Michael Barbaro

And as you said, this really goes back to.

A shutdown, a very unique shutdown of a single agency.

And this started, and we covered it almost every step of the way, with congressional Democrats seeking to defund the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of the immigration crackdowns, especially in Minneapolis that killed two U.S.

citizens, Rene Good and Alex Preddy.

And this was never intended to hurt airport security workers, but...

Of course, the understanding is that it might, and now it has.

A question I have is, why did it take so long for airports to devolve into this amount of chaos, given that the shutdown's been going on for a fairly long time?

Just explain that, how in certain areas, certain regions, and I assume certain airports, what seemed like universal conditions of unpaid TSA workers is having greater repercussions.

And what have you come to understand about the nature of these workers calling in and saying, I'm not coming to work?

Is this organized in places like Houston or in New York where cost of living is expensive?

Or are people just of their own volition making these financial determinations and calling in and saying, I can't come to work, and it just multiplies on top of itself?

You had mentioned this.

President Trump decides to bring ICE agents in as a solution to the shortages of TSA workers calling out.

Help us understand that logic and whether it's been working.

Right.

There's also the irony, of course, that this shutdown was originally about reining in ICE for the Democrats who began it, and now the president is dispatching ICE agents to the airports to alleviate the pain points of the shutdown that's supposed to be about ICE.

So at this precise moment, Wednesday afternoon, when ICE agents are at the airports but not really able to screen people and speed things up, what is the precise situation?

And what is DHS and TSA saying they think things will be looking like for the next couple of days or weeks?

Wow.

Right.