DHS Uses Multi-Year Reconciliation Funding to Pay 70,000 Immigration Enforcement Officers During Shutdown While 700,000 Federal Workers Go Unpaid

During the fourth week of the October 2025 government shutdown affecting over 700,000 federal employees, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that approximately 70,000 Department of Homeland Security law enforcement officers—including ICE deportation officers, CBP border patrol agents, Secret Service special agents, and TSA air marshals—would receive full compensation via “super checks” covering all shutdown days worked without pay, overtime, and the next pay period. The payments were funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s multi-year reconciliation appropriations ($75 billion for immigration enforcement through September 30, 2029), demonstrating how reconciliation’s budget structure can insulate specific agencies from the funding interruptions that affect the broader federal workforce during government shutdowns.

The selective payment system created stark disparities even within DHS itself: sworn law enforcement officers received full compensation while other CBP employees “who also do vital work facilitating international trade and travel” remained unpaid, and TSA officers were excluded because “they are not law enforcement officers” despite working alongside paid TSA air marshals. Meanwhile, air traffic controllers—deemed essential workers—continued working 60-hour weeks, six days a week, without pay, with many taking second jobs at restaurants or driving for Uber and DoorDash to cover basic expenses during the prolonged shutdown.

Noem explicitly framed the payment mechanism as partisan advantage, stating the reconciliation law “will ensure that these 70,000 employees will be having their pay covered during the Democrats’ government shutdown.” This characterization obscured the actual mechanism: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act had appropriated immigration enforcement funds through 2029 with “minimal restrictions,” creating what critics described as an “unaccountable slush fund” that DHS could access via existing transfer authority regardless of annual appropriations status. The multi-year structure meant these funds did not lapse during the shutdown like traditional discretionary appropriations.

The payment disparity revealed systematic prioritization through budget design: Congress had structured reconciliation funding to ensure immigration enforcement operations continued uninterrupted during shutdowns while essential services like air traffic control—critical to national safety and commerce—faced the same annual appropriations vulnerabilities that have historically forced federal workers to choose between their jobs and their financial stability. A public finance expert quoted in Fortune described this as evidence of “arbitrariness” and “dysfunction” in the federal budget process, with political priorities rather than operational necessity determining which essential workers received compensation.

The mechanism demonstrated how budget reconciliation—originally designed to expedite deficit reduction and mandatory spending legislation—could be weaponized to create funding structures that bypass traditional congressional oversight and annual reauthorization requirements. By appropriating $75 billion for immigration enforcement through 2029 with broad flexibility and minimal directives, Congress had effectively insulated DHS immigration operations from the accountability mechanisms that force annual evaluation of spending priorities, program effectiveness, and operational necessity. The shutdown payment system proved that this structure was functioning exactly as designed: to prioritize immigration enforcement regardless of budget constraints, congressional gridlock, or comparisons to other essential government functions.