The Trump administration plans on paying Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents throughout the federal government shutdown.
The administration, which had already announced that pay would not be interrupted for FBI agents or members of the military, has relied heavily on ICE and CBP to fulfill one of President Trump’s priorities thus far in his second term: a severe crackdown on immigration.
A combined 64,000 workers could benefit from Trump’s promise, which Reuters reported Thursday, citing internal emails to each agency the previous day.
However, it’s unclear how the vast majority of workers will be paid. Of CBP’s 67,000 staffers, about 97 percent are paid through Congress’ annual appropriations process, according to Reuters, and the same for 95 percent of ICE’s 22,000 employees.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said agents would be paid but did not say where the funds were coming from.
“More than 70,000 sworn law enforcement officers across DHS including those serving in CBP, ICE, Secret Service, TSA and other critical mission areas will be paid for all hours worked during the shutdown period,” she said. “By Wednesday, October 22, law enforcement officers will receive a “super check”—which covers the 4 days lost, their overtime, and their next pay period.”
A DHS spokesperson later told the Daily Beast that “money from President Trump’s signature piece of legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill, will ensure that more than 70,000 sworn law enforcement officers such as CBP Border Patrol agents, ICE Deportation Officers, Secret Service Special Agents, and TSA Air Marshals will be having their pay covered during the Democrats’ government shutdown.”
The Daily Beast has also reached out to the White House for comment.
In addition to the FBI, military, ICE and CBP, federal air marshals will also be paid during the shutdown, according to the report.
Funding for the federal government expired at the end of September. Since then, Trump has attempted to go beyond the furloughs of certain federal workers that typically accompany shutdowns by instituting mass layoffs, such as at the Education Department. A federal judge has temporarily blocked him from doing so.
The Trump administration has also openly questioned whether federal workers who aren’t currently receiving pay will receive back pay once the shutdown ends, which is required under a 2019 law that Trump signed. Workers in agencies Trump doesn’t like might just be out of luck, he admitted last week.
“I would say it depends on who we’re talking about,” Trump said. “For the most part we’re going to take care of our people. But there are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’ll take care of them in a different way.”
