Hours‑long lines, ICE sweeps US airports — what Mass. travelers need to know
Travelers across the United States are facing hours‑long airport security lines as the partial government shutdown — now stretching beyond five weeks since its Feb. 14 start — continues to strain Transportation Security Administration staffing and operations.
At major hubs including Atlanta , New York and Houston , reported wait times have stretched well past an hour — and in some cases, several hours — according to publicly posted checkpoint data on the airports' sites.
The George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Texas showed waits exceeding 180 minutes at certain terminals on Monday morning and warnings of possible four-hour wait times at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Georgia.
Travelers can check estimated wait times through TSA's " MyTSA " app or on individual airport apps and websites, which update wait times throughout the day.
The troubles arrive as the federal government deploys Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at certain airports to assist the constrained Transportation Security and Administration (TSA) officers — around 50,000 of whom have been working without a paycheck since the shutdown began.
Some of the first agents were already spotted at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Monday morning, captured on video by CNN .
Security checkpoint wait times in Massachusetts have not been affected by the shutdown, Massport spokesperson Jennifer Mehigan told MassLive on Monday. Massport oversees airports across the Bay State including Boston Logan International Airport, Worcester Regional Airport and Hanscom Field.
Logan plans to roll out a new system to show real‑time security wait times on its site and app, launching in mid‑April, according to WBUR . The tech, now being tested in Terminal B, uses anonymous camera analytics to estimate line lengths — a project Massport said predated the DHS shutdown. The news outlet reported more than 30 TSA employees across New England have "quit" since the shutdown began.
Further information on how the checkpoints may be managed in Boston was not available from Massport nor publicly released by TSA on Monday, though 13 other airports around the country prepared for ICE agents' arrival.
TSA did not respond to MassLive for comment on Monday regarding ICE agents at Boston Logan. On Sunday, The New England TSA officers' union president said he had "not heard anything official from TSA leadership that ICE would be coming to any airport in New England," The Boston Globe reported , though the union would be making an inquiry.
And just as school spring breaks fall into the tumultuous timeframe, travel on the East Coast was further snared this past weekend by a fatal crash that killed two pilots on a plane at LaGuardia Airport in New York late Sunday night.
The collision caused flights in and out of Boston to be canceled Monday. As of 10:45 a.m. on Monday, 16 flights from LaGuardia to Boston Logan International Airport were canceled, with another 12 flights scheduled to fly out from Logan to LaGuardia also canceled, according to FlightAware.
Mehigan advised passengers scheduled to travel to LaGuardia on Monday to reach to airlines for re-booking, as the airport will be closed until at least 2 p.m. on Monday.
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