The DHS shutdown grinds on, with passengers standing interminable lines and missing flights as TSA agents go over a month without being paid. ABC News, in a weird report that serves little purpose, saw this as an opportunity to try to drive an internal wedge at DHS by questioning whether the fairness of ICE agents getting paid as they assist TSA agents who are not.
Watch as ABC congressional correspondent Jay O’Brien closes out his report by driving that wedge and then having Sen. Tim Kaine reinforce the wedge:
DISGUSTING PROPAGANDA: Jay O'Brien concludes @ABCWorldNews report on the @DHSgov shutdown by pitting TSA against ICE over pay, bolstered with a loaded question to Sen. Tim Kaine. No GOP soundbite. A reminder that the Democrats survive every government shutdown largely unscathed… pic.twitter.com/5Bog3ETRTy
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) March 25, 2026
JAY O'BRIEN: And tonight, with the president sending ICE agents to airports across the country, the reality amid the chaos those agents are getting paid while TSA officers are not. ICE was given an extra $75 billion in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
What do you say to Americans who say it's unfair that those ICE agents are being paid but TSA agents standing next to them at the airport aren’t?
TIM KAINE: They're right. They are completely right. The Republicans prefunded ICE for- with an equivalent of about seven years of their budget.
O'BRIEN: David, Bottom line there is no deal yet, so those bipartisan negotiations will continue with tens of thousands of DHS employees like these TSA officers left in limbo, and Congress is set to leave on Friday for a two-week recess. David.
MUIR: For their Easter break. Jay O’Brien. Thank you.
You will notice that no Republican was asked the fairness question. That’s because a Republican response would have run along the lines of foreseeing that Democrats would try to interfere with immigration enforcement, or that shutting down DHS while there is an ongoing military operation in the Middle East is madness. We don’t know, because O’Brien never bothered.
The report prior to this point was the usual fare about pain at the TSA line and the cost of airfare potentially going up due to fuel surcharges, followed by a play-by-play of the negotiations on The Hill. This was more bipartisan inasmuch as it included quotes from both Senate leaders as well as President Trump.
But the driving of a wedge between subagencies in the midst of a lengthy shutdown is disgusting. What does this hope to accomplish beyond driving a wedge within DHS? The fact that no Republican was asked the question gives the game away.
So there was no doubt in anyone's mind, the fairness frame was pushed up front by David Muir and at the end by O'Brien, ensuring this is the last thing viewers saw related to the DHS shutdown. In the process, we are reminded that this is why the Democrats emerge largely unscathed from painful government shutdowns. The Elitist Media gleefully run crisis comms for them by serving up stories such as the one shown here- which amount to nothing more than disgusting propaganda.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on ABC World News Tonight on Tuesday, March 24th, 2026:
DAVID MUIR: We are also following the unfolding chaos at several of America’s airports, those long TSA lines. TSA security workers going without pay for weeks now amid the partial government shutdown. With millions of Americans waiting, some up to six hours in those lines. Some passengers today say they were returning after missing their flights yesterday. Tonight here, ABC’s Jay O'Brien asking lawmakers on The Hill is it fair that the ICE agents sent by the president to these airports are getting paid but the TSA security officers are not. Here’s Jay O’Brien.
JAY O'BRIEN: Tonight, as Americans suffer hourslong wait times at some of the nation's largest airports and thousands of TSA officers go without a paycheck: after 39 days, glimmers of hope on Capitol Hill.
PASSENGER: The line continues to go.
PASSENGER: It’s inhuman. There’s no water, no bathrooms- I didn't think it was gonna be this bad.
O’BRIEN: Houston seeing some of the highest callout rates in the nation. TSA lines stretching across three floors, snaking all the way to the subway terminal. KTRK’s Sarah al-Shaikh is there.
SARAH al-SHAIKH: It's a bit like deja vu for some travelers here at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Many people in this TSA line say they actually missed their flights yesterday and had to come back to stand in line again today.
O'BRIEN: Adding to the headache, airline officials now warning that ticket prices could increase as much as 20% to cover surging jet fuel costs due to the war with Iran. But tonight, after weeks of gridlock, Senate Republicans changing course, proposing funding every agency inside Homeland Security except immigration enforcement, and tackling money for ICE in a later bill.
JOHN THUNE: It is essentially what the Democrats have been asking for. And so we’re going to have an opportunity to vote on that.
O'BRIEN: Democrats have called for passing funding to parts of DHS while also demanding ICE reforms like requiring agents remove masks and wear body cameras, and tonight say the new proposal doesn't go far enough.
CHUCK SCHUMER: We need reforms to ICE, we need to rein in the violence, we have never changed our position.
O'BRIEN: President Trump, who told Republicans to make no deal unless his voter ID act is passed, late today on these new negotiations.
DONALD TRUMP: I guess they're getting fairly close, but I think any deal they make I'm pretty much not happy with it.
O'BRIEN: And tonight, with the president sending ICE agents to airports across the country, the reality amid the chaos those agents are getting paid while TSA officers are not. ICE was given an extra $75 billion in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
What do you say to Americans who say it's unfair that those ICE agents are being paid but TSA agents standing next to them at the airport aren’t?
TIM KAINE: They're right. They are completely right. The Republicans prefunded ICE for- with an equivalent of about seven years of their budget.
O'BRIEN: David, Bottom line there is no deal yet, so those bipartisan negotiations will continue with tens of thousands of DHS employees like these TSA officers left in limbo, and Congress is set to leave on Friday for a two-week recess. David.
MUIR: For their Easter break. Jay O’Brien. Thank you.
