Airport congestion eases as TSA workers receive backpay but record DHS shutdown drags on – US politics live

<p>Union boss says workers have received some, but not all, of their pay</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/feb/17/sign-up-for-the-breaking-news-us-email-to-get-newsletter-alerts-direct-to-your-inbox?utm_medium=ACQUISITIONS_STANDFIRST&amp;utm_campaign=BN22326&amp;utm_content=signup&amp;utm_term=standfirst&amp;utm_source=GUARDIAN_WEB"><strong>Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox</strong><br></a></p><p></p><p>Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.</p><p><strong>Security lines have eased at airports, clearing the worst of the bottlenecks as Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) officers began receiving backpay for working during the government shutdown.</strong></p><p><strong>Allegations swirl that a broker for Pete Hegseth inquired into an investment in key defense companies before the Iran war began.</strong> The Morgan Stanley broker allegedly made an inquiry with BlackRock regarding an investment into a defense-focused equity fund. The Pentagon denied the allegations calling them “entirely false and fabricated”.</p><p><strong>Florida Governor Ron DeSantis <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/30/donald-trump-palm-beach-airport-ron-desantis">signed a bill</a> to rename the Palm Beach International Airport after Donald Trump.</strong> This would make the airport the latest in a long list of institutions, government programs, buildings and even money named after the president.</p><p><strong>The US government has directed all of its embassies and consulates to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/30/embassies-campaign-marco-rubio-elon-musk">launch coordinated campaigns against foreign propaganda</a>.</strong> Marco Rubio signed a cable on Monday directing the embassies to coordinate with the US military’s psychological operations unit to address disinformation. It suggested using <strong>Elon Musk</strong>’s social media platform X to carry out the campaign.</p><p><strong>José Guadalupe Ramos, a Mexican national, becomes the 14</strong>^th<strong> known person to die in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since the beginning of the year.</strong> He was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/30/mexican-man-dies-ice-detention-los-angeles">found unconscious in his bunk</a> last week at the Adelanto detention center in California and pronounced dead after being taken to a nearby medical center.</p><p><strong>The army is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/mar/30/kid-rock-army-helicopters">investigating a helicopter fly-by</a> at Kid Rock’s hillside swimming pool in Tennessee on Saturday.</strong> Two army choppers on a training run visited and hovered by the rocker’s house as he saluted them. According to the army, there was no official request for the fly-by, which triggered the administrative review.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/mar/31/donald-trump-iran-shutdown-dhs-tsa-ice-immigration-kennedy-center-latest-news-updates">Continue reading...</a>

Read the full article at: The Guardian World →