Lafayette Restaurant Owner Thanks TSA Agents With Gift Cards

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) — Local restaurateur Tim Metcalf, who owns multiple Deano's and Prejean's locations, is giving back to Lafayette Regional TSA agents who stayed on the job despite a shutdown withholding their pay.

"You hear all about the lines at New Orleans, but you're not hearing that here," Metcalf explained. "They're showing up. They represent the spirit of Acadiana."

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Metcalf also challenged other business owners to do the same.

The DHS Shutdown Continues

The gesture comes as the DHS partial shutdown, now in its 40th day, has pushed TSA workers across the country to a breaking point. More than 61,000 TSA employees, roughly 95 percent of the agency’s workforce, are classified as essential and legally required to keep showing up to work without a paycheck.

More than 481 officers have left the TSA workforce entirely since the funding lapse began, with thousands more calling out daily because they can’t cover basic expenses like gas, childcare, and rent.

The political impasse traces back to February 14, when DHS funding lapsed amid a congressional standoff over immigration enforcement oversight. A 2019 law guarantees back pay when funding resumes, but that’s cold comfort for workers facing eviction notices and depleted bank accounts in the meantime.

The strain is visible at Louisiana’s largest airport. Louis Armstrong has seen long TSA lines for three consecutive weekends, with peak travel hours running from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. and again from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Lines have stretched to the third-floor check-in area by early morning on some days, prompting airport officials to urge travelers to arrive at least three hours before departure. New Orleans callout rates spiked more than 30% on March 14 and 15, compounding the delays during one of the busiest travel stretches of the year.

Lafayette Regional, by contrast, has been a different story — which is exactly what drew Metcalf’s attention.

TSA is screening roughly three million passengers on peak days with a workforce that keeps shrinking. The acting TSA administrator testified before Congress this week that some airports are seeing callout rates above 50%, and wait times at the hardest-hit checkpoints have exceeded four and a half hours. Lafayette hasn’t made that list.

Metcalf Issues a Challenge

The agents here have kept showing up, and Metcalf noticed. He delivered $100 Deano's gift cards for the 33 TSA agents at Lafayette Regional Airport on Friday morning.

During a radio interview with statewide radio host Moon Griffon, Metcalf also challenged local business leaders to do the same. After dropping his gift cards off, Metcalf told KPEL News three other businesses had already stepped up to do the same.

As of now, it appears the DHS shutdown will continue. But locals are stepping up to support the workers who continue to show up. It's the true spirit of Acadiana, as Metclaf noted.

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