TSA employees have been working without pay during a partial shutdown of DHS over demands to reform immigration enforcement.
More than 400 Transportation Security Administration workers have quit since a partial government shutdown that began on Feb. 14 left them working without pay, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Funding was shut off to DHS over demands by Democrats for reforms at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection following alleged abuses and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this year.
There has also been a national callout rate of 10% at TSA on more than half the days of the last week, Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, said Saturday in response to questions.
The airports should shut down. Whatever fuckery actually happens may be entirely different.
They’d need to make a choice to declare the TSA is all for show or shut down in my mind. What do you imagine they’d do?
I wouldn’t have a clue. Nothing this administration does makes sense. Just imagine the most self-serving, ineffective, grifting option and choose that. Seems to be what the admin likes to do.
As far as the TSA goes I seem to be saying this a lot… think of how privatization f’s up everything. Whenever costs or profits are placed against safety, safety loses every time. Think of the single ATC controller events lately that have likely contributed to deaths: The DCA mid-air collision, and just the other day the LGA aircraft and vehicle collision. While it’s impossible to prove a negative, it’s highly likely that had there been additional controllers dedicated to ground and tower frequencies and monitoring these events wouldn’t have happened - not because profits but because cutting personnel costs saves money.
The airport security was done by private contractors prior to the TSA. 9/11 brought the TSA into being, and regardless of whether or not you agree with its existence, it at least has to let us know about its failings, budget, and any successes. When it replaced the security contractors it seemed obvious to just hire the people already doing for the private contractors. They discovered fake identities, undisclosed criminal records, people wanted on warrants, etc.
There is no perfect system. If you want private, they’re gonna fuck up just as much as the TSA…maybe even more because of that intersection with profits. I’m not advocating for the TSA, I just think that giving security’s job to a corporation that will profit and make some rich guys richer until it kills a bunch of people then go bankrupt after being sued while nobody gets held accountable is just more right wing bullshit.