Photos and videos have flooded social media platforms as long security lines at U.S. airports across the country affect travelers nationwide, and a union leader has warned of a ‘breaking point’ as services are strained amid on ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Lines for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checks at airports are even stretching out the airport doors, based on footage shared by Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Monday.
Footage on X also suggests emergency beds have been laid out in Houston Airport for those stuck in the airports as reports say passengers are missing flights due to security delays. The clips show travelers lying down on makeshift beds with pillows and blankets.
Newsweek has not been able to verify the footage. Houston Airport told Newsweek that “in the event of weather-related disruptions or flight cancellations, individual airlines are responsible for providing passenger care.” It pointed Newsweek to United Airlines, on the basis that the airline manages operations at Terminal C, the terminal the airport said seemed to be referenced in reports. Newsweek has contacted United Airlines via email.
The reports and footage come as Christine Vitel, vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 777, a union representing TSA officers in Illinois and Wisconsin, told the New York Times that “there’s going to be a breaking point sooner or later.”
Lauren Bis, a spokesperson for DHS, told Newsweek: “The Democrats’ reckless DHS shutdown is causing TSA officers to go without pay for the third time in nearly six months. These political stunts are causing unneeded financial hardship for our TSA officers and their families. Now, 366 TSA officers have left the force. Because of this DHS shutdown, Americans are facing HOURS-long waits at airports across the country. Democrats must reopen DHS now.”
Newsweek has contacted AFGE and TSA via email outside regular working hours via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Due to ongoing tension in Congress about the operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) following federal agents’ deadly shootings of American citizens in Minnesota, lawmakers did not pass funding legislation for DHS before the deadline, meaning the department went into partial shutdown on February 14.
As DHS oversees TSA, the shutdown has had major knock-on effects for airports and air travel, with longer waiting times at TSA check-points and at airline check-in desks, meaning some passengers are missing their flights.
DHS also told Newsweek that callout rates—unscheduled absences by frontline officers—have spiked nationwide, with the highest single-day airport callout rate reaching 55 percent at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) on March 14.
Houston Airport has experienced unscheduled absence rates above 30 percent on at least five days during the shutdown. TSA’s average callout rate prior to the shutdown was below 2 percent, DHS added.
What To Know
TSA workers are also having to work without pay–for the third time in nearly six months–and as a result around 300 officers have left their roles since the start of the shutdown, DHS said on X, adding this had resulted in “crippling staffing shortages,” at a time when services are already strained.
Vitel, who is also TSA officer at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, said that at least two members of her union had been evicted because they were unable to pay their rent, and she was also considering asking for financial support from family in order to cover credit card bills.
One Instagram user, Rebecca Bendheim, shared a video of the airport security line at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 5:42 a.m. local time, which stretched way outside of the airport building.
Bendheim told Newsweek that she was headed to Colorado on March 13, but “had no idea the queue would be that long!”
She said she arrived at around 5:10 in the morning for a 6:36 a.m. flight, but as it took 1 hour and 40 minutes to get through security, she missed her flight.
‘No One Apologized’
“We got on another one that left later on standby. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I’ve never seen a line go out the door at any airport ever,” she said.
“No one apologized but I wouldn’t expect them to because many of them aren’t getting paid!” she added. “I saw one guy try to cut the line and an airline staff member got him to go to the back.”
Bendheim said she was trying to get from Colorado to the second leg of her trip in Florida and she’s had two flights cancelled and was stuck in Atlanta as of Tuesday morning. “Even all the rental cars are taken! So yeah definitely not traveling during spring break next year,” she said.
The spring break travel season is usually a busy time for airports and has meant that many travelers have faced major delays this year, due to the ongoing shutdown of DHS.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport also previously shared photos of the long lines of travelers waiting to check in their luggage and of passengers waiting to complete security screening.
Some guidance in airports has reportedly been that travelers should arrive between three to four hours before their flight as waiting times for security check points have been up to three hours long in some cases, according to a video report shared by House Speaker Mike Johnson on X.
Among the recent flurry of posts about the long TSA check points lines at airports, the White House also took the opportunity to jibe at Senate Democrats, with a joke referencing Sunday’s 98th Academy Awards.
The White House shared an image of an Oscar award with what appears to be a sombrero hat, with the caption ‘The Most Performative Democrats’ and wrote: “And the Academy Award goes to… the Democrats. For yet ANOTHER PERFORMATIVE SHUTDOWN—putting political theater over the American people. Fund @DHSgov!”
What People Are Saying
The Department of Homeland Security told Newsweek: “The government shutdown of any length adds undue financial and emotional pressure on TSA’s employees, especially those at the nation’s airports. It has a profound impact on TSA operations, leading to significantly lower morale among Transportation Security Officers (TSOs), increased callouts and attrition rates. When employees cannot pay their rent, buy food or gas or other essentials, they leave their jobs, which increases attrition. During the last shutdown, TSA saw attrition rates as high as 25 percent at some airports.”
“TSA simply cannot afford to lose its screening workforce as it takes four to six months to train new recruits. As TSOs callouts rise, airport security checkpoints will need to be consolidated or reduced. The impact on travelers will be increased wait times throughout the country, in some places already surpassing three-plus hours. It also strains TSA’s resources and operational readiness as fewer available TSOs are forced to screen a larger number of passengers.”
President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday: “Thank you to Johnny Jones and all of our GREAT TSA Agents who are going to work but not being paid because the Radical Left Democrats refuse to honor the deal that was approved and voted on in Congress. They want your money to go to “Border Criminals, Murderers, foreign Drug Dealers, and some of the worst people on earth.” They don’t want it to go to you. Keep fighting for the USA. GO TO WORK! I promise that I will never forget you!!!”
House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X: “Delayed at the airport? Thank a Democrat. Democrats have voted REPEATEDLY to PROTECT criminal illegal aliens and PREVENT our own American TSA agents from getting paychecks. Democrats have chosen to make the American people suffer just so illegal aliens can stay in our country.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat, wrote on X Thursday: “Democrats are ready to fund TSA. Republicans are blocking it. Democrats are ready to fund CISA [Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency]. Republicans are blocking it. Democrats are ready to fund FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]. And Coast Guard. Republicans are blocking it.”
What Happens Next
The end of the shutdown does not seem to be all that close, as Senate Democrats and Republicans continue to spar over how DHS should be funded. Paul Hudson, president of FlyersRights, an American nonprofit advocating for airline passengers rights, previously told Newsweek that the lines are “likely to get longer until Senate restores TSA funding.”
Update 3/17/26, 10:29 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from DHS and Houston Airport.
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