry first opened in 2019 during the extended federal government shutdown during Donald Trump’s first presidency. Then in the fall, months into Trump’s second presidency and during the longest shutdown in U.S. history, the food pantry at the Las Vegas airport reopened.
“As this shutdown drags on, these workers, some of whom are still trying to recover from the last shutdown, are going to really need these supplies,” Mazzagatti said.
Employees at Cleveland’s Hopkins international airport began gathering resources themselves for TSA workers who were initially trapped by the fall shutdown. But the public later sent in questions about how they could help, which led to the food pantry, said Michele Dynia, the airport’s public information officer.
The Cleveland airport reopened the pantry in early March and began asking for donations of small amounts of food and gift cards.
“The airport is like a family and this is our way of helping our family members at the airport,” Dynia told the Guardian.
Since the beginning of this year, Democrats have been fighting for more funding for DHS agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the two agencies tasked with carrying out the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.
Agents with ICE and CBP under the command of the Trump administration have faced severe criticism for their aggressive arrest and detention tactics.
Amid the shutdown, Senate Democrats have pushed for a number of smaller bills that would fund specific agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, such as the TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), and others not related to immigration enforcement. But Senate Republicans opposed those demands.
George Chidi contributed reporting
