Month: April 2026

CHICAGO (WLS) — While President Donald Trump’s executive order has given backpay to vital TSA security officers to keep lines moving at the nation’s airports, many employees at the Department of Homeland Security are still going without pay. Some are vital to national security. “It is their fault. They should be working towards getting a resolution to get the federal workers who are impacted by the shutdown paid,” said TSA Officer and Union Representative Tatiana Finlay. ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch She is voicing the frustration of hundreds of DHS workers, still unpaid without a funding deal, as her team starts to receive paychecks. “We feel a little bit of relief, but now we’re just trying to play catch up,” said Finlay. Sworn law enforcement agents at DHS are still receiving pay, including ICE, CBP, and Secret Service protective agents, thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill signed into law earlier this year. That is not the case for non-agent secret service members responsible for life-saving research on targeted violence, or vital members of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, responsible for United States Cyber Defense. Digital threats continue with the Iran War. Iran-linked cybercriminals have targeted U. S. companies, and members of the Trump administration, including FBI Director Kash Patel, hacking one of his email addresses from prior to 2019 and exposing private correspondence. Federal Emergency Management Agency workers also continue to go unfunded, potentially slowing vital disaster response and relief. Army veteran and former FEMA officer, Steve Reaves, is speaking out on behalf of his colleagues. “They’re calling out, they’re calling out for work, and they’re asking to be in furlough, just let me stay at home. That way I don’t have to worry about, you know, paying for gas to come into work every day or lunch every day, and that’s just one less burden that they have,” said Reaves. He says he chose to retire from his post at FEMA after 14 years this January, citing job instability. “It’s just wrong, and we can’t, we can’t continue to operate like this and expect a high level of performance out of people who are constantly worried about paying, you know, bills, week to week, month to month,” said Reaves. Trump is urging lawmakers to come back early from Easter recess to hammer out a deal on this shutdown, but there is no timeline for when or if that may happen.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/dhs-shutdown-2026-security-impact-leaving-large-department-homeland-agencies-unfunded-during/18818525/