The airport chaos that occurred last month at several US airfields, when a lack of security personnel due to the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) caused long lines at checkpoints, could be repeated in May. This is according to warnings made by DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who said there would be no money to pay federal employees in the first week of next month if a budget agreement is not reached. “Money is running out at a dizzying speed, and once that happens, there will be no emergency funds left,” he declared in an interview with Fox on Tuesday.
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The DHS has been shut down for two months due to a lack of bipartisan agreement in Congress, the longest partial government shutdown in the country’s history. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents went weeks without pay, leading hundreds to abandon their posts and thousands to be absent. Long airport queues and missed flights became routine at airports.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order at the end of March authorizing the use of emergency funds to pay employee salaries. According to Mullin, worker payrolls amount to $1.6 billion, and the available funds only cover this month.
“Once we get past April… I will only have one payroll left to cover and there will be no more emergency funds; therefore, the president will not be able to issue another executive order for us to use money, as there will be no money left available,” he said.
In an interview with Scripp News, Johnny Jones, secretary of Council 100 of the TSA union, said that the situation created by the delayed payment of salaries was devastating for many families and that they face fines for not being able to meet their rent or credit card payments. He explained that many people have still not received their full salary. Jones said that 80% of workers continued their work despite not receiving pay for a month and a half.
Jones called on Congress to approve the full-year budget, end the shutdown, and grant a $10,000 bonus to federal employees, “because I imagine there are still some employees who had not received their pay until very recently, until last week. So it’s time for Congress to say, ‘Hey, we’re sorry we put you through this.’
The budgetary disagreement in Congress revolves around the reform of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which Democrats demand and Republicans reject, keeping negotiations acrimonious. Democrats imposed reforms on ICE and the Border Patrol after police operations in Minneapolis in January led to the deaths of citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents. The brutality with which agents carried out migrant arrests and reacted against protesting citizens triggered a wave of criticism and demands from Democratic lawmakers. They demand measures such as prohibiting agents from wearing masks and requiring judicial warrants to enter homes.
For their part, and conversely, some House Republicans have insisted that they cannot approve the national security spending bill without seeing significant progress towards the measure that would fund immigration law enforcement.
Democrats have wanted to approve the DHS budget to end the shutdown by excluding agencies responsible for immigration operations, but Republicans have opposed it. Nevertheless, despite the blockade, anti-immigration operations have continued without interruption because ICE has independent funding. These were unprecedentedly approved in the Big and Beautiful Act, the fiscal mega-bill passed last summer, leaving ICE with a budget larger than the FBI and DEA combined, and more than the funds of many armies worldwide.
Senate Republicans on Tuesday presented a new budget plan that, to be approved, would only need a simple majority, thanks to a legislative maneuver that would allow an indefinite series of amendments. Republican lawmakers expect to approve this resolution by vote this week. The proposal would grant $70 billion for immigration control.
Although the funding and operation of immigration agencies have been the focus of negotiations, the DHS encompasses more than a dozen agencies, including FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), the Coast Guard, and cybersecurity, secret service, and counter-terrorism agencies.
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