TSA Agents Have Allegedly Been Asked to Return $1,000 Gift Cards From Tyler Perry

AP Photo/Jordan Strauss

TSA agents have allegedly been asked to return $1,000 gift cards donated by media mogul Tyler Perry.

As a result of the ongoing partial government shutdown that has left the Department of Homeland Security’s funding up in the air, TSA agents had been working without pay for six weeks. Callout rates skyrocketed to 10 percent and more than 500 TSA workers quit.

On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to pay TSA agents all current and back pay as the partial shutdown stretches on. By Monday, some TSA agents received retroactive, partial paychecks.

Perry, who resides in a $100 million mansion in Georgia, first reportedly tried to distribute cash to TSA agents at nearby Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport before the executive order was signed. But, he was turned down as federal rules bar TSA employees from accepting cash gifts.

So, Perry and his team reportedly coordinated with airport officials, including management and human resources, before returning to the airport on March 27 with $250,000 in gift cards, each valued at approximately $1,000.

WXIA, an NBC affiliate based in Atlanta, reported that the airport’s federal security director raised concerns about the donation and told agents who received the gift cards to return them to Perry.

In a statement to The New York Post, A DHS spokesperson briefly blamed federal rules for the mandated gift card return before switching gears and calling on Senate Democrats to end the partial government shutdown.

“TSA officers are prohibited from accepting gifts at screening locations. Even during a shutdown, cash or cash equivalents cannot be accepted on behalf of the agency,” the spokesperson told The Post. “The effects of the Democrats’ Reckless DHS shutdown are hitting frontline officers hard—some are sleeping in their cars, selling blood to make ends meet, and struggling to pay rent. Democrats must re-open DHS now.”

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