Travelers wait in line at Terminal E at George Bush International Airport on March 19, 2026 in Houston, Texas. Airports across the country continue to experience long lines during the federal shutdown affecting TSA.

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Khaleda Rahman

By Khaleda Rahman

National Correspondent

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Twenty airports across the United States use private companies to carry out security screenings—and have therefore avoided the long lines seen at other airports across the county amid the ongoing partial government shutdown.

The airports that participate in the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Screening Partnership Program (SPP) use private contractors at security checkpoints rather than TSA staff.

The private companies run screening operations at the airports "under federal oversight and must comply with all TSA security screening procedures," according to the TSA.

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As a result, those airports have largely avoided the staffing issues that airports that use TSA staff have seen during the partial government shutdown, which have led to long wait times for airline passengers going through security screenings, CNN reported.

Nat Carmack of BOS Security, which conducts security screenings at Tupelo Regional Airport in Mississippi, told CNN that "all operations at the privatized airports are normal because we continue paying our employees during the shutdown."

VMD Corp, a contractor which runs security at Kansas City International Airport and Orlando Sanford International, said on social media earlier in March that airports in the SPP program had "less than three-minute lines."

Travelers wait in line at Terminal E at George Bush International Airport on March 19, 2026 in Houston, Texas. Airports across the country continue to experience long lines during the federal shutdown affecting TSA.

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The Context

TSA agents have not been paid since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) partly shut down on February 14, after Democrats balked at funding the agency and demanded changes to immigration enforcement by federal agents following the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Since then, airline passengers have seen long lines to pass through security screenings at airports across the country due to the shortage of TSA workers. About 50,000 TSA workers are working without pay as negotiations between lawmakers and the White House drag on.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump said he would deploy agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to airports to assist the TSA from Monday.

Full List of Airports in The Screening Partnership Program

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