US on verge of shutting down airports as travel chaos spirals

Airports across the United States risk being shut down amid escalating air travel chaos.

Spiralling security wait times linked to the government funding shutdown could see major transport hubs closed indefinitely before the Easter holidays, a senior transport security administration (TSA) official warned.

On Monday, Donald Trump announced that immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) agents were being deployed to fill in for TSA staff as wait times for some security screening queues stretched to more than three hours.

“It’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones, if call-out rates go up,” Adam Stahl, the acting deputy TSA administrator, told CNN.

Photos and videos shared online showed long queues of travellers stretching into car parks, baggage claim areas and even into a metro station at airports in Atlanta, Houston, and New Orleans.

At some airports passengers are being warned to arrive at least five hours in advance - Yuki Iwamura

Almost half of TSA staff are not showing up to work in the worst-affected airports as the shutdown enters its sixth week.

On Sunday, the average absence rate of TSA staff across the country hit a new high at 11.8 per cent of all 60,000 workers.

“As the weeks continue, our TSA officers, as long as they don’t get paid, they’re going to continue to call out, they can’t afford to come in, and they’re going to quit altogether,” Mr Stahl added.

FlightAware data tracking delays and cancellations indicate at least 22,000 delayed and 1,375 cancelled flights covering both internal and international routes since Friday.

Announcing the new measures, Mr Trump said: “I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the airports where they will do security like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all illegal immigrants who have come into our country.”

Donald Trump has now deployed ICE agents to 13 airports to assist with staffing - Megan Varner/Getty

Queues stretch outside the airport and into the street - Megan Varner/Getty

It is not clear what responsibilities ICE agents will take over from TSA staff, who primarily perform security checks.

Tom Homan, Mr Trump’s border tsar, said officers are being deployed as “a ‘force multiplier’ to relieve understaffed TSA officers from duties such as guarding exits, so they can get back to security screenings”.

Agents from homeland security (DHS) and ICE are reportedly being deployed across 13 airports in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston and Phoenix.

Mr Homan said that Mr Trump was tired of “watching American travellers suffer at the hands of Democrats”.

The government partially shut down on Feb 16 when Democrats refused to vote through a DHS funding bill following the killing of two American citizens in Minneapolis by border officers.

In the meantime, some airports have advised travellers to arrive up to five hours early.

Travellers in long queues at New York’s LaGuardia airport - Charly Triballeau/AFP

One person complained they had missed two flights while waiting in the security queue, despite arriving three hours early.

Another user complained that they were going to miss their brother-in-law’s funeral owing to the delays, despite arriving four hours before their flight.

LaGuardia Airport in New York remains closed after a crash killed two pilots and injured dozens of passengers on Sunday. The aircraft was “rolling down the runway” when it struck the fire engine.

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