A standoff in Washington over immigration enforcement is leaving TSA workers unpaid and airport security lines growing longer across the country.

At airports nationwide, Americans are waiting longer in security lines and facing more delayed flights.

These problems will keep getting worse, and our country will become increasingly insecure, the longer the standoff over funding the Department of Homeland Security continues.

Thousands of DHS employees — including Transportation Security Administration officers — have been required to work without pay while lawmakers debate how to resolve the funding dispute. On Wednesday, March 17, 10% of all TSA workers called in sick.

Funding for DHS – an essential department that includes the TSA, Coast Guard, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency – is being held up over congressional disagreement around immigration enforcement. Polling suggests many Americans do believe some of the federal government’s immigration enforcement practices need to be reformed. For example, a recent poll found six in ten Americans disapprove of how ICE is carrying out immigration enforcement, while another poll found 61% of Americans support deporting unauthorized immigrants but many oppose the tactics used in recent enforcement operations.

Ironically, ICE and CBP were already funded through 2027 by last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill, meaning congressional Democrats are currently withholding funding for parts of DHS that have nothing to do with immigration enforcement.

There are, however, potential signs of a thaw in negotiations. On March 19, the White House offered a counterproposal this week to Democratic demands. Here is the current state of play: