00:00If you're flying through our nation's airports this week, be nice to that TSA agent. They're
00:05working without pay again, thanks to yet another partial government shutdown. Now, this shutdown
00:12only impacts the Department of Homeland Security, and even then, only some of the groups that fall
00:18under that agency. But, and this is a big but, the impacted parts of the DHS are important ones,
00:24like the Coast Guard and, of course, the TSA. During the last shutdown, the negative effects
00:30on travelers weren't immediate. They built over time. But this time around, it is not looking good.
00:36Some experts worry that agents are already fatigued by that record shutdown that ended just a few
00:42months ago. Congressional Democrats are demanding reforms to immigration enforcement before they
00:47agree to fund the TSA and the rest of Homeland Security. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
00:52says that there are three sticking points right now, ending the Trump administration's roving
00:57ICE patrols, stronger accountability for immigration enforcement officers, and barring ICE officers from
01:03wearing masks. But while lawmakers squabble on Capitol Hill, it's unclear how or if immigration
01:10agents will be paid during the DHS shutdown, which is not how we initially understood things since ICE
01:17was funded despite the shutdown through President Trump's one big, beautiful bill. But border czar
01:23Tom Homan said over the weekend that agents would be working without pay, just like their counterparts
01:28at the TSA. So the Post reached out to ICE for clarification, but hadn't heard back as of Sunday night.
01:34Now, as for when the entire DHS might get funded again, well, Congress is out of town on a one
01:40-week
01:40recess. So yeah, not a great time for a vacay, people.
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