At airports nationwide, frustrated travelers are waiting in long Transportation Security Administration lines as a partial government shutdown causes staffing shortages.
So far, Denver International Airport has avoided the worst of it.
Denverite has been tracking TSA wait times by monitoring the airport’s website. Wait times haven’t exceeded 35 minutes since Feb. 14, when the partial government shutdown began. That’s in line with what we saw in prior months.
That is a stark contrast to some other airports. On Tuesday, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport reported wait times exceeded four hours, snaking across multiple floors. In Philadelphia, staffing shortages have caused the temporary closure of three security checkpoints.
Still, airport officials have cautioned travelers to arrive two hours before their flights, as usual.
Are DIA's security upgrades helping?
The airport declined an interview with Denverite, but in a written statement said its newly upgraded security checkpoints ensure “safety and efficiency.”
Last summer, the airport said goodbye to its South and Bridge security checkpoints, officially transitioning to the high-tech East and West gates. The airport said the new checkpoints use state-of-the-art technology that moves travelers faster.
Each lane can screen nearly twice as many people as before, up to 250 per hour. Each checkpoint has 17 lanes.
Neither DIA nor TSA commented on how staffing levels have been affected by the partial shutdown. DIA was among the first airports in the country to ask passengers to leave gift cards for TSA employees working without pay during the government shutdown.
Is ICE at the Denver airport?
On Monday, the federal government deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports across the United States, an unprecedented move that has been described as disruptive, unsafe and unhelpful by Democratic lawmakers and the union representing TSA officers.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both ICE and TSA, argues the presence of immigration officers will bolster security at short-staffed airports.
The federal government hasn’t released a comprehensive list of ICE airport deployments. DIA said it has not been contacted about a local deployment.
CNN reported on Monday that DIA is not among the 13 airports where ICE will send agents.
CPR’s Ryan Warner contributed reporting.
