Trump orders DHS to pay all employees despite shutdown

Key Points:

• President Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to find funding to pay all its employees amid an almost two-month shutdown caused by a congressional impasse, affecting over 35,000 workers.
• The memo directs DHS and the Office of Management and Budget to use funds with a "reasonable and logical nexus" to DHS functions but does not specify exact funding sources or legal justifications.
• Trump blamed Democrats for the shutdown, calling it an emergency compromising national security and emphasized the need to end the "callous treatment" of DHS employees.
• Some DHS employees, such as Secret Service agents and active-duty Coast Guard personnel, have been paid through previous fund reallocations, while immigration agency staff have been paid through last year's appropriations and separate directives.
• Congressional negotiations are ongoing, with Senate Democrats and Republicans approving a bill to fund most of DHS except ICE and parts of CBP, and House GOP leaders planning to use a reconciliation process to fund the remaining agencies, though the House has yet to act on the Senate bill.