Why ICE Is Being Paid During the Shutdown But TSA Is Not

Key Takeaways

• It has been reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are receiving pay during the current shutdown while many Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers are not.
• The difference stems from the Antideficiency Act, which allows "excepted" employees to keep working, and from how each agency’s funding streams and existing balances are structured.
• Practically, paid ICE personnel mean enforcement and removals can continue; unpaid or strained TSA staffing risks airport delays and added hardship for workers.
• Affected workers may be entitled to retroactive pay once appropriations resume, but that outcome can require congressional action or litigation.

Background: law and the Antideficiency Act

Under the Antideficiency Act, federal agencies cannot spend money without an appropriation from Congress. The law, however, authorizes agencies to keep "excepted" employees working during a lapse in appropriations when their duties are necessary for the safety of human life or protection of property — for example, law enforcement, certain homeland security functions, and emergency responders. It has been reported that ICE personnel have been treated as excepted and are being compensated, while some TSA staff are not receiving pay at this time.

Whether an employee receives pay during a shutdown also depends on the specific agency’s remaining available funds, fee authorities, and prior appropriations. Agencies with carryover balances, user-fee funding, or separate mandatory accounts can sometimes keep certain operations funded longer than others. That mix of legal status and cash-on-hand helps explain why two components inside the same department — the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — can be treated differently in practice.

What this means for immigrants and travelers

For immigrants, the practical consequences are clear. Paid ICE agents mean enforcement actions — arrests, detention, removals, and investigative activity — can continue during the lapse, increasing the immediacy of enforcement risk for people in the removal system or those encountering officers in the community. For people trying to travel to consular appointments, immigration interviews, or hearings, unpaid TSA staffing or stressed airport operations can cause delays, missed appointments, and additional logistical hardship. Low-wage frontline workers at TSA facing delayed pay face personal financial strain; historically, Congress or the courts have pressured agencies to provide retroactive pay, but that often comes only after the shutdown ends.

If you are directly affected: keep in touch with your lawyer or accredited representative, monitor court and agency communications for schedule changes, save documentation of any travel or work disruptions, and prepare contingency funds if possible. The legal framework suggests many excepted workers will be entitled to retroactive compensation once funding is restored, but whether and when that pay arrives can depend on congressional action or litigation.

Source: Original Article