For airline travelers, the shutdown answer is simple: Pay TSA officers

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ATLANTA (AP) — Regardless of politics or destination, American air travelers were unified by one desire Saturday: It's time to pay Transportation Security Administration employees.

“Everybody got bills they have to pay, and it’s horrible," said Patrice Clark, whose trip to Las Vegas began Saturday with a nearly four-hour wait in a security line at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. "Times are hard for everybody at this point. Working and not getting paid and gas prices are extremely high — like everybody needs their money. They need to pay them.”

TSA officers haven't gotten a paycheck since the U.S. Department of Homeland Security partly shut down on Feb. 14. Democrats balked at funding the agency, while other departments are unaffected, demanding changes to immigration enforcement by federal agents following the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.

Christian Childress is a private flight attendant, so when he is working, he doesn’t wait in TSA lines. But the Redwood City, California, resident frequently goes through a checkpoint when flying commercial to get to his job.

Childress said shutdown effects have been “hit or miss” thus far. He came to the Atlanta airport nearly three hours before his 1:30 p.m. Saturday flight to Nashville, Tennessee, for a leisure trip. Some passengers have been arriving even earlier in Atlanta — one of the world’s busiest airports — spooked about missing flights because of delays.

“Issue No. 1 should be paying the people who need to get paid and keeping our air travel system secure,” Childress said. “Then they can debate whatever they want to debate about homeland security.”

Some passengers said it is time for Democrats to give up on the shutdown.

“I don't want to go between the Democrats and the Republicans, but I think the Democrats are holding everything up because they can't get their way,” said Tyrone Williams, a retiree from the Atlanta suburb of Ellenwood. He was queued up for screening before his flight to Philadelphia on Saturday.

Atlanta's checkpoint wait time spiked as high as 90 minutes on Saturday morning before melting away to nothing in the afternoon on what is typically one of the slowest days of the week for air travel. Staffing shortages have forced some airports to close checkpoints at times, with wait times swinging dramatically.

Concerns about long airport lines are increasingly capturing attention.

President Donald Trump said Saturday he will order federal immigration officers to take a role in airport security starting Monday unless Democrats agree to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

The president said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would bring the administration’s immigration crackdown into the nation’s airports, arresting “all Illegal Immigrants” with a focus on those from Somalia.

“I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, “GET READY.” NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!” Trump wrote.

Funding for the whole department failed to advance in the Senate on Friday after Democrats declined to support a bill. On Saturday, in a rare weekend session, the Senate rejected a motion by Democrats to take up legislation to fund TSA. Republicans argue that they need to fund all of the department, not just parts.

The vast majority of employees at TSA are considered essential, and roughly 50,000 continue to work without pay during the funding lapse. Nationwide on Thursday, about 10% of TSA officers missed work, the department reported. Absentee rates were two or three times higher in places.

Merissa Thomas arrived in Las Vegas on Saturday after a quick trip through a checkpoint at Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C.

“I’m so grateful for people who are willing to sacrifice a lot to make sure we’re safe,” Thomas said.

Union leaders and federal officials say TSA officers are under financial pressure. Airport screeners have spent nearly half of the past 171 days with paychecks delayed by politics — 43 days last fall during the longest government shutdown in history, four days earlier this year during a brief funding lapse, and now 36 days and counting during the current shutdown.

At least 376 officers have quit since this shutdown began, according to officials, exacerbating turnover at an agency that historically has had some of the U.S. government’s highest attrition and lowest employee morale.

“From now on I would drive wherever I have to go until they get this figured out,” said Clark, the delayed traveler. “It was horrible.”

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Associated Press writers Collin Binkley in West Palm Beach, Florida, Ty O'Neil in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed.