The government shutdown afflicting the Trump administration is creating major headaches for travelers, as airlines across the U.S. face severe delays amid staffing shortages at the FAA.
There will not be enough air traffic controllers in the tower at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the FAA is warning.Now on the seventh day of the government shutdown, the same scenario is playing out at FAA offices across the country, with ripple effects hitting flights almost everywhere.
Ripple effects are disrupting flights almost everywhere, according to CNN.
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As the Trump administration completes its first full week of the government shutdown, signs of a major crisis are emerging across unfunded sectors.
Airports are being hit especially hard, with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) staffing shortages causing delays that now ripple through nearly every flight.
«There’s controllers that have called up sick, and we’re tracking it.»
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Travelers are facing long waits, cancellations, and growing uncertainty over their plans, as major airports and hubs across the country experience ripple effects from problems at individual centers.
Employees reporting sick
Major U.S. cities have been hit hard by the shortage of air traffic controllers, forcing cancellations and delays at Los Angeles International Airport in California, Chicago’s O’Hare in Illinois, as well as airports in Denver, Colorado, and Nashville, Tennessee.
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The shortage of air traffic controllers has been aggravated by staff calling in sick, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noting: «There’s controllers that have called up sick, and we’re tracking it.»
The longer the government shutdown continues, the more the nation’s air travel system is expected to deteriorate. Airlines warn that staffing shortages at the FAA, already forcing widespread delays and cancellations at major airports, will intensify if agencies remain without funding.
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Industry leaders are urging the administration to reopen these agencies to restore critical operations and prevent further ripple effects across U.S. hubs, where disruptions at one airport are increasingly cascading into nationwide travel chaos.
Airlines brace for third day of flight delays as shutdown persists reut.rs/4oaCkYj
Trump, in a Truth Social post, has called for the Chicago mayor and the Illinois governor to be jailed, marking a new escalation in his administration’s attacks and actions against a city under Democratic leadership.
The president claimed the two leaders failed to “protect Ice Officers.”
«Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers! Governor Pritzker also!»
As Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker push back against the Trump administration’s crime crackdown and immigration raids in Chicago, the president voiced his frustration in a Truth Social post, calling for both leaders to be jailed.
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«Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers! Governor Pritzker also!» said the president, accusing the Democratic officials of endangering the lives of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers currently carrying out a major operation in Chicago.
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Tensions are rapidly escalating between Trump, the state of Illinois, and the city of Chicago, as both filed lawsuits on Monday to block the president’s deployment of National Guard members to Chicago.
«They are the ones that are making it a war zone. They need to get out of Chicago if they’re not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president said they were going to do. They need to get the heck out.»
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Over the weekend, the Department of Defense federalized up to 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, in what the DoD has dubbed «Operation Midway Blitz», and also directed 400 federalized Texas National Guard troops to be sent to several Democratic-led cities, many of them headed to Chicago.
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Illinois Governor JB Pritzker condemned the Trump administration’s actions in Chicago, declaring «They are the ones that are making it a war zone. They need to get out of Chicago if they’re not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president said they were going to do. They need to get the heck out.»
Texas National Guard troops have arrived at an Army base in Illinois, a highly unusual deployment of one state’s Guard into another against the host state’s wishes.Read more: https://wapo.st/48hjQ3H
A federal lawsuit against the Trump administration
Protests against the Trump administration’s actions, ongoing since mid-September, are rapidly intensifying in Chicago, with clashes erupting between demonstrators, ICE officials, and journalists, particularly outside a migrant holding facility run by ICE and located in the suburb of Broadview.
«There has been an extreme escalation in the use of force by federal agents at that facility against people who are exercising their First Amendment rights, and targeted attacks against members of the press and legal observers.»
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In late September, the Department of Homeland Security requested additional support to protect ICE facilities in Illinois as protests against the agency escalated.
On October 7, a coalition of journalists, news organizations, unions, and protesters filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago against the Trump administration, accusing federal agents of using «extreme brutality» during recent demonstrations, including tear gas, pepper balls, and projectiles fired even at credentialed reporters clearly displaying press badges; the plaintiffs argue that these actions, carried out without lawful dispersal orders, violate the First Amendment by attempting to intimidate and silence peaceful dissent, and they are asking the court to affirm both protesters’ right to demonstrate peacefully and journalists’ right to observe, record, and report on federal activities.
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«There has been an extreme escalation in the use of force by federal agents at that facility against people who are exercising their First Amendment rights, and targeted attacks against members of the press and legal observers,» said Molly Armour, a volunteer attorney with the National Lawyers Guild in Chicago, who is involved in the case by representing protesters and monitoring abuses.
Trump rhetoric against his political opponents
Trump is now accusing the governor and the mayor of endangering the lives of ICE agents, using a social media post to demand that they be jailed, a stark move that fuels fears his rhetoric against political opponents is increasingly translating into action.
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He has made similar calls in the past, including against former FBI Director James Comey, one of his outspoken critics, who was later indicted on what many have described as bogus charges brought by the administration.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, President Trump said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker "should be in jail."
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 04: Tear gas fills the air after it was used by federal law enforcement agents who were being confronted by community members and activists for reportedly shooting a woman in the Brighton Park neighborhood on October 04, 2025 in Broadview, Illinois. Residents of the city have become increasingly concerned as Operation Midway Blitz continues in the Chicago area, an operation designed to apprehend and deport undocumented immigrants living in the area. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Numerous Chicago Police Department officers were left incapacitated after being ‘accidentally’ tear-gassed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Saturday, Chicago Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security confirms.
Illinois asks the [Trump] administration to halt the illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional federalization of members of the National Guard
The National Guard was deployed to Chicago on Saturday to address what President Donald Trump claimed was “out-of-control crime” amid clashes between ICE agents and protesters.
Chicago has been viewed as a vital battleground state in America’s push against ICE and the abolition of the Fifth Amendment (the right to due process). Protests in Chicago over immigration enforcement have risen since the summer, and don’t show signs of slowing as protesters become radicalized by the fashion that law enforcement and ICE respond to their demonstrations.
Police Officers tear-gassed
BROADVIEW, ILLINOIS – SEPTEMBER 27: Federal law enforcement agents attack demonstrators protesting outside of an immigrant processing center with a barrage of tear gas and pepper balls on September 27, 2025 in Broadview, Illinois. The demonstrators were protesting a recent surge in ICE apprehensions in the Chicago area, part of a push by the Trump administration dubbed Operation Midway Blitz. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
On Saturday, at least five officers were left incapacitated and struggling against the effects of a tear gas canister that was “recklessly” thrown from a moving SUV by ICE agents. Bystanders spoke to reporters about the drive-by attack, claiming they had to run from the gas. Not everyone affected was a part of the protest, according to CBS.
I was offended … 37 years working … I’ve worked with a lot of federal agencies on criminal investigations, and that has never happened. We might not always see eye-to-eye, but we find a way to work it out.
Broadview City Police Chief Thomas Mills says this is not the first time that poorly trained ICE agents have tear-gassed his officers. He also cited an incident in September where he was verbally assaulted by an ICE agent, claiming that in his 37 years on the force, he had never seen Federal agents behave so violently and unprofessionally.
Poorly trained agents
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – OCTOBER 4: Demonstrators protest along Kedzie Avenue in the Brighton Park Neighborhood as Federal Agents were investigating a shooting on October 4, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. Federal Agents shot an individual in the area after a confrontation. President Donald Trumps’s administration continues to enforce immigration laws in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs during Operation Midway Blitz. (Photo by Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump stated he aimed to double the number of ICE agents by the end of 2025. Training to become an ICE agent used to be a five-month folly, where candidates were instilled with the letter of the law and the Constitution. ICE’s administration once took pride in being experts in diffusion and humane arrest practices.
It is deeply concerning that DHS may be allowing a temporary appointee to function as a senior executive without proper appointment.
Since the Trump administration took over the agency, the training has been reduced to just 47 days, according to The Atlantic. ICE’s upper management has been continually shaken and stirred, as the agency fails to meet the lofty deportation targets set by Trump’s administration.
What has resulted is an agency run by what some call a group of unqualified ideologists, with California Representative Robert Garcia stating that “It is deeply concerning that DHS may be allowing a temporary appointee to function as a senior executive without proper appointment.”
ICE currently has more than 6,000 deportation officers, and the Trump administration aims to add another 8,000 by the end of 2025. ICE is offering signing bonuses of up to $ 50,000 USD and has dropped all of its age restrictions. Before August 2025, ICE agents had to be at least 21 and no older than 40; those restrictions have now been dropped. Currently, the minimum age required to become an ICE agent is 18.
The requirements to qualify are also minimal: pass a background check and meet basic fitness and medical standards; that’s it. ICE does not require applicants to have any experience in law enforcement, and within 50 days, it feels comfortable arming and deploying its trainees onto the streets.
Clashes with police this weekend
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – OCTOBER 04: A woman is treated for exposure to tear gas after it was used by federal law enforcement agents who were being confronted by community members and activists for reportedly shooting a woman in the Brighton Park neighborhood on October 04, 2025 in Broadview, Illinois. Residents of the city have become increasingly concerned as Operation Midway Blitz continues in the Chicago area, an operation designed to apprehend and deport undocumented immigrants living in the area. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Tensions between ICE and protesters came to a head on Thursday after multiple protesters rammed and blocked in ICE Agents vehicles. One woman, a U.S. citizen, was hospitalized after being shot five times by a US Customs and Border Protection officer after ramming her car into the officer’s vehicle.
At least ten vehicles were actively attempting to impede the Federal Agents; no officers were injured by those protesters.
Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary, posted on X that “Agents were unable to move their vehicles and exited the car. One of the drivers who rammed the law enforcement vehicle was armed with a semi-automatic weapon.”
She continued by stating that “Law enforcement was forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen who drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds.”
Law enforcement has not confirmed whether the victim was armed or not, contrary to DHS’s statement.
After the incident on Thursday, President Trump announced on Saturday that he would deploy 300 National Guard troops to Illinois to aid the “out-of-control crime.”
Trump doubled down on that statement on Monday, threatening an additional 400 troops from Texas’s National Guard.
Illinois and Chicago Sue
The state of Illinois and the City of Chicago filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, claiming he planned to “use American soldiers to punish his political enemies,” and this was only the most recent example in “months of threats by Trump, …Kristi Noam, and others in the Trump administration,”
The lawsuit continued to call Trump’s deployment of troops “patently unlawful” and calls on the court to “halt the illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional federalization of members of the National Guard.”
The lawsuit cites Illinois’ right to self-governance and claims that the government’s actions will only cause more unrest in the City of Chicago.
A consistent presence in Broadview
BROADVIEW, ILLINOIS – OCTOBER 04: Demonstrators protest outside of an immigrant processing and detention center on October 04, 2025 in Broadview, Illinois. Protests continue to grow as Operation Midway Blitz continues in the Chicago area, an operation designed to apprehend and deport undocumented immigrants living in the area. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Protesters have focused their demonstrations at the Broadview ICE facility, just outside Chicago, shutting down the Northbound exit of Beach Street onto Lexington Street for weeks.
Protesters have been active at this location for an extended period. ICE has now set up three-foot-tall concrete barricades on either side of the street to control the crowd.
More than 1000 people have been detained by Immigration Enforcement in Chicago in 2025, including more than 900 during ICE’s “Operation Midway Blitz.”
