Border czar Tom Homan says TSA agents could get paid as soon as Tuesday

Border czar Tom Homan says the Trump administration plans to start paying Transportation Security Administration workers as soon as Tuesday, hoping to ease the airport delays and cancellations caused by the funding standoff on Capitol Hill.

President Trump announced Friday that he’s directing Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to find money to pay TSA workers amid the partial government shutdown.

“So yeah, it’s good news, because these TSA officers are struggling,” Mr. Homan said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “They can’t feed their families or pay the rent.”

Asked why it took Mr. Trump more than 40 days into the shutdown to act, Mr. Homan said he doesn’t understand the “whole appropriations” language and law.

“I’m just glad that President Trump is able to pay the TSA agents,” he said. “At least that’s a start.”

He noted that other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard, have gone without funding since mid-February.

The GOP-controlled Senate passed a partial DHS funding bill late Thursday after Republicans gave in to Democrats’ refusal to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, which are already funded through Mr. Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

But House Republicans rejected the measure, and lawmakers left town for a two-week recess without a deal in place.

Nearly 500 TSA agents have quit during the shutdown. Major airports are experiencing high callout rates among TSA workers, and travelers have faced waits of three to four hours at some security checkpoints.

House Republicans are pushing an eight-week stopgap to fund the entire DHS, though it’s expected to stall in the Senate, where Democrats can block it under filibuster rules requiring 60 votes to advance legislation.

Mr. Trump has blamed Democrats’ demands for changes at ICE for prolonging the shutdown and renewed his call for eliminating the legislative filibuster.

“The Republicans should terminate the filibuster and vote!” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday. “Haven’t they had enough of this nonsense from the radical left lunatics that are looking to destroy our country?”

Democrats continue to demand sweeping changes to how ICE carries out immigration enforcement.

Mr. Homan rejected those demands on Sunday, saying ICE is simply enforcing laws that have been on the books through multiple administrations.

“Under the last four years of Joe Biden, they weren’t enforcing the law,” he said. “Now ICE is actually enforcing the law, doing the job, and they don’t like it. If they don’t like what ICE is doing, change the law.”