Roughly 120,000 Department of Homeland Security employees are working without pay as Democrats and the White House remain at odds over funding the department — and the bulk of those missing checks do not work in immigration enforcement, according to internal numbers compiled by the Trump administration and shared with Semafor.
Some 140,000 DHS employees are still getting paid, with many immigration and law enforcement officials unaffected by the shutdown thanks to funding from last year’s GOP tax cut law. Employees still receiving paychecks include around 57,000 Customs and Border Protection officers, 25,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, and 51,000 Coast Guard members, according to the internal numbers.
Democrats are continuing to demand significant changes to immigration enforcement before they’ll agree to funding DHS. President Donald Trump called on Democrats to restore funding for the department during his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening.
Those working without pay include around 42,000 TSA screening officers and roughly 19,000 other employees from that government agency, according to the compiled numbers. Employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Coast Guard civilians are also being hit hard.