With Trump threatening to send ICE agents to airports, what’s next for TSA employees without pay during the shutdown?

TSA employees are quitting and many others are taking unscheduled leave because they can’t afford the gas or childcare they need to go to work.

As a dwindling number of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents work to keep long security lines moving without pay, President Donald Trump entered the fray on Saturday to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports starting Monday if Congress cannot agree on a plan to end the partial government shutdown.

The Trump administration has not clarified what role ICE agents would play at airports, as they are not trained to conduct security inspections, while TSA agents must undergo months of training. CNN has reached out to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, which runs the TSA, for comment.

“The president can send ICE agents, but I don’t see how that will help us get through this period,” George Borek, a TSA agent in Atlanta and union representative, tells CNN, reiterating the need for adequate training.

As leaders from both parties work to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes 61,000 TSA employees, there is little indication that the impasse will be resolved anytime soon on Capitol Hill before the scheduled break.

Trump’s threat comes in the face of funding cuts, as well as frustrated travelers facing some of the US’s main airports. Officials warn the situation could worsen if the impasse between Republicans and Democrats over enforcement of federal immigration laws continues.

Early this Sunday morning, delays were already increasing. At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, TSA wait times exceeded two and a half hours, according to . Meanwhile, travelers at LaGuardia, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental and John F. Kennedy airports faced waits of more than 40 minutes.

As chaos and uncertainty continue to loom over airports across the country, here’s what awaits us:

What awaits travelers

It’s unclear what relief — if any — ICE agents could provide for long security wait times if the president deploys them. The agents could potentially help with limited functions, such as managing lines, directing passengers or assisting in moving people through security checkpoints, freeing up trained TSA agents for critical security roles. Trump’s announcement also did not specify which airports ICE agents would be deployed to.

Bringing in untrained staff can create its own problems, says Borek. “If you bring people in there who aren’t trained, who don’t know what they’re looking for, then certainly that could be a problem.”

Even trained TSA agents must be recertified after a 30-day sick leave period, says Borek. And as financial pressure and low morale drive TSA agents to leave their positions, travelers can expect to see continued lines at some airports.

For six consecutive days last week, the TSA’s absence rate was above 9% — with one absenteeism reported on Monday — as employees continued to work without pay.

The impacts to travelers due to absences have varied greatly from airport to airport, and unpredictability may continue. More than at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport missed work last week, forcing passengers to wait up to two hours in security lines. On Friday, two TSA employees missed work at William P. Hobby International Airport in Houston, Texas.

The Secretary of the Department of Transportation says without a funding bill to end the shutdown, the next week of travel will be worse than ever.

“These will be good days compared to what happens a week from now when Americans try to travel,” Secretary Sean Duffy said in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday. Travel problems with hours of waiting at airport security will seem like “child’s play”, he highlighted.

If the shutdown doesn’t end by Friday, which marks the next payroll day for TSA employees, the situation “will get much worse in the coming weeks” as there will be even fewer agents working, Borek adds. “I’ve been apologizing to the passengers passing by.”

What does the future have in store for airports?

If the TSA staffing shortage worsens, it’s possible that some airports will .

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that we may have to close airports, especially smaller ones, if the number of absences increases,” TSA Acting Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl said Tuesday.

The TSA does not have the power to unilaterally close an airport. But passengers and crew must go through screening before boarding and, if there is no one to carry it out, travelers will be left on the ground.

To date, the TSA has not completely halted screening at any airport during the shutdown, and experts say the agency will exhaust all other possible options before taking that action.

Meanwhile, some airports remain largely untouched by the effects of the most recent government shutdown. In the USA, security screening is not carried out by the TSA, but by private companies, and in these cases the checkpoints do not experience long queues.

Airports such as San Francisco International, Kansas City International, Orlando Sanford and 17 smaller facilities are part of the Program, which uses third-party companies at checkpoints.

What does the future hold for TSA agents?

The partial government shutdown is one of three funding disruptions that have resulted in delays in TSA employee compensation over the past six months, coming on the heels of the historic 43-day shutdown late last year and a brief interruption in January.

TSA agents working without pay during the busy spring travel season are about to continue to face a domino effect of behind-the-scenes financial hardships, including evictions, empty refrigerators and overdrawn bank accounts.

They are the ones in the middle of the impasse in Congress over government funding. Tens of thousands of TSA employees are having to choose daily between staying home or showing up to work without pay and dealing with frustrated travelers at airports.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that more than 400 agents have opted for a third alternative since the start of the strike: resigning.

Union leaders say some TSA employees have chosen to quit and many others have taken unscheduled leave because they cannot afford the gas or childcare costs needed to go to work.

CNN’s Aaron Cooper, Alexandra Skores, Holly Yan, Alaa Elassar, Rebekah Riess, Taylor Romine and Hanna Park contributed to this report.