Washington– Air travelers are facing the highest wait times ever under the Transportation Security Administration, the agency’s acting head told Congress on Wednesday. Latest offer An initiative to end the funding impasse and put limits on President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda has met with fierce resistance.
Description of TSA’s Ha Nguyen McNeil Mounting difficulties Unpaid airport workers face — a backlog of bills, eviction notices, and even plasma donations to make ends meet — and he warned that lawmakers must make sure “this never happens again.”
“This situation is dangerous,” she added.
However, on the 40th day of the standoff involving the Department of Homeland Security, there was no easy way out in sight. Neither did Republican senators, who made the latest offer, nor Democrats, who are demanding more changes Immigration enforcementIt seemed closer to a settlement.
Trump, who initially appeared to have given his approval to the deal, declined to give it his full support or put his political weight behind making sure it was approved.
Senior officials at agencies under the Department of Homeland Security spoke at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing about the potential risk of security lapses unless the partial government shutdown is ended.
DHS has gone without routine funding since mid-February. Democrats are insisting on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations after the killing of citizens in Minneapolis by federal officers during protests.
The latest proposal would fund most of DHS with the exception of enforcement and removal operations by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, which has been central to the debate. The plan will cover other aspects of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in addition to Customs and Border Protection.
While the offer added some new restrictions on immigration officers, including the use of body cameras, it left out other policies demanded by Democrats.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said they need to see real changes. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York pushed for “bold” changes at ICE.
Republican leaders said Democrats were putting the country in danger.
“They know this is crazy,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Los Angeles.
But conservative Republicans also criticized the proposal, demanding full funding for immigration operations and questioning the promise made by GOP leaders that they would address Trump’s proof of citizenship. Voting bill In a subsequent legislative package.
Many airports are seeing recall rates of more than 40%, and more than 480 transportation security officers have resigned during the shutdown, McNeil, the acting TSA administrator, told lawmakers.
She pointed to the increasing financial pressures on the TSA workforce.
“Some sleep in their cars, sell their blood and plasma, and take 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 seen a more than 500% increase in the frequency of assaults since the shutdown began.
“This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” McNeil said.
The chief executive officer at Houston Airport said that the security lines in which passengers wait for four hours or more may lengthen if the political impasse is not resolved soon.
The lines twisting and turning across multiple floors at George Bush Intercontinental Airport were the result of the TSA only being able to staff a third to half the usual number of checkpoint lines, said Jim Chesniak, director of aviation for the Houston Airport System.
Lawmakers said Trump’s decision to send ICE agents to airports threatens to inflame the situation. Video footage for Federal officers detain a crying woman An incident at San Francisco International Airport angered local officials Monday, though it was unrelated to Trump’s order to deploy immigration officers.
FEMA’s disaster relief fund is “rapidly depleting,” Victoria Barton, FEMA’s external affairs official, told lawmakers.
FEMA is able to continue its disaster response and recovery work as long as this fund has money, and about 10,000 disaster workers continue to be paid through it.
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Associated Press writers Wyatt Grantham Phillips in New York, Ross Bynum in Houston and Gabriela Aoun Anguera in San Diego contributed to this report.