Airport Nightmares Over TSA Lines Have Returned

Matt Vespa | March 09, 2026 3:00 PM

The Transportation Security Administration is getting affected again by the Democrats, and now those long lines at airports are back. Most of these workers are exempt from the immediate effects of the shutdown in Washington. They have to show up for work, but they aren’t paid. The Democrats believe punishing TSA agents over Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation activities will work. It won’t. As we saw in an NBC News poll, ICE is more popular than the Democratic Party. Also, ICE’s operations remain funded and unaffected—paid through the Big, Beautiful Bill.

So, what are we even doing here? Democrats could sign off on a DHS funding bill after the January Minneapolis drama. Their base wouldn’t allow it, so most of the government was funded through September, with a short-term CR providing DHS funding until a longer-term funding measure could be hashed out. It failed. Republicans wanted another two-week extension, but Democrats rejected it. The agency was shut down over Presidents’ Day weekend, and now the mayhem has returned. In New Orleans, things looked like an Afghan refugee camp:

Courtesy of Democrats pic.twitter.com/eevibs2OTv
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 9, 2026

INSANE! TSA security lines at airports across the country are having massive wait times due to the shutdown caused by the Dems.

pic.twitter.com/771xgimfGy
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 9, 2026

Absolute chaos in New Orleans thanks to the latest Democrat shutdown of @DHSgov:

"This is ridiculous. This is crazy...it's so packed in here, you can't even find the direction they're trying to give."

"We're completely in shock." pic.twitter.com/BdNU3zdn4E
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 9, 2026