Trump's TSA Executive Order Appears to Have Had Immediate Impact at Busiest Airports
President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring an emergency to fund paychecks for Transportation Security Administration employees seems to be having an impact at major airports, following massive delays caused by personnel shortages.
The order, signed on Friday, blamed congressional Democrats for the Department of Homeland Security’s funding woes.
“America’s air travel system has reached its breaking point,” Trump wrote. “This is an unprecedented emergency situation. Currently, more than 60,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees, including approximately 50,000 transportation security officers who perform security functions at domestic airports, are not being paid due to congressional Democrats’ reckless decision to prioritize criminal illegal aliens over American citizens and shut down DHS until their demand to prohibit enforcement of Federal immigration law is met.”
The commander in chief added that since the shutdown began, almost 500 TSA officers have left their positions and thousands more have called in sick to protest, causing increased wait times and “declining morale.”
“If Democrats in the Congress will not act to honor the service of our TSA officers, who are now performing their critical public safety responsibilities without knowing whether they will be able to buy food for their families or pay their rent, then my Administration will take action,” he declared. “As President of the United States, I have determined that these circumstances constitute an emergency situation compromising the Nation’s security.”
He then directed DHS to work with the Office of Management and Budget, “to use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations to provide TSA employees with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them if not for the Democrat-led DHS shutdown, consistent with applicable law.”
Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin posted about the issue on the social media website X, citing several TSA workers who said they’ve been paid, thanks to Trump.
“NEW: Our FoxNews team at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport spoke to a handful of TSA agents who confirmed they did [get] paid this morning via President Trump’s executive order,” he wrote. “Though, one agent told our team that his paycheck was short about 30 hours that he had worked. Two of the biggest problem airports in recent days, Houston & ATL, both looking significantly better this morning with no TSA lines at the moment.”
NEW: Our @FoxNews team at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport spoke to a handful of TSA agents who confirmed they did paid this morning via President Trump’s executive order. Though, one agent told our team that his paycheck was short about 30 hours that he had worked. Two of…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 30, 2026
KPRC-TV in Houston also reported that weekend security lines had been shortened at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Before Trump’s order, it was taking passengers hours to get through security. Now, the wait time has “shrunk to just 10 to 15 minutes.”
In Atlanta, one traveler told WXIA-TV, “I’m shocked how easy it was to come here today.”
“There was nobody in line, just walked right through, we were at our gate 5 hours early,” he added.
Even PBS News, an outlet that has opposed Trump since the beginning of his first term in office, had to admit there was an improvement, yet quickly tried to claim the cause was a mystery.
“Some passengers with very early flights on Saturday reported having little problem getting through airport security lines,” the article read. “But that may have been an anomaly.”
The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tom Homan, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that despite Trump’s recent funding order, the ICE agents who were deployed to help with staff shortages will continue to assist, “until the airports feel like they are 100 percent.”
“If less TSA agents come back, that means we’ll keep more ICE agents there,” Homan explained. “The president has been clear. He wants to secure those airports, especially, as I said earlier, in an increased threat posture, we need to secure those airports.
“ICE is there to help our brothers and sisters in TSA,” Homan concluded. “We’ll be there as long as they need us, until they get back to normal operations and feel like those airports are secure.”
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