Travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport faced lengthy security lines and frustration Sunday, with agents telling passengers to expect to wait as long as five hours at one point, and conflicting instructions led to afternoon chaos as the long lines blocked exits.

Lines for security were long early in the day and mostly got worse as the afternoon wore on, with the kickoff of spring break travel season adding to the pressure in the world’s busiest airport.

By around 6 p.m., one of the security lines wrapped around baggage claim at least once and extended as far back as the American Airlines check-in counters.

Agents warned passengers that wait times for TSA PreCheck, which by midafternoon included passengers without the special travel designation, were climbing to as high as four to five hours.

One worker told passengers in line the wait was “multiple hours. There’s no telling.”

Airport staff, including someone with a megaphone, advised travelers to stay in one line and keep moving.

A Hartsfield-Jackson spokesperson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the agency is sending additional staff from across the airport to manage passenger flow, and they are adding handheld signs to help people find their way through the lines.

At around 2:30 p.m., the security line for PreCheck had grown so long it was creating a traffic jam in the South Baggage Claim area, and people grew frustrated as they tried to find the right line or, in some cases, to leave the airport.

Passengers in the line told the AJC they’d been given conflicting instructions about where to go. The TSA PreCheck line formed a circle around baggage claim, blocking everyone in.

Aaron David, who was among those struggling to retrieve bags Sunday afternoon, described the experience as “absolute insanity and chaos.”

David, along with his family, said he arrived in Atlanta to compete in “Family Feud,” which films in the metro area.

“I wasn’t expecting it,” David said. “I’m from Wisconsin, and I’d heard Atlanta’s airport is kind of crazy, but didn’t expect it to be what it is currently.”

Monica Pasley, with arms folded, looked in disbelief at the line as she stood just outside it at Carousel 6 of the baggage claim. She’d been told to head to Carousel 9, she said, but it was hard to tell where the line began.

Pasley, an OB-GYN who was supposed to be headed to Newark, New Jersey, complained about the inconsistent communication from airport staff.

“I’m thinking about rescheduling it because I don’t even know where to start. I was here last Sunday and they had a bit more direction of where to send people,” she said. “It wasn’t this bad.”

The CLEAR line in the domestic terminal was closed Sunday afternoon.

Just after 4 p.m., the security line at the international terminal began to spill out onto the sidewalk, and wait times doubled to four hours from two.

Eshiemhiado Omodibo, who, along with her mom, arrived early for a 10 p.m. flight to Lagos, Nigeria. She described the lines at the international terminal as a “mess and rowdy.”

Signs around the airport that normally alert passengers to security wait times were down Sunday.

The airport website’s tool for tracking wait times was down on Sunday, and an airport spokesperson said they were working to fix it.

Earlier reports on social media that the international terminal were closed, likely stemming from the website issues, were inaccurate, the spokesperson said.

The continued delays come as President Donald Trump mulls ways to alleviate excruciating travel delays blamed on a partial government shutdown.

Trump, on the social media site Truth Social, suggested bringing in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement workers to fill gaps left by Transportation Security Administration employees. Some TSA agents have either quit or are simply not showing up to work since they stopped getting paid in mid-February.

The president’s comments come amid a congressional standoff over funding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again,” Trump wrote, “I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before.”

On Sunday night, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens confirmed that ICE agents would be deployed to the airport Monday morning. The agents would be tasked with line management and crowd control in the domestic terminals, and would not be conducting immigration-related activities, he said in a statement.

The ICE agents would report directly to the TSA, he said. The federal agencies have not asked for support from the Atlanta Police Department or other city agencies, according to the statement.

“Our administration will continue to monitor the situation closely and remain in communication with the public and travelers as these federal actions develop,” Dickens said in the statement. “Atlanta remains committed to ensuring that residents and travelers feel safe, informed, and supported as they move through the world’s busiest and most efficient airport.”

He added that he hopes the federal government finds a way to fund the TSA and pay its agents soon.

Democrats want reforms that would create more restraints on how ICE operates after fatal shootings of two protesters in Minnesota. For instance, they want requirements for ICE agents to clearly identify themselves and prohibitions against racial profiling. Republicans don’t find those changes acceptable, leading to a weekslong deadlock.

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s representatives did not have an immediate comment on the plan to involve ICE agents in airport operations. But the Democrat from Georgia called on Republicans to “stop blocking TSA funding.”

“Donald Trump’s obstruction is denying TSA workers pay and creating havoc at airports. While negotiations continue over ICE, there is no reason TSA should be held hostage,” Ossoff said in a statement provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A Georgia-based ICE spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment. The AJC also has reached out to U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.

Air travelers endure long lines and two-hour wait times at the TSA security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport amid the partial government shutdown on Saturday, March 21, 2026, in Atlanta. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

White House border czar Tom Homan, tasked with managing a possible ICE deployment to airports, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that immigration agents would focus on nonspecialized tasks to support TSA staff.

He said he would deploy agents only to the airports with the longest wait times, which, according to reports of those times, would include Atlanta.

“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 training that, we won’t do that,” Homan said. “But there are roles we can play to release TSA officers from the nonsignificant roles, such as guarding an exit so they can get back to the scanning machines and move people quicker, and we’re just simply helping our fellow officers at TSA.”

Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents TSA workers, pointed out that the employees undergo special training that requires hands-on practice and repeated certifications to do their jobs.

“You cannot improvise that. Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one,” Kelley said in a statement.

“Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe,” he said. “They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”

Airports across the nation have struggled with long lines and TSA employee shortfalls. Friday brought the highest nationwide callout rate during the shutdown, according to a DHS spokesperson.

In Atlanta at the world’s busiest airport, nearly a third of TSA agents called out Friday, DHS said.

An estimated 350,000 people are expected to pass through Atlanta airport security checkpoints from Thursday through Sunday, according to officials. Saturday featured an influx of early spring break travelers.

Those headed to the Atlanta airport this weekend largely heeded advice repeated by officials the last few days: Arrive at least three hours before departure time.

Delta Air Lines is suggesting getting there four hours early for international flights although wait times at the international checkpoint were significantly shorter Saturday compared to the domestic side.

Despite the long wait times Sunday, most travelers seemed calm, with some even reading books to help fill the time.

In the north checkpoint line, which still occupied the entire baggage claim area by 11 a.m., Stephanie Hicks remained resigned yet hopeful she’d make her 1:45 p.m. flight.

Hicks, of Dallas, Georgia, arrived at the airport at 8 a.m. for her Southwest flight to Denver. Hicks said she has monitored the airport delays since last week as she prepared for a work trip.

“No one’s really going crazy, so it is what it is at this point,” Hicks said of Sunday’s wait times. “You just have to get here early.”

When asked about Trump’s recent announcement to send ICE agents to replace TSA workers who have called out or quit since the shutdown began, Hicks was unfazed.

“I don’t care who’s working as long as they can work and get paid and help us get through this line,” Hicks said.

But a few travelers Sunday were agitated about the long wait, with some missing their flights. George Baning was antsy in the main checkpoint line, pacing and constantly checking his phone as he realized he had just missed his flight.

He and his wife arrived to the airport around 8:30 a.m. to return to their home in Brooklyn, New York. They’d been in Atlanta for five days for a work trip. Their flight was expected to depart around 11 a.m.

“It’s a horrible experience. A hot mess,” he said. “I’m tight. We’ll just have to rebook and hit the lounge.”

Cassi and Bryce Myerhoff said it took them about three hours to get through Atlanta airport security on Sunday, with the line winding all the way through baggage claim and down a long corridor.

“We knew there were some delays but we figured two and a half hours early, it’d be fine – and then it wasn’t,” said Bryce Myerhoff.

Their flight to Oklahoma City was delayed, however, so they still got to the gate before the delayed departure.

“The fact that the government is holding up everything … frankly it’s hurting real people and it’s ridiculous,” he said.

Cassi Myerhoff said of the ICE deployment to airports: “If it would help speed up the lines, I’m for it.”

Early Saturday morning, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport posted wait times of more than two hours at the main domestic checkpoint. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Scott Cauley of Macon said he got to the Atlanta airport about three hours early for a flight to Indianapolis on Sunday “because I was scared.”