Is The Government Shutdown Right Now — DHS Workers Go Unpaid While Some Units Keep Getting Checks

Is the government shutdown right now is not an abstract question for Department of Homeland Security employees: after more than four weeks of a shutdown across DHS, tens of thousands of workers have been working without pay and feeling financial strain, even as select categories of personnel continue receiving on-time pay.

Is The Government Shutdown Right Now? What the DHS lapse looks like on the ground

The funding lapse at DHS began Feb. 14, and the shutdown has now lasted more than four weeks. Out of more than 260, 000 DHS personnel, tens of thousands have been feeling financial strain after working over a month without pay. The affected workforce includes employees at the Transportation Security Administration, FEMA, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Many employees missed a full paycheck last Friday, described as the first entirely skipped payday since the shutdown began. The immediate impact is financial: employees are trying to cover mortgages, groceries, and other bills without the certainty of when regular pay will resume.

This is also the third time since October 2025 that some DHS employees have had to work without pay. While a 2019 law guarantees federal employees back pay once a shutdown ends, that guarantee does not prevent hardship while the paychecks are missing.

Who is demanding action, and what are they telling Congress?

Federal unions and employee organizations have been calling for relief and for an end to the DHS shutdown. National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald demanded that Congress find a way to reach a bipartisan solution to immediately end the funding lapse.

Greenwald wrote in a letter to Congress that “frontline employees” have had to wonder whether they will be able to pay their mortgage or buy groceries while not knowing how long the shutdown will last, even as they continue coming to work “every day to keep our country safe. ” She also called the situation “unacceptable, ” stating that employees should not have to rely on charity to make ends meet while Congress fails to act.

Craig Carter, national president of the Federal Managers Association, framed the issue as both a workforce crisis and a public-safety risk. He said Coast Guard members are being asked to protect waters without pay, and that Secret Service members are on the job but distracted by concerns over paying bills. Carter argued that, amid what he described as “extreme security risks, ” it is critical to fund the agency and provide certainty, proper compensation, and back pay.

The contradiction inside DHS: who keeps working without pay, and who doesn’t

Most DHS employees are considered “excepted, ” meaning they continue working as usual but do not receive pay until after the shutdown ends. Within that structure, some employees are still receiving on-time pay.

Select categories of DHS employees, including law enforcement personnel, are continuing to receive on-time pay throughout the shutdown. DHS has done this by diverting discretionary funding it received from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The on-time pay coverage includes many employees at Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

However, even within CBP, there are still thousands of employees required to work without pay until the shutdown ends. The split between on-time pay and delayed pay has become a focal point for workforce frustration as the funding lapse persists without what unions describe as real progress by lawmakers toward a DHS spending agreement.

The workforce stress is not only a matter of household budgets. As a result of the current DHS shutdown, hundreds of TSA employees have reportedly quit. Some employees have had to go to food banks or take other measures to cover living costs without a paycheck.

Is the government shutdown right now remains the defining question for affected employees: until the funding lapse ends, tens of thousands across DHS are expected to keep reporting to work under delayed-pay conditions, while unions and employee groups press Congress to act.