As Shutdown Lingers, DHS Warns Over 1,000 TSA Officers Have Quit—and Staffers Are Slated to Go Unpaid Again

(SeaPRwire) –   As the partial government shutdown persists, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a warning that over 1,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have resigned, and the department is nearing a point where it will be unable to pay its staff.

“With the FIFA World Cup and summer travel approaching, this attrition has significantly diminished TSA’s capacity to manage passenger volume and created critical staffing shortages, as each new recruit requires 4-6 months of training,” the DHS stated in a social media post on X on Monday evening.

The current shutdown, which commenced on February 14 due to a disagreement between Democratic and Republican lawmakers regarding immigration enforcement, is now the longest in U.S. history.

The funding lapse previously resulted in many DHS employees, including TSA agents, working without compensation for weeks. As TSA agents are classified as essential personnel, they are required to continue working during a funding gap, even without pay. However, many TSA officers opted not to report for duty last month to take on additional jobs to cover their expenses, and hundreds more have left their positions at the agency altogether, leading to understaffing at airports nationwide.

Due to the scarcity of TSA agents, airports across the country experienced security wait times extending for hours last month, which was one of the most noticeable consequences of the shutdown.

Other agencies within the DHS have also been affected by the funding shortfall, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Coast Guard.

In response to the disruptions in air travel, President Donald Trump issued an order on March 27 to pay TSA staff using available funds. In the days following the distribution of retroactive paychecks to officers, wait times began to improve at several airports that had been contending with lengthy security queues. The Trump Administration has allocated funds from the President’s One Big Beautiful Bill to compensate TSA staff during the shutdown.

Furthermore, the President later directed the DHS to ensure that “each and every employee of DHS” receives the compensation and benefits they would have earned had the Democrat-led DHS shutdown not occurred.

However, last week, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin indicated that the department would exhaust its funds for staff payments by early May.

“My payroll through DHS is just over $1.6 billion every two weeks, so the money is going extremely fast and once that happens, there is no emergency funds after that,” Mullin stated on Fox and Friends last week. “I’ve got one payroll left and there is no more emergency funds, so the President can’t do another executive order because there’s no more money there.”

The duration of the DHS shutdown remains uncertain. President Trump has set a deadline of June 1 for lawmakers to approve an appropriations bill to fund the DHS.

At the heart of the funding dispute are the Democrats’ demands for new restrictions on federal immigration agents. Following the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens by federal officers in Minneapolis in January, Democratic lawmakers have refused to pass a DHS funding bill without these restrictions. Republicans, however, contend that the Democrats’ demands would impede the Trump Administration’s efforts to implement its stringent immigration policies.