The State Without Pay - How the Power Struggle Over Migration Takes the Department of Homeland Security Hostage

In Washington, the clock is ticking. If it runs out, the Department of Homeland Security will lose its funding overnight into Saturday. The conflict centers on the administration’s hard line in enforcing immigration law, particularly after federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis last month. Democrats are tying their approval of new funds to clear rules: officers should identify themselves during operations, remove masks and present judicial warrants when making arrests on private property. Republicans reject this as unreasonable obstacles. The stalemate is entrenched.

A lapse in funding does not, however, mean an immediate halt to the deportation machinery. Many of the department’s functions are considered “essential.” Employees may be legally required to work - even without pay. Under a 2019 law, they receive their money retroactively once funding is restored. That does not change the fact that bills come due while bank accounts remain empty. Immigration enforcement itself is likely to be least affected. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with around 22,000 employees and Customs and Border Protection with more than 60,000 personnel are among the units that would continue operating. ICE also has an additional cushion: last summer Congress drastically increased its budget and provided an additional 75 billion dollars. These funds can be used to bridge a funding gap.

At airports, the situation is no different. Around 95 percent of the approximately 60,000 employees of the Transportation Security Administration are expected to report to work even in the event of a shutdown - without pay. During the last 43 day shutdown in the fall, many reached their limits. Some took on second jobs, others resigned. In Houston, in the final weeks of the closure, delays occurred at security checkpoints because staff were missing. After the end of the last shutdown, some employees received bonuses of 10,000 dollars for special service. Whether the prospect of similar recognition will suffice this time remains open. Disasters do not adhere to budget debates. About 85 percent of the employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency would continue working even if no money flows. The disaster relief fund is currently sufficiently funded to handle ongoing and foreseeable operations, the agency says. But if a severe disaster were to occur during a shutdown, that fund would come under considerable pressure. Reimbursements to states could also be delayed, slowing reconstruction.

The immigration agency that decides on residence permits and naturalizations is largely fee funded. Many processes would therefore continue. Programs that depend on appropriated funds, such as the electronic system for verifying work authorization, were halted during the last shutdown. The administration announces that this time it will take measures to keep it open.

The Coast Guard, organizationally assigned to the Department of Homeland Security, functions in this regard like a military branch: uniformed personnel must report for duty even if they initially receive no pay. Leadership warns that a prolonged shutdown would undermine operational readiness. Training would be suspended, maintenance postponed, morale would suffer.

At the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the situation would look different. A large portion of the approximately 2,300 employees would be furloughed, only 888 would have to continue working, many also without pay. Tasks that directly protect life and property would continue. Strategic planning and the development of new guidelines would be halted.

The Secret Service, finally, would remain on duty at about 94 percent. The protection of the president, the vice president, their families, former presidents and foreign guests is considered indispensable. Yet here too officials warn of declining motivation if pay is withheld while important projects such as training and new hiring are delayed.

More than 90 percent of the department’s employees already had to work during the last long shutdown. That practice is likely to apply again. Officially, it is said that essential functions will continue as in any funding lapse. Behind this formula stand thousands of people who report for duty even though politics temporarily withholds their wages. The power struggle over migration rules has thus reached a second level. It is no longer only about identification requirements, masks or judicial warrants. It is about how far a state is willing to go when it uses its own employees as leverage in a political dispute.