Many Department of Homeland Security employees are on track to miss a paycheck Friday during the nearly monthlong lapse in funding for the agency, leading officials to warn of potential disruptions in air travel if more airport security workers call out of work.
Travelers have already experienced long security line delays at some major airports, including John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, as Transportation Security Administration workers who scan baggage, check identification and do other tasks have posted absences at unusually high rates.
More than 300 T.S.A. officers have left the work force since the shutdown began, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The shutdown stems from a congressional deadlock over how to fund the department, which is also responsible for federal immigration enforcement. Democrats have refused to approve funding without changes to aggressive tactics employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
The shutdown has had little direct effect on ICE because of a financial cushion of tens of billions of dollars appropriated by Congress last year to support President Trump’s mass detention and deportation agenda.
The brunt of the shutdown, which began Feb. 14, has instead fallen on other agencies housed in the department, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Employees deemed essential are required to report to work even without pay.
T.S.A. workers, whose salaries average about $50,000, have been hit hard during recent government shutdowns. Though federal law requires that federal workers receive back pay at the conclusion of a shutdown, workers often struggle to recover from those periods without a paycheck.
But the timing of the latest funding lapse has affected workers even more, union representatives say.
The current pause started barely three months after the end of another shutdown, during which many T.S.A. workers took on second jobs to cover basic living expenses. Though they received back pay when the government reopened after 43 days, many workers have depleted their rainy day funds or have lived on credit they are still paying off, according to union representatives.
“They just don’t have the funds to continue this for very long,” said Johnny Jones, an employee at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and the secretary-treasurer of the union representing T.S.A. employees. “They may not have the funds plus they may not have the spirit.”
Denver International Airport on Wednesday appealed for donations, asking travelers in a social media post to “support the dedicated TSA employees working without pay by donating $10 and $20 in grocery store and gas gift cards.”
Union officials say that employees are increasingly calling out of work as they take on second jobs to make ends meet and as they cancel child care. “The longer this goes on, the longer the lines are going to get,” Mr. Jones said.
Some airports have seen sporadic increases in wait times, as T.S.A. absences went up over the course of the shutdown. The conditions were most vivid at Houston’s Hobby Airport last weekend, where a combination of T.S.A. call-outs and spring break travel led to wait times of three and four hours.
The shutdown has also started to more seriously threaten smaller airports.
Cameron Cochems, the vice president of a local union chapter representing T.S.A. workers in Boise, Idaho, said that some of his co-workers had already called out sick because they could not afford child care. Members had started to request emergency funds from the union to pay for groceries and other basic necessities, he said.
“They’re getting tired,” Mr. Cochems said. “They’re getting exhausted from not knowing when their next paycheck is going to be.”
But some industry experts say that despite the strain, T.S.A. shortages were still a few weeks away from pushing air travel to a point of crisis.
“The system is holding up very well right now,” said Chris Sununu, the president of Airlines for America, an industry trade group. Mr. Sununu, the former Republican governor of New Hampshire, added that leaders “feel pretty confident, the morale is good.” But he predicted that some airports would see significant T.S.A.-related delays over the next few weekends.
Democrats in Congress have recently introduced bills to fund only agencies in the Department of Homeland Security that do not participate in immigration enforcement, but have met resistance from Republicans. On Wednesday, Republican senators blocked one such bill from coming to a vote.
On Thursday, nearly all Senate Democrats banded together to deny the G.O.P. the votes it needed to get a House-passed bill funding the entire department to the president’s desk.
Karoun Demirjian is a breaking news reporter for The Times.
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