Mass TSA Callouts at Houston Airport Leave Travelers Stunned by Hours-Long Lines

Nay Dedrick flew into George Bush Intercontinental Airport on a Monday expecting a routine connection home to Boston. She left Tuesday afternoon, after waiting six to eight hours in a security line that descended to a basement and climbed back to the third floor, sleeping at the airport after missing her flight entirely.

The line at George Bush Intercontinental Airport snaked underground, across terminals and even outside as 36% of TSA officers there called out of work amid a partial government shutdown that has frozen their paychecks. The shutdown, which began February 14, has left TSA officers working without pay. Before the shutdown, the callout rate among TSA workers was about 4%.

"TSA was only two people working," Dedrick told CBS News Boston. "The line started downstairs and went all the way down to the basement, and then it goes all the way back up to the third floor."

She was not alone in her ordeal. Among those caught in the same sprawling checkpoint lines Wednesday morning was former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, spotted waiting for two hours and counting. One unnamed traveler captured the broader mood in three words: "This is insane." Another said it was "the first time I've experienced something like this in my entire life."

Out of the airport's five terminals, only two had TSA staffing, and wait times could exceed four hours. Wait times fluctuated from four hours early in the morning to as short as 30 minutes. As of Wednesday, at least 480 agents had resigned nationwide. Nowhere was the scene more miserable than at George Bush Intercontinental, where predawn lines packed an underground tunnel and forced some travelers to miss their flights again.

The Trump administration deployed ICE officers and other Homeland Security agents to 14 airports nationwide to help shuttle passengers through overcrowded checkpoints. Officials said ICE agents were not involved in TSA screening but were helping direct passengers and keep lines moving at key choke points. On Wednesday night, the Houston mayor's office confirmed to CBS News that TSA would deploy at least 24 officers from its National Deployment Office to George Bush Intercontinental on Thursday. TSA's national deployment force provides flexible, high-level screening support to airports facing high traffic, staffing shortages, or special events.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire called the chaos at the airport "unfortunate" but punted responsibility to the federal government. "We've sent every message to Washington to get it resolved," Whitmire said Wednesday. "But that's unfortunately a federal condition. We're trying to accommodate the long lines, crowds with accommodations, but certainly that's a federal issue."

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby was direct in his assessment. "It's unconscionable that our politicians haven't gotten this done, and then we have security agents that are not being paid and they're still showing up, and kudos to them for doing that," he told CBS News. "It gets worse every day as it goes by," he added. "But the crazy thing about this is that... that's what causes our politicians to get it done. Like, it's just ridiculous to me, that it has to get bad before they can get a deal done."

The political deadlock driving the crisis centers on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both TSA and ICE. Republicans offered a plan that would fund almost every aspect of DHS besides ICE's immigration enforcement activities. If that sounds very close to what Democrats had demanded, it is, though Democratic leaders are arguing they also want additional reforms for ICE. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said at the Capitol: "We need strong, strong reforms, and we need to rein in ICE."

Many stranded travelers said they did not blame the TSA officers themselves. "We see the families arriving early and waiting for hours. We see missed flights. We see missed moments, weddings, vacations, time with loved ones," said Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for the Houston Airport System. "We worry conditions will only get worse at airports across the US until Congress ends this shutdown."

Kirby closed with a blunt message to lawmakers: "But please, get the deal done soon.