TSA Agents Are Showing Up To Work While Sleeping in Their Cars

Let that headline sit for a second.

The people screening your bags, flagging security threats, and keeping American airports running are sleeping in their cars to save gas money. Their bank accounts are at zero. Some have lost their housing. And as of Friday, March 13, they've now missed their first full paycheck entirely.

This is what a government shutdown actually looks like on the ground — and it's not pretty.

What's Happening

The partial government shutdown hit the Department of Homeland Security in mid-February after Congress failed to pass its funding. TSA falls under DHS, which means roughly 50,000 TSA officers are still reporting to work every single day — just without getting paid for it.

Johnny Jones, Secretary-Treasurer of AFGE TSA Council 100 and a Dallas-based TSA worker, has been hearing from employees across the country and the picture he's painting is bleak.

"Numerous employees have reported to me that their bank accounts are at zero or negative," Jones said. "No funds for daycare, no funds for food. They just want to know why the hell they can't get paid when we have money to shoot missiles into other countries."

Some officers aren't going home between shifts — staying at the airport, sleeping in their cars, doing whatever it takes to cut expenses while the people in Washington figure out how to do their jobs.

The Lines Are Getting Longer

When you don't pay people, some of them find other work. That's not a character flaw — that's survival.

Jones confirmed that a significant portion of the TSA workforce has picked up outside jobs to bridge the gap, which means fewer bodies at security checkpoints. Callout rates have more than doubled since the shutdown began. Some airports have seen over half of their frontline TSA staff absent on certain days.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted on March 11 that 300 TSA officers have quit outright since the shutdown began.

The result? TSA itself says that travelers at some major airports are facing security lines of nearly three hours. Missed flights. Cascading delays. All of this heading straight into spring break travel season.

Airports Are Passing the Hat

Denver International Airport has launched a gift card drive asking the public, passengers, and other airport employees to donate grocery and gas cards to TSA workers — think King Soopers, Walmart, Costco, Target — in $10 and $20 denominations.

"TSA employees just missed their first paycheck, and as we enter a busy Spring Break travel period, we want to do what we can to ease the stress of this moment," DEN CEO Phil Washington said.

Other airports are doing similar charity drives, though Jones noted it gets harder to organize and distribute help at larger, busier terminals. And charity drives, while well-meaning, are not a government paycheck.

Some TSA employees have already lost their housing — unable to cover rent on month-to-month leases while the shutdown drags into its fourth week.

What About TSA PreCheck and Global Entry?

Both are still running — for now. TSA PreCheck remained operational after an earlier plan to suspend it got walked back following pressure from airlines and lawmakers who recognized that shutting down expedited screening would make already brutal lines even worse. PreCheck lanes could still close on a case-by-case basis depending on staffing.

Global Entry lines reopened March 11, with DHS framing the move as an effort to ease traveler disruption.

As for checking wait times before you head to the airport — that's trickier than usual. The MyTSA app and the agency's wait-time tracker are both down because of the shutdown. Some airports are posting their own checkpoint updates on websites and social media, so checking there before you leave is your best bet right now.

The Bottom Line

Jones put it as plainly as anyone could.

"We took the oath to uphold the Constitution and protect the public," he said. "But the people who are elected to Congress took the same oath — and they don't do their job and fund the government. We are caught in partisan politics."

Essential workers with no paycheck are sleeping in parking lots. Meanwhile, Congress is lagging on ending the shutdown.

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