DHS staffers are now getting paid during the shutdown. Here’s how

By Tami Luhby, CNN

(CNN) — Tens of thousands more Department of Homeland Security workers are being paid during the record partial government shutdown after President Donald Trump ordered the agency to send Transportation Security Administration employees their back pay.

And soon tens of thousands of other DHS staffers — including Federal Emergency Management Agency workers, civilians in the US Coast Guard and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency employees — should receive their back pay after Trump issued a similar directive for them last week.

In an usual step, furloughed workers will also be paid, though they are not reporting to work, according to a DHS memo sent to employees earlier this week.

TSA employees received a substantial part of their back pay last week and are set to receive the balance, along with their next scheduled paycheck, at the end of this week.

Other DHS staffers should see their back pay hit their bank accounts between April 10 and April 16, according to the memo. They will also receive their next scheduled paycheck later this week.

However, while TSA workers can expect to receive another paycheck at the end of April, that’s not the case for other DHS staffers. They were told not to submit their time cards for the coming pay period until they receive further guidance, according to the memo.

The stalemate on Capitol Hill has dragged on with lawmakers away from Washington for their Easter and Passover break. After the Senate and House passed conflicting funding bills in late March, congressional Republican leaders announced an ambitious plan to restore funding for DHS – but significant hurdles remain.

Nearly 92% of DHS’ 272,000 employees are continuing to work during the shutdown, which began February 14 after Congress failed to fund the agency for the remainder of the fiscal year.

DHS is using money from last summer’s “big, beautiful bill” to continue compensating certain employees — particularly those involved in immigration enforcement, one of Trump’s top priorities.

The department received a $165 billion infusion from the sweeping GOP domestic policy agenda package, which funneled $75 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement alone and $64 billion to Customs and Border Protection.

Paychecks for sworn law enforcement officers in ICE, CBP and the Secret Service, as well as for Coast Guard military personnel, are being funded by the “big, beautiful bill,” according to a senior administration official.

Other positions that work on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and border security priorities, such as technology specialists and attorneys, are also being paid through the president’s domestic policy package, the official said.

Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said last fall that 70,000 law enforcement personnel, including in CBP, ICE and other divisions, would receive their paychecks during the last shutdown thanks to funds from the “big, beautiful bill.”

Last week, money started flowing into the bank accounts of the roughly 61,000 TSA employees who have missed two full paychecks and one partial paycheck during the shutdown. DHS is likely drawing on a $10 billion pot of funds it received from the “big, beautiful bill,” experts told CNN.

The agency is still working on sending the TSA workers the balance of their pay from the partial check they received in late February, DHS said in a statement last week. But staffers should expect to receive their next two paychecks, as scheduled, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 47,000 TSA officers.

Anything after that may need an additional executive order or other form of funding, according to the union.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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CNN’s Alexandra Skores contributed to this story.