SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego International Airport officials are warning travelers of longer wait times as the partial government shutdown nears the 40-day mark and TSA workers are on track to miss a second paycheck.
On Sunday morning, lines stretched through Terminal 2.
Raylene Wagner arrived more than four hours before her flight because of the partial shutdown, and she ABC 10News, "I don't think it's right. The long lines, no, I don't think it's right."
Some travelers at the airport said they could not believe the shutdown has gone on this long.
"Yeah, I feel for the TSA workers. They shouldn't have to go through all that," said Wagner. "I think they should not pay the people that are making the shutdown and maybe they would change their minds a little bit and open up things.”
The funding bill failed for the fifth time on Friday, since the beginning of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
In response, President Trump said he was ready to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports.
Nyrine Washington, who represents the American Federation of Government Employees Union, worries this could bring serious security risks.
"So to come in and have them take over, and then it just kind of sounds ridiculous too, because these people are not trained," Washington said. "It takes four to six months, sometimes even longer to go through the process to do on-the-job training, to be trained to look at these X-rays and to identify things, to be able to check people and make sure they are who they are."
"So, you send people in who have no idea about the job to do, to do what? Just walk around with their guns. So I don't really know what the purpose of that would be," Washington continued.
San Diego International Airport officials are advising people to check their flight status before arriving and to be at least two hours early for boarding.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
