Hilton Head airport director wants feds to stop using TSA agents as ‘bargaining chip’
As the government shutdown enters its second month, the head of the Hilton Head Island Airport said it’s time to stop playing games with peoples’ livelihoods.
At a scheduled annual trip to meet with South Carolina officials and staffers in Washington, D.C. next week, Beaufort County Airports Director Jon Rembold said his goal is to take U.S. Transportation Security Administration workers off the table as a “bargaining chip” in government shutdowns.
For the third time in about six months, TSA employees are working without pay because of a government shutdown. There was a three-day government shutdown in late January and early February, but more significantly, a 43-day lapse in appropriations last fall was the longest in history. The current shutdown, which began on Valentine’s Day, impacts the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Three back-to-back shutdowns seemed to be the last straw for hundreds of TSA employees. DHS estimates nearly 400 TSA workers have quit their jobs.
“It’s awful,” Rembold said. “They’re getting hammered.”
Chaos at major US airports due to shut down
The shutdown has created chaos at major airports across the U.S. On Monday, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was advising passengers to arrive at least four hours ahead of their scheduled domestic and international flights because of “current federal conditions.”
Conversely, Charleston International Airport’s website showed a main checkpoint wait time of six minutes and a five-minute wait for TSA PreCheck travelers.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump said he will send federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports this week to assist with TSA screenings. ABC News reported that agents will be deployed to 14 airports; other reports showed ICE agents arriving at the Atlanta airport Monday morning.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said he was told ICE agents would help TSA with line management and crowd control and wouldn’t be carrying out any immigration enforcement duties.
Wait times at Savannah-Hilton Head airport
Lori Lynah, spokesperson for Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport, said the shutdown has “not affected wait times here at all.”
“We’re very lucky,” Lynah said, adding that TSA employees are the ones suffering the most since they’re working without pay.
HHH hasn’t had any staffing issues since the shutdown, Rembold said; the airport’s TSA staffing is managed by the agency’s Charleston office, which does a good job of keeping operations flowing.
“I guess we’re a little bit lucky, since we’re not insanely busy,” he said.
Still, the shutdown is “definitely taking a toll” on TSA workers at Hilton Head airport, Rembold said.
“There’s a local GoFundMe out there, which is nice. A board member is coordinating it to help TSA agents, although they’re limited on the things they can accept, because they’re government employees,” he said. “It’s just a bad position to be in.”