Oct. 21 (UPI) — Multiple people, including a child, are dead after a private helicopter crashed into a Houston radio tower Sunday night, according to authorities and officials.
The crash occurred shortly before 8 p.m. local time Sunday near the intersection of Engelke Street and North Ennis Street in Houston.
Mayor John Whitmire told reporters during a press conference that the crash was heard by local firefighters who responded to the scene. A large fireball was also observed being ejected into the air, he said.
The authorities and officials said four people were aboard the private aircraft but would not specify the death toll, only confirming that multiple fatalities, including a child, had occurred.
Next of kin had yet to be notified, Houston Police Chief J. Noe Diaz explained.
No injuries were reported on the ground, with the mayor stating nearby residents and structures were unharmed.
“Residents are secure and safe, but we have a terrible accident scene,” Whitmire said. “Multiple fatalities. Helicopter destroyed.”
He added that the helicopter, which Diaz specified as a R44 aircraft, appeared to have departed Ellington Airport, though its destination was unknown.
Some homes in the vicinity reported power outages due to the crash, the mayor said.
He also said they are “fortunate it wasn’t worse,” as a butane gas tank was near the crash.
“We need to keep the family of the victims in our prayers and be glad we live in a great city that comes together during tragic times like this,” he said.
The cause of the crash was under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, as well as local police and fire agencies, the officials and authorities said.
The mayor said the investigation will take days to complete.
President Donald Trump said border czar Tom Homan will be in charge of deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports on Monday, with Homan telling CNN the agents will help with security at entrances and exits to ease the Transportation Security Administration’s workload.
“This is about … helping TSA do their mission and get the American public through that airport as quick as they can while adhering to all the security guidelines and the protocols,” Homan told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
Airports around the country have seen long security lines, as TSA officers have quit or called out sick as they work without pay amid a partial government shutdown. Homan said his “opinion is that we concentrate on the airports where the longest waits are; we prioritize those large airports with those long waits like three hours.”
“We’re simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don’t need their specialized expertise, such as screening through the X-ray machine. Not trained in that? We won’t do that,” Homan said. “But there are roles we can play to release TSA officers from the non-significant roles, such as guarding an exit so they can get back to the scanning machines and move people quicker.”
The border czar said ICE will continue conducting immigration enforcement operations while aiding TSA. He added the heads of ICE and the TSA are involved in planning discussions, and that the public can expect more details of “a well-thought-out plan to execute” later Sunday.
Trump first announced the move to deploy ICE agents on social media Saturday, as lawmakers worked toward reaching an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security amid mounting travel disruptions. Democrats have refused to fund the department as they demand changes that would rein in Trump’s immigration policies after two people were killed during an immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Vice President JD Vance accused Democrats on Sunday of holding TSA “hostage” while expressing gratitude that the White House will deploy ICE agents to airports.
“Thankfully, ICE will bring sanity to our airports starting tomorrow, but it’s far past time for Democrats to fund DHS,” he posted on X.
Bipartisan appropriators held a brief meeting with Homan on Friday evening that sources from both parties called “productive.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Sunday he hoped to meet with Homan after another bipartisan meeting was postponed a day earlier.
Talks are expected to continue Sunday as Republicans await a counteroffer from Democrats after receiving a proposal from the White House on Friday. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing to reach a deal by the end of the week, according to a person familiar with the talks.
Two of the big sticking points remain whether to require judicial warrants on immigration enforcement action and to require ICE agents to remove their masks — both key Democratic demands that the White House has resisted.
Senators are eager to wrap up talks and pass a bill before Easter recess at week’s end, meaning a deal needs to be reached within the next couple of days to begin the legislative process to meet that timeframe.
Thune said Sunday that lawmakers were making “some headway” in talks to reopen DHS, warning that things could get “pretty bad” if a deal isn’t reached in the coming days.
He said the Trump administration’s plans to send ICE agents to airports to help bolster TSA staffing is “evidence of how sort of desperate things have become at our airports.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told “State of the Union” on Sunday the plan to send ICE agents to airports was an effort to “squeeze lawmakers to try to finally come up with a plan to fund DHS.”
“It’s unfortunate that Republicans have decided that they would rather force TSA agents to work without pay, inconvenience millions of Americans all across the country and now potentially expose them to untrained ICE agents and create chaos at airports throughout the land, rather than get ICE agents under control,” Jeffries said.
On Saturday, Republican Sen. John Kennedy told CNN “it could help” to send ICE agents to airports, but suggested that it’s not a definitive solution to the long security lines.
“If they’re planning on using some of the ICE folks to help with crowd control to free up TSA people to do the screening, I could see a scenario where that might help.”
Meanwhile, the union representing TSA officers is fiercely pushing back against plans to deploy ICE agents to airports, warning the move could put passenger safety at risk.
American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley said in a statement Sunday that “Replacing unpaid TSA workers with ICE agents is not a solution, but a dangerous escalation.”
“ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security,” Kelley said, stressing that TSA officers spend months developing highly specialized skills to detect explosives, weapons and sophisticated threats designed to evade screening. “You cannot improvise that.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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Countless Americans are alive today, and our country is more secure because of the F.B.I.’s outstanding work under the leadership of Bob Mueller.
By McKinnon de Kuyper
March 21, 2026
Travelers wait in line at a TSA security checkpoint at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, on March 20, 2026.
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
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It’s spring break season in the U.S. — and travelers are facing long airport lines as security screeners work without pay while the Department of Homeland security is shut down.
Congressional Democrats have declined to fund the agency in an attempt to force reforms of federal immigration enforcement practices.
Wait times at major hubs in Houston and Atlanta reached two hours on Friday, while New Orleans’s Louis Armstrong International Airport advised passengers to arrive at least three hours before their scheduled departures. In Philadelphia, airport officials closed three security checkpoints entirely this week because of short staffing.
On Saturday, President Trump threatened to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to staff airport security lanes if Democrats don’t “immediately” agree to fund DHS. A bipartisan group of senators has been negotiating with the White House over immigration enforcement and ending the shutdown.
“I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country,” Trump posted on Truth Social. In a follow-up post he said he told ICE to “GET READY” to deploy to airports on Monday.
Officials say wait times are unpredictable and can fluctuate sharply as airports struggle with Transportation Security Administration staffing shortages.
TSA staffers are considered essential workers, so about 50,000 have been working without pay due to the shutdown that started Feb. 14. Last week, they missed their first full paychecks. The Department of Homeland Security says more than 300 TSA officers have quit. More than half of TSA staff in Houston called out sick and nearly a third called out in Atlanta and New Orleans last week, DHS said.
The staffing shortage comes as travel has also been disrupted by severe weather, and as schools across the country close for spring break.
Some 2.8 million people were projected to travel on U.S. airlines each day in March and April, adding up to a record 171 million passengers, according to the industry group Airlines for America.
Transportation officials are warning the situation could get worse if the shutdown isn’t resolved. A second missed paycheck would put even more strain on TSA workers, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CNN on Friday.
“If a deal isn’t cut, you’re going to see what’s happening today look like child’s play,” Duffy said. “Is it still safe as you go through the airport? Yes, but it takes a lot longer because we have less agents working.” He added that some smaller airports may be forced to temporarily close if more staff calls out.
In the U.K., Foreign Office officials are also warning travelers of “travel disruption” caused by “longer than usual queues at some U.S. airports,” and recommended passengers check with their travel provider, airport, or airline for guidance.
On Saturday, billionaire Elon Musk weighed in with an offer to personally pay TSA staff.
“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk posted on X early Saturday morning.
U.S. law generally bars government employees from receiving outside compensation for their work.
On top of long security wait times and weather impacts, travel is being affected by the war in Iran, which is driving up global oil prices.
On Friday, United Airlines said it would cut some flights over the next six months after jet fuel prices doubled in recent weeks. Capacity cuts are likely to send airfares even higher, even as ticket prices are already rising, said Clint Henderson, a spokesperson for the travel website The Points Guy.
Still, he said, none of that seems to be deterring Americans from flying.
“The appetite for travel is insatiable,” he said. “People seem willing to endure a lot of stuff to travel. And I don’t see any signs of that decreasing.”
Travel experts say it’s not just long wait times that travelers should prepare for — it’s the uncertainty.
“Every day this goes on, it’s getting worse and worse and worse,” Henderson said.
Here are some tips on how to prepare for upcoming air travel:
1. Know before you go
Many airport websites list estimated security wait times. That should be the first place you check to get a sense of how long lines might be, Henderson says. (TSA also estimates wait times on its website and app, but that’s not being regularly updated because of the shutdown, he added.)
“Knowledge is power,” Henderson said. “You should know what’s going on at your local airport.”
He noted there are 20 U.S. airports where security screening is done by private contractors, not the TSA — and they are not experiencing staffing shortages or long waits. Some are smaller regional airports, but the list also includes some larger hubs, including San Francisco International Airport and Kansas City International Airport.
“There’s big, big, big metropolitan areas where it’s not an issue at all,” Henderson said.
2. Budget extra time
If you’re someone who shows up at the airport when your flight starts boarding, think twice, says travel writer Chris Dong.
“I’m the type of traveler who usually arrives pretty last minute,” Dong said, “but I think that that advice would not be sound for the current situation.”
Even if wait times are listed as short, things can change on a dime. Dong recently flew out of John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and found the TSA PreCheck line unexpectedly closed.
“So then everyone that was funneled through the regular line, it was an extra like 20, 30 minutes,” he said. “I was sweating it out because I usually arrive super last-minute. And those levels of uncertainty are just higher now with the shutdown.”
3. Consider biometric screening
Henderson typically recommends signing up for TSA PreCheck or the Global Entry program to move through airport security more quickly — and to opt in to biometric screening. That has to be done in advance, and travelers also have to choose biometric screening in their airline apps.
“Make sure if that’s an option that you’re opted in for that, because that will save you so much agita,” he said.
For those who haven’t signed up in advance, there is a last-minute alternative: the private CLEAR program, which allows people to enroll at the airport. Henderson notes it’s pricey — annual membership costs $209 — but that some credit card companies will refund that fee.
“For me to skip a three-hour line is probably worth the membership fee, especially if you know your credit card will pay you back for it,” he said.
That said, expedited screening lanes are not always faster than regular screening, both Henderson and Dong warned. Always check what all the lanes look like when you arrive at the airport.
4. Make a plan B
If you miss a connection or your flight is canceled, be proactive about rebooking. “Have all the tools available to you in the toolbox in case things go wrong,” Henderson advises.
That includes installing your airline’s app on your smartphone and writing down their customer service number, so you aren’t scrambling to find it.
“And then, you know, obviously have a plan B,” Henderson said. “Know what other airlines fly the route that you want to take in case, you know, you missed your Delta flight and American is offering a flight you can take later that day.”
He says while airlines don’t generally like to rebook passengers on competitors’ flights, it’s worth asking. He also recommends having the information at hand to give to customer service agents, including flight number, airline and departure time.
And if an airline cancels your flight in the U.S., you’re entitled to a refund, according to the Department of Transportation.
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