Where things stand
• DHS shutdown: Administration officials say TSA workers will receive paychecks in the next couple of days under President Donald Trump’s plan to unilaterally fund the agency. Congress remains in a stalemate over the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
• Air travel: Airport wait times have shown some signs of easing on another busy travel day. Border czar Tom Homan told CNN “we’ll see” whether ICE starts leaving airports once TSA agents receive pay. The administration deployed immigration officers to help address staffing shortages as spring travelers faced hourslong waits at some major hubs.
• “No Kings” protests: The gridlock on Capitol Hill and in the nation’s airports served as the backdrop for nationwide demonstrations yesterday against Trump’s agenda, the war with Iran and affordability issues. Protesters rallied in major cities, suburbs and small towns across the US.
TSA officers will no longer be able to accept donations
Transportation Security Administration officers will not be able to accept donations of gas or gift cards once they receive their back pay, according to TSA.
Roughly 61,000 TSA employees have been working without pay since the funding for DHS lapsed on February 14, prompting a partial government shutdown. They have missed more than $1 billion in pay, making it difficult for many to afford food, gas, housing, child care and other essentials.
The shutdown has prompted more than 500 workers to quit and thousands to call out, causing long lines at multiple airports nationwide. Many airports and nonprofit groups have been donating food and gas gift cards to officers in recent weeks.
However, the workers should start receiving their back pay on Monday after President Donald Trump on Friday ordered DHS to immediately resume compensating them. The agency plans to use funding from the “big, beautiful bill” that Trump signed into law last summer.
However, the American Federation of Government Employees has questioned the move, including how long workers will be paid if Congress does not agree to fund the agency for the rest of the fiscal year.
Homan evasive on why Trump didn't order to pay TSA agents sooner
During an interview with Tom Homan on CNN’s “State of the Union” this morning, Jake Tapper pressed the border czar on why President Donald Trump didn’t move to pay TSA agents earlier during the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
If you missed the interview, you can watch that moment below:
Democrats blame House Republicans, Trump for prolonged DHS shutdown
Democrats in interviews today blamed Republicans for prolonging the partial government shutdown, after House Republicans last week passed their own short-term bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, despite their colleagues in the Senate approving a separate bipartisan deal.
With the House GOP’s plan going nowhere in the Senate, there’s no end in sight for the shutdown, which has affected airports across the country with TSA shortages.
“The American people are left hanging because of the president’s incompetence here,” Sen. Andy Kim told CNN’s “State of the Union,” responding to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s claim that his House plan had the backing of President Donald Trump, who opposed the Senate version last week.
Kim added that many House Democrats, and some Republicans, were supportive of the Senate deal, which the chamber passed in the early hours of Friday.
Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Cory Booker also questioned why Trump’s promised executive action ordering TSA workers to be paid did not come earlier during the partial shutdown.
“Now, President Trump has said he has the emergency authority to spend money for TSA. And the question I have is, why didn’t He use that 45 days ago? And is he going to now use it?” Van Hollen told ABC’s “This Week.”
Booker echoed the sentiment on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” asking why Trump hadn’t made the move “weeks ago when we started seeing the suffering of folks at the airports.”
“Remember, this fight has never been about TSA,” Booker said.
Wait times down at some key airports to start the busy travel day
Security checkpoint lines at some key airports show improvement so far this morning, with estimated wait times down at the start of another particularly busy spring break travel day.
Check CNN’s tracker for updates on TSA wait times from select major airports.
Here’s what we’re seeing so far today:
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on Sunday morning posted on their website, “Checkpoint wait times have improved from Saturday, but remain longer than normal.” Their checkpoint wait time data feed was temporarily unavailable, but travelers departing from Concourses A, B and C could see the most impact, according to the airport. Officials advised travelers to arrive four hours before their scheduled departures, however one CNN reporter traveling through BWI reported taking one hour and 15 minutes from arriving at the airport and getting through security.
New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport along with New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport weren’t quite as bad Saturday as some other airports. By this morning, JFK and LGA’s estimated wait times were less than 10 minutes, and at EWR, less than 20 minutes.
At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, some on social media early Sunday reported long wait times before the security lines opened but others reported the lines moving fast once they got going. The airport’s website estimates 10- to 20-minute waits.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport had a rough start at 5 a.m. with long wait times, according to CNN’s Rafael Romo, but by 7 a.m., the lines started to dwindle. Passengers are still advised to allow at least four hours or more for screening.
Border czar says he's had no discussions with Trump about sending ICE to polling sites
White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday he’s had no discussions with President Donald Trump about sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling locations for midterms this November, as Trump continues to escalate baseless theories about widespread election fraud.
Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, who holds no official role in the administration, has called on Trump to send ICE agents to polling locations during the elections, and several administration officials have not completely closed the door on the idea.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last month she “can’t guarantee that an ICE agent won’t be around a polling location in November. I mean, that’s frankly a very silly hypothetical question.”
And at his confirmation hearing for to lead DHS, Mullin also didn’t rule out the possibility.
“The only reason why my officers would be there is if there was a specific threat for them to be there, not for intimidation,” Mullin told lawmakers. “Then we will work with local law enforcement. There will be a reason for us to be there, and it’ll be known why we’re there.”
It comes amid a broader push by the administration to expand federal influence over elections. Trump allies are eager for the president to declare a national emergency tied to elections and impose strict federal oversight of the 2026 midterms.
Read more: ICE agents have been deployed to airports. Are the polls next?
CNN’s Gabe Cohen contributed reporting.
Homan says paying TSA agents is “a start” as funding fight continues
White House border czar Tom Homan praised President Donald Trump’s promised executive action to pay Transportation Security Administration officers, while expressing frustration today with the funding fight on Capitol Hill.
“They just need to fund the Department of Homeland Security,” Homan told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
“I’m just glad that President Trump is able to pay the TSA agents at least that’s a start.”
But, Homan said, paying TSA officers is only part of the problem.
“There’s a lot more, many more, thousands more, tens of thousands of more DHS employees who are not being paid, that need to be paid,” he added.
When pressed on why Trump didn’t take that step sooner said he wasn’t clear.
“I’m a cop. I don’t understand the whole appropriations language, appropriations law,” Homan said.
Under the direction of Homan, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deployed to various airports this week to help with security efforts.
“I’m working very closely with the TSA administrator and the ICE director to decide what airport needs what,” Homan said. “We’ve got to keep American people going through those lines and ICE is helping, you know, shorten those lines.”
Homan: “We’ll see” if ICE starts leaving airports once TSA officers get paid
White House border czar Tom Homan said “we’ll see” if Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will pull out of airports, as pay for TSA officers is expected to resume under an executive order.
Timing on paychecks: Asked if TSA agents can expect a paycheck tomorrow, Homan said he is in talks with the new Department of Homeland Security secretary for pay to go out Monday or Tuesday, as Congress remains deadlocked on government funding and has left town on a two-week recess.
Some context: President Donald Trump on Friday issued a promised executive action that TSA employees be paid immediately. TSA workers could start seeing their paychecks as soon as Monday, according to DHS.
Two people familiar with the plans said DHS plans to use funding from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda package that he signed last summer. The executive action didn’t specify that, instead more broadly calling for the use of money with “a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations.”
TSA agent says working without pay feels like “a hostage situation”
After weeks of working without pay throughout the partial government shutdown, one TSA agent is facing the threat of eviction as she continues clocking in daily to try to protect US travelers.
This is the second time Kimberley Fondren, a TSA agent in Memphis, Tennessee, has faced the prospect of eviction due to a government shutdown that’s left her working without a paycheck, she told CNN Sunday morning.
Fondren has been driving for Uber and Lyft to try to supplement her income, she said.
“It is like a hostage situation because you’re not being paid,” Fondren said, adding she still takes her job to protect travel and the American people seriously.
Fondren is one of thousands of TSA workers who have been forced to work without pay, call out or quit as Congress failed to come to an agreement on DHS funding. President Donald Trump is now attempting to unilaterally fund TSA without Congress, meaning some workers could soon see paychecks, but the details are still murky.
In response to Trump’s executive order to fund TSA, Fondren said, “I’m thankful that we are finally going to get what we are owed.”
“At the end of the day, this is a very important job … it’s a career, really. And that’s what everyone wants, is a stable career,” she said.
Scenes from "No Kings" day: Humor and spectacle dot nationwide rallies
From “baby Trump” floats to drag queens on stilts, protesters across the country donned costumes and waved props as they rallied against the Trump administration during yesterday’s “No Kings” protests.
CNN’s Julia Vargas Jones reports:
From baby Trump floats to drag queens on stilts, protestors nationwide used humor and spectacle to rally against the Trump administration during this year’s "No Kings" protests. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones reports.
Here's what we saw yesterday on TSA wait times for some US airports
A particularly busy spring break travel weekend is underway, and travelers are enduring more long lines at some airports nationwide.
You can check CNN’s tracker for updates on TSA wait times from select major airports. The page is updated regularly, though some airports have decided to stop posting the information online, citing concerns about accuracy.
Here’s a roundup of wait times we saw yesterday:
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, about 30 miles from Capitol Hill, said “we have not previously experienced checkpoint wait times” like it saw Saturday, advising weekend travelers to arrive four hours before their scheduled departures.
By Saturday afternoon, wait times at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport were both around 40 minutes.
At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, the security line previously stretched to almost two hours. The airport is getting help from 32 TSA National Deployment Officers, who travel to assist airports, but they are not enough to make up for the staffing shortage, the airport system said in an online update.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where massive lines have been a regular occurrence throughout the shutdown, had relatively short security wait times and smaller lines Saturday morning.
"No Kings" protests swept all 50 states yesterday. What to know
The third iteration of “No Kings” protests since President Donald Trump took office unfolded yesterday against the backdrop of a congressional impasse and chaos in some of the nation’s airports.
More than 3,000 demonstrations were held in all 50 states — in major cities, suburbs and small towns — with protesters rallying against Trump’s policies. They called for an end to the war in Iran, relief from the rising cost of living and a halt to immigration enforcement crackdowns.
The marquee protest in St. Paul, Minnesota, saw high-profile speakers, including Gov. Tim Walz, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Bruce Springsteen.
Huge marches wound through the streets in other metropolitan areas, including New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago, while attendees gathered to wave signs, sing and dance in other communities large and small — spanning red and blue states.
In Los Angeles, a roving salsa band joined demonstrators in the 90-degree heat, while downtown, federal authorities deployed tear gas at a smaller gathering outside a federal building later in the evening. Police arrested at least two people at that protest, DHS said.
Crowds of people in Italy, France, Germany and Spain also demonstrated against the Trump administration.
Lawmakers left Capitol Hill with no DHS funding deal in sight
In a remarkable 24 hours in Washington, House Republicans snubbed a bipartisan funding deal cut by their own Senate GOP counterparts and instead approved an entirely different plan Friday — prolonging the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
Then, they left town.
Now, there’s no end in sight for the 42-day shutdown that has hobbled airports across the country with TSA shortages. With the House GOP’s plan going nowhere in the Senate, even Republicans acknowledge it’s not clear how to end the standoff until there’s a breakthrough with at least some Democrats.
Both chambers of Congress are now out on a two-week recess.
What happens next: House Speaker Mike Johnson has insisted that President Donald Trump is on board with the House’s plan, and that he plans to alleviate TSA’s staffing woes by paying workers directly through executive order.
Privately, some GOP lawmakers and senior aides acknowledge they are pushing the party into even more treacherous political territory, with no clear plan to force Senate Democrats to accept their version of the bill and no certainty that Trump’s maneuver to unilaterally pay Transportation Security Administration employees will work.
But others told CNN there is so much anger within the House GOP that party leaders have no choice but to fight back against what they see as a massive win for Democrats, who are not showing signs of backing down.
“We are at an impasse right now,” Democratic Sen. Cory Booker said yesterday on CNN’s “First of All” with Victor Blackwell. “Now, the question is, how is Donald Trump going to work with his congressional Republicans to solve this problem that they created in the first place?”
