By Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN

(CNN) — Airports across the country are bracing for another crush of weekend travelers as they anxiously wait to see whether Congress will reach a deal to end the partial government shutdown that has driven mounting TSA officer shortages and resulted in the longest security wait times the agency has ever seen.

There has been no significant progress on a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Transportation Security Administration, and lawmakers are set to leave for a two-week recess Friday.

Without a funding solution, overwhelmed airports will go into the weekend – typically some of the busiest travel days – with spring break travel in full swing and only a fraction of their security screening capabilities. TSA workers have been quitting or calling out of work in droves after going six weeks without pay. And it is unclear whether the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deployed to airports this week to help manage the chaos have made a significant dent.

Though Senate GOP leaders earlier this week believed they may have found a middle ground that would open DHS by the weekend, the plan has seemingly sputtered out. A new push for a deal is underway, but airport officials have warned of dire fallout if the crisis continues.

“We worry conditions will only get worse at airports across the US until Congress ends this shutdown,” Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for the Houston Airport System, said in a recorded statement Wednesday.

Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport has seen some of the most severe impacts, along with travel hubs in New York and Atlanta.

Scrambling to address traveler frustrations, airports have redirected employees from other departments, alerted travelers to arrive hours earlier than planned and brought in outside security personnel.

Here is how airports and officials are trying to address travel disruptions.

A surge of spring breakers

The middle of the week, typically the slowest time for air travel, offered some reprieve. By Wednesday, security wait times had returned to normal in several airports, with some exceptions.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport reported a two-hour wait Wednesday afternoon, down from more than four hours earlier in the week. Szczesniak said the airport is able to operate only about half of its 37 TSA checkpoints because of staff shortages.

“So that’s 100% spring break loads going through the airport being processed through less than 50% of our TSA lanes,” he said. “That is not sustainable.”

Nearly 40% of the Houston airport’s TSA officers called out of work on Tuesday, according to DHS. The airport has been forced to redirect employees from unrelated departments to handle crowds.

“We’ve reassigned hundreds of employees from across our organization, from finance to IT to maintenance and more, to help manage lines and assist travelers,” Szczesniak said.

Several airports have tried to mitigate long waits by asking flyers to arrive far ahead of typically recommended times.

Airports in New York and New Jersey are responding to the travel woes by bringing in civilian security and police officers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the region’s major airports, the agency said. Still, those additional personnel are not able to operate security screening checkpoints and are only assisting with crowd control.

ICE increases its airport presence

In the four days since ICE agents arrived at 14 airports at President Donald Trump’s request, they h

CNN, CSPAN POOL, HOUSTON AIRPORTS, KYW

By Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN

(CNN) — Airports across the country are bracing for another crush of weekend travelers as they anxiously wait to see whether Congress will reach a deal to end the partial government shutdown that has driven mounting TSA officer shortages and resulted in the longest security wait times the agency has ever seen.

There has been no significant progress on a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Transportation Security Administration, and lawmakers are set to leave for a two-week recess Friday.

Without a funding solution, overwhelmed airports will go into the weekend – typically some of the busiest travel days – with spring break travel in full swing and only a fraction of their security screening capabilities. TSA workers have been quitting or calling out of work in droves after going six weeks without pay. And it is unclear whether the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deployed to airports this week to help manage the chaos have made a significant dent.

Though Senate GOP leaders earlier this week believed they may have found a middle ground that would open DHS by the weekend, the plan has seemingly sputtered out. A new push for a deal is underway, but airport officials have warned of dire fallout if the crisis continues.

“We worry conditions will only get worse at airports across the US until Congress ends this shutdown,” Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for the Houston Airport System, said in a recorded statement Wednesday.

Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport has seen some of the most severe impacts, along with travel hubs in New York and Atlanta.

Scrambling to address traveler frustrations, airports have redirected employees from other departments, alerted travelers to arrive hours earlier than planned and brought in outside security personnel.

Here is how airports and officials are trying to address travel disruptions.

A surge of spring breakers

The middle of the week, typically the slowest time for air travel, offered some reprieve. By Wednesday, security wait times had returned to normal in several airports, with some exceptions.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport reported a two-hour wait Wednesday afternoon, down from more than four hours earlier in the week. Szczesniak said the airport is able to operate only about half of its 37 TSA checkpoints because of staff shortages.

“So that’s 100% spring break loads going through the airport being processed through less than 50% of our TSA lanes,” he said. “That is not sustainable.”

Nearly 40% of the Houston airport’s TSA officers called out of work on Tuesday, according to DHS. The airport has been forced to redirect employees from unrelated departments to handle crowds.

“We’ve reassigned hundreds of employees from across our organization, from finance to IT to mai

By Jessie Yeung, CNN

(CNN) — Talks between the United States and Iran are ongoing – though both sides are describing things very differently. US President Donald Trump claimed Tehran wants to make a deal “so badly,” while Iran stressed that Washington’s desire for a deal is “an admission of defeat.”

Meanwhile, the realities of war are hitting home in the US – with high public dissatisfaction, a new postal surcharge, and bipartisan skepticism in Congress.

Here’s what to know on Day 27.

What are the main headlines?

• State of possible talks: The White House said talks with Iran are proceeding apace, even after Tehran did not immediately accept a 15-point plan to end the war. The US is working to arrange a meeting in Pakistan to discuss an off-ramp, two administration officials tell CNN.
• Iran’s response: Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged that messages have been exchanged with the US through mediators, but said that Washington’s shift in tone – having previously demanded Tehran’s “unconditional surrender” – amounted to an acknowledgment of failure.
• USPS fee: The US Postal Service will charge a first-ever 8% fuel surcharge on packages, adding to the costs for American consumers and businesses as a result of the war. The surcharge is temporary and will only apply to packages, not letters. Consumers and businesses will start seeing the fee on April 26.
• Bipartisan complaints: Members of the House Armed Services Committee said they were unsatisfied with a briefing by Trump administration officials on the war, its objectives and timeline – the latest sign of growing angst even among members of Trump’s own party. The frustration arose as lawmakers are bracing for a supplemental request to fund the war effort and restock munitions used so far.
• Public opinion: A new set of polls released Wednesday show high public dissatisfaction with the war. Some 59% of Americans think the US made the wrong decision in using military force in Iran, and 61% disapprove of Trump’s handling of the conflict, according to a new Pew Research survey.
• Timeline: The White House said Wednesday that the US timeline for the war is still four to six weeks, and that it’s “too soon to say” if the administration is satisfied with new Iranian leadership.

What’s happening on the ground?

• Protecting key island: Iran has been laying traps and moving military personnel and air defenses to Kharg Island in preparation for a possible US

By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN

(CNN) — The Justice Department admitted to a federal judge Tuesday it’s been incorrectly relying on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo to justify arrests at immigration courts, according to a new court filing in an ongoing lawsuit.

The lawsuit – brought by civil rights groups last year – challenges the Trump administration’s policy of arresting people at immigration courts, a practice that garnered national attention last year as immigrants showed up to their court hearings as part of the legal immigration process.

In a letter addressed to Judge Kevin Castel and filed Tuesday, Jay Clayton, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, conceded that the administration made misrepresentations to the court about a May 2025 ICE memo that has been repeatedly referenced in the case.

In its defense of the policy, the federal government leaned on the ICE guidance, but that memo, DOJ learned this week, is about enforcement actions in or near courthouses, not immigration courts specifically. Immigration courts fall under the Justice Department’s jurisdiction.

“We write respectfully and regrettably to correct a material mistaken statement of fact that the Government made to the Court and Plaintiffs,” Clayton wrote in the letter, adding counsel from ICE informed DOJ earlier in the day that the guidance “does not and has never applied to civil immigration enforcement actions” near immigration courts.

Clayton said the government would withdraw portions of its briefs and statements made at oral arguments last September that relied on the guidance.

“We deeply regret that this error has come to light at this late stage, after the parties have expended significant resources and time to litigate this case and this court has carefully considered Plaintiffs’ challenge to the 2025 ICE guidance,” the prosecutor wrote in the letter.

CNN has reached out to ICE for comment.

In response to the federal government’s admission, the New York Civil Liberties Union and American Civil Liberties Union, both of which are involved in the lawsuit, said the “implications of this development are far-reaching.”

“In the months since the Court relied on the government’s representation to deny Plaintiffs preliminary relief, Defendants have continued arresting noncitizens at their immigration court hearings, resulting in their detention—often in facilities hundreds of miles away,” they wrote in a letter addressed to the judge.

Last year, the Trump administration began detaining migrants in courthouse hallways nationwide, sometimes moments after pleading their cases. The move raised alarm among attorneys and advocates who said the practice was turning immigration courts from places of due process into zones of fear and punishing people who were following the rules.

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Por Rodrigo Estrada, CNN en Español

Este miércoles, la FIFA anunció la última etapa de venta de boletos para la Copa Mundial de 2026, que comenzará el 1 de abril. En esta fase final, los tickets estarán disponibles para el público en general bajo un sistema de compra directa por orden de llegada y permanecerán a la venta hasta que termine el torneo. Esta será la cuarta y última oportunidad oficial para que los aficionados adquieran entradas para el torneo a disputarse en Canadá, Estados Unidos y México.

Durante esta fase, los usuarios podrán ingresar a la página de la FIFA, en su apartado de tickets, para revisar la disponibilidad de partidos y categorías, elegir asientos específicos, completar la compra y recibir confirmación inmediata tras el pago. Además, quienes adquirieron boletos previamente podrán consultar los asientos asignados desde su cuenta. La FIFA recomienda revisar constantemente la plataforma, ya que la disponibilidad puede cambiar en cualquier momento. Incluso se ofrecerán entradas para múltiples partidos en un mismo día, dependiendo de la oferta.

Por otro lado, a partir del 2 de abril se reactivará el sistema oficial de reventa e intercambio, pensado para que quienes no puedan asistir revendan sus boletos de forma segura y regulada. Este servicio estará sujeto a la normativa local de cada país sede. El organismo, por cierto, recuerda que su portal oficial es el único canal confiable para adquirir entradas. También seguirán disponibles paquetes premium, llamados hospitality, que incluyen experiencias exclusivas el día del partido.

Cabe destacar que solo en la etapa de sorteo se registraron más de 500 millones de solicitudes, lo que derivó en la venta de más de un millón de boletos. En su comunicado, la FIFA dijo que todo parece indicar que esta edición podría romper el récord histórico de asistencia de 3,5 millones de aficionados, cifra a la que se llegó en el Mundial de 1994, disputado también en Estados Unidos.

También aclaró que contar con una entrada no garantiza el acceso a los países anfitriones, por lo que recomienda consultar con anticipación los requisitos migratorios de Canadá, México y Estados Unidos, además de iniciar los trámites de visa lo antes posible. En el caso de Estados Unidos, los aficionados con boleto podrán acceder a un sistema de citas prioritarias.

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