Earlier this week, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which is the busiest in the country and also the biggest employer in Georgia, announced security-line waiting times of nearly an hour and a half—more than twice that of any other airport in the country. On account of the prolonged government shutdown, which began on December 22nd and does not appear to be ending anytime soon, Transportation Security Administration officers are not being paid, and a number of them have decided not to come to work. At Hartsfield, a half-dozen security lanes were reportedly closed in the domestic terminal as a result.

Some close to the White House reportedly believe that the only way Trump will stop the shutdown—short of Democrats green-lighting a wall along the border with Mexico—is if the thousands of T.S.A. officials who safeguard the nation’s airports collectively decide to stay home. This would infuriate enough Americans from all parties, the thinking goes, to force Trump to compromise with Democrats.

On Wednesday night, after her shift had ended, I spoke with a T.S.A. officer at Hartsfield. An African-American woman in her early forties, she lives in Atlanta with her adult daughter. The officer asked that I not use her name, fearing retaliation by the agency. For two years, she has worked forty hours a week, for thirty-five thousand dollars a year after taxes. This is slightly more than she made at her previous job as a self-employed beautician, and the work, she explained, is more stable. Or at least it was. Her account, which she provided by phone, has been edited and condensed.

“I was self-employed before, working in beauty care. When Trump came into office, I was scared as an entrepreneur. I thought I was gonna be in jeopardy financially. So the opportunity came up and I applied for T.S.A. It had benefits. I have an adult daughter who is sickly, living at home. I’m supporting her. She’s trying to figure her life out. And I’m a single parent for her. And I’m a homeowner with a mortgage, a yard, all these other things to take care of.

“On a given day, I’m the officer at the X-ray machine, I’m looking in bags, I’m doing pat-downs and customer service. You mix it up so you don’t get too fatigued. I was making a little less with my previous job, and this is more secure. You show up and everything is there.

“It’s hard, though, being the bastard children of the federal government. We’re a young agency. We don’t get paid as much as other organizations do, but we have this job that puts our lives at risk. But people just don’t know what it’s like to wake up every day and put this uniform on—and now to not know what’s going on. I’m trying to be security, and I’m not secure. And now I don’t get a paycheck, and I still have to do this with a smile.

“I’ve been cussed out by passengers. Somebody yesterday, in one of these long lines, called an officer a ‘fat heifer.’ I was called a racist and told, ‘That’s why Trump doesn’t like you,’ because I told the man to take his water out. The guy said, ‘I don’t have to.’ I said, ‘Sir, if your time is valuable, you need to take it out.’

“At work, I make jokes and talk. I have to. Some people I work with don’t care. They’re pissed. But I just want people the hell out of my face. I don’t want them to linger with their attitude. They’re already agitated: their private jet is broken and they had to get on this regular plane. So let’s get them out as quickly and safely as possible. I’m not a mall cop who wants to flex.

“A lot of it is racial. Atlanta is brown, and people travelling, a lot of them are coming from the Midwest—they went to Cancun and they have to connect in Atlanta. You can tell who voted for whom. You really can. My first gun, this guy didn’t think there was anything wrong with bringing a pistol in his book bag! It scared me, as a new X-ray operator. I’m, like, ‘Is this really a gun?’ He felt like it was O.K. I had to try to be nice but firm. At the same time, I don’t have a weapon! No one is scared of me. I’ve been chest-bumped by a man before! All I have are my five fingers spread out telling you to stop or slow down or wait a minute. I’ve had other men walk up on me, scream in my face. Even then, I’m, like, ‘Sir, relax. Didn’t you just have a great vacation? I’ll wait.’

“People from other airports want to come here because Atlanta is booming and it’s easier to live with a government job. We have a lot of transfers from New York. Coming here is great for your résumé. My dream was to make my T.S.A. job finance my beauty work. But you don’t have a lot of room to have a side job, a social life, to be on social media, to even wear your uniform. They want you to cover up your T.S.A. patches on your uniform shoulders so you aren’t exposed, because people hate T.S.A.

“It’s all over the news how they’re providing us free lunch during the shutdown. I’m thankful for the Chick-fil-A sandwich boxes. But people need money. We’re being told that Navy Federal Credit Union will give us a loan. But as soon as you get the check they’re gonna take the money back! Or you can get unemployment. But it’s only three hundred and fifty dollars a week and, as soon as you get paid, you have to pay the money back! And, oh, yeah, you can get food stamps. But you better hurry quick because the end of the month is coming and you’re only gonna get one hundred and fifty dollars and it takes three to seven business days to process! That’s not enough to live off of. I tried when I was younger, and it was a struggle. And to have kids, doing it by yourself, trying to work overtime, and you don’t know if you’re gonna get paid. Those are my co-workers.

“It’s thirty minutes to three hours to process people. The hour-and-a-half wait times here recently in the domestic terminal could easily turn into three-hour wait times if we did everything extremely strictly, by the book. Imagine going from twenty officers down to four. It won’t necessarily be less safe, but it will take a lot longer.

“I grew up in a military household, so showing up when you aren’t feeling your best is something I’m accustomed to. I woke up sick this morning and I felt, like, I can’t call out sick, because I don’t know what will happen to me. You have to show documentation to show why you aren’t here, and the feeling is that calling in sick, it’s gonna count against you.

“I have co-workers that are viva la revolución personalities. They want change now, and they want to be part of it: ‘We should stop coming in during the shutdown and let them feel the pressure.’ For me and my household, I’ll show up. I’ve been through worse. I’ve lived some life. I have some other skill sets, thank God. Other people don’t have that.