Politics

Homeland Security Department to End Union Contract with TSA Workers

Published

1 year ago

March 8, 2025

Homeland Security Department to End Union Contract with TSA Workers

The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that it was ending its collective bargaining agreement with workers in the Transportation Security Administration, claiming that the union contract was imperiling the safety of travelers.

The move was the latest step by President Trump’s administration to undermine labor protections for federal workers, and prompted an outraged response from the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents some 47,000 at the T.S.A., along with hundreds of thousands of other federal workers. The union vowed to fight the action, saying that it had little do with safety and appeared to be illegal.

The move could lay the groundwork for the government to fire T.S.A. workers and perhaps even privatize the agency, according to labor experts. Project 2025, a conservative policy playbook that Mr. Trump distanced himself from during the presidential campaign but has since followed, called for privatizing the T.S.A.

The T.S.A., which has about 50,000 workers in the field and makes up about a quarter of the Homeland Security Department’s work force, is tasked with securing the nation’s airports, highways and passenger rail system. It was created in 2002 in response to the Sept. 11 attacks and folded into the Homeland Security Department in 2003.

In a statement on Friday, the Homeland Security Department claimed that a “select few poor performers” in the T.S.A. were exploiting benefits and suggested that too many employees were devoting time to union matters rather than security work. “Eliminating collective bargaining removes bureaucratic hurdles,” the statement said, adding that the union had “constrained” efforts to keep Americans safe.

Everett Kelley, the union’s president, said in a statement that “this action has nothing to do with efficiency, safety or homeland security.”

“This is merely a pretext for attacking the rights of regular working Americans across the country because they happen to belong to a union,” he added.

The union’s lawyers were assessing their legal options, according to Brittany Holder, a union spokeswoman.

Rebecca Givan, a professor of labor studies at Rutgers University, said the move appeared to be without precedent by a federal agency and would likely be “tied up in courts.” But she said it would send a message that would be felt beyond the T.S.A.

“For the government to say, ‘We no longer abide by legally binding contracts’ creates uncertainty and insecurity across the work force,” Ms. Givan said.

Last week, T.S.A. workers were told that they needed to respond to emails asking them to list five work accomplishments from the previous week, part of Elon Musk’s request across federal agencies for such lists from employees. The request came as T.S.A. workers headed into one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

In May of last year, the Biden administration reached a seven-year collective bargaining agreement with the T.S.A. workers’ union that enhanced bereavement leave and made it easier for employees to take unscheduled leave. The T.S.A. said the agreement brought the agency’s contract more in line with those of other federal agencies. The union said T.S.A. workers had long been denied protections offered to most federal workers.

It was the first comprehensive collective bargaining contract secured by T.S.A. workers, said John Logan, a professor of labor studies at San Francisco State University.

Mr. Logan said the Trump administration’s effort to withdraw the agreement came as part of a broader statement to agencies that “they can ignore things that we previously thought were legally binding.”

“It’s really a big deal,” he said.

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Politics

King Charles to address Congress in historic first state visit to Washington

Published

5 hours ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

King Charles to address Congress in historic first state visit to Washington

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England’s King Charles III will visit Washington next month, his first state visit since taking over the throne in the United Kingdom.

The king will address congress in the last week of April, Fox News has learned. No date and time has been confirmed.

The visit will be the first time a British monarch will address Congress since 1991, when Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, became the first British royal to speak before American lawmakers.

KING CHARLES TO ADDRESS ‘INCREASING PRESSURES OF CONFLICT’ IN SPEECH AS TRUMP CRITICIZES BRITISH PM ON IRAN

King Charles and Camilla at the Sovereign’s Parade in 2006. Charles will address congress in April in his first state visit to Washington. (Anwar Hussein Collection/ROTA/FilmMagic)

President Donald Trump visited London in September in which he attended a state dinner hosted by Charles at Windsor Castle.

House Speaker Mike Johnson addressed the UK parliament in honor of America’s 250th anniversary where he addressed the special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K.

Charles’ visit will come as the Trump administration pressures British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to provide assistance in the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

UK DEPLOYING WARSHIP, HELICOPTERS TO CYPRUS AFTER DRONE STRIKE

President Donald Trump meets with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, and his wife Victoria Starmer at Trump Turnberry golf club on Monday, July 28, 2025, in Turnberry, Scotland. (Christopher Furlong/Pool Photo via AP)

Starmer has distanced himself from the conflict, prompting Trump to publicly call him out and mock him by saying the British leader is “no Winston Churchill.”

Meanwhile, Starmer has said he remains focused on securing British interests.

“I’m the British prime minister and my job is to be absolutely focused on what’s in the British national interest,” he recently said.

TOPSHOT – Britain’s King Charles III arrives to visit the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre in London on April 30, 2024. Charles is making his first official public appearance since being diagnosed with cancer, after doctors said they were “very encouraged” by the progress of his treatment. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP) (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images) ( HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)

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“That has served me well, in recent weeks,” he added. “And that is the principle that I’ll continue to adhere to as we go forward, taking difficult decisions, notwithstanding the pressure that comes from me from a number of different places.”

Politics

Federal judge orders return of California DACA recipient deported to Mexico

Published

5 hours ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

Federal judge orders return of California DACA recipient deported to Mexico

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday ordered the government to return to the U.S. a California DACA recipient who was deported last month to Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins in Sacramento gave the government seven days to return Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, 42, and restore her protections under the Obama-era program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, “as if her Feb. 19, 2026 removal never occurred.”

A lawyer for Estrada Juarez argued that she was unlawfully deported within a day of appearing at a scheduled immigration appointment in Sacramento.

Lawyers for the government, meanwhile, argued that the court lacked jurisdiction over Estrada Juarez’s case because her petition was filed after she was deported and because her removal was a discretionary decision the government is entitled to.

Coggins said she found the government’s argument “unavailing,” writing in her ruling that Estrada Juarez “was removed in flagrant violation of the regulatory protections afforded to her under DACA, and in violation of the Constitutional protections afforded to her under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

In a statement, Estrada Juarez said she was “overwhelmed with relief and hope” after learning the court’s decision.

The Department of Homeland Security said it had reinstated an expedited removal order for Estrada Juarez from 1998, when she was 15. But her lawyer, Stacy Tolchin, said the record showed that the order lacked supervisory approval and was never finalized, so there was no valid removal order to reinstate.

Homeland Security previously told The Times that an immigration judge had ordered Estrada Juarez’s deportation in 1998 “and she was removed from the United States shortly after.” Tolchin said Estrada Juarez never saw an immigration judge.

Estrada Juarez, who worked as a regional manager for Motel 6, has had protection from deportation under DACA since 2013. She applied for legal permanent residency, or a green card, through her daughter, Damaris Bello, 22, who is a U.S. citizen.

Her deportation after the green card interview garnered public attention and outrage from members of Congress, including Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

Tolchin filed the lawsuit seeking her return on March 10.

DACA was created to protect undocumented people who were brought to the U.S. as children.

As of June 2025, there were more than 515,000 DACA recipients, known as “Dreamers,” in the U.S. California has 144,000 DACA recipients, the most of any state, according to federal data.