Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a quick donation.

As Senate Republicans on Saturday voted against advancing a Democratic bill to pay Transportation Security Administration workers during talks over Department of Homeland Security funding, GOP President Donald Trump tried to pin the blame for the partial DHS shutdown on Democrats and threatened to flood U.S. airports with immigration agents.

The conduct of immigration agents under DHS — which oversees Customs and Border Protection as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement — in U.S. communities, particularly Minnesota’s Twin Cites, led to the partial shutdown last month, with Democrats demanding reforms after CBP and ICE agents killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

While CBP and ICE can use the extra money they got last year in Republicans’ so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, other DHS agencies are more impacted by the shutdown, including TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Secret Service, and the Coast Guard. Some essential government employees have been working without pay for over a month.

Congress’ April recess is rapidly approaching. The largest federal workers union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), warned Friday that “on March 27, about 47,000 TSA officers, 22,000 FEMA employees, 8,900 Coast Guard civilian staff, and hundreds of Border Patrol administrative personnel will miss another paycheck.”

AFGE national president Everett Kelley said that the House of Representatives and Senate “have had weeks to fix this, and they have barely been in the same building.”

Afghanistan War Veteran Dies in ICE Custody One Day After Arrest

“Members of Congress have walked past our TSA members at airport security checkpoints more often than they’ve met to negotiate an end to this stalemate,” he continued. “Those officers........

© Truthout