President Donald Trump says he will sign an order instructing the Homeland Security secretary to immediately pay Transportation Security Administration workers and senators early Friday approved a package to fund much of the rest o of the Department of Homeland Security, but not the immigration enforcement operations central to the budget impasse.
Victims’ relatives, Bexar County DA react to guilty verdict in Christopher Preciado capital murder case92-year-old Pearsall man attacked by pair of dogs, hospitalized with serious injuriesNext photo Travelers line up at a TSA checkpoint at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Thursday, March 26, 2026.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is met by reporters after a closed door meeting with fellow Republicans on the Homeland Security budget stalemate, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 26, 2026. Prior to votes, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., makes a statement to a forum on climate change and the consequences for home insurance, grocery prices, and health care costs, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 26, 2026. Passengers stand in the TSA pre-check line at LaGuardia Airport, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in New York. Travelers line up at a TSA checkpoint at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Thursday, March 26, 2026. Travelers line up at a TSA checkpoint at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Thursday, March 26, 2026. said he would sign an order instructing the Homeland Security secretary to immediately pay Transportation Security Administration agents, while senators worked into early Friday to approve a funding package in hopes of ending The deal, which the Senate approved unanimously early in the morning without a roll call, would fund much of theexcept the immigration enforcement operations that have been central to the standoff. It did not include any of the restraints Democrats demanded as they sought to rein in Trump’s mass deportation agenda.“We can get at least a lot of the government opened up again and then we’ll go from there,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “Obviously, we’ll still have some work ahead of us.” But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the deal could have been reached weeks ago, and vowed that his party would continue fighting to ensure Trump's immigration enforcement operation “does not get more funding without serious reform.”funding, the endgame emerged in the final hours before TSA workers miss another paycheck Friday. Trump announced his decision in a social media post saying he wanted to quickly stop the “Chaos at the Airports.” The White House had floated the extraordinary move of invoking a national emergency to pay the TSA agents, a politically and legally fraught approach. Instead, Trump’s order will pay TSA agents using money from his 2025 tax bill, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly. At the same time, senators worked through the night on the package that would fund much of the rest of the department, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard, but without funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection. Multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40% callout rates of TSA workers and nearly 500 of its nearly 50,000 transportation security officers have quit during the shutdown. Nationwide on Wednesday, more than 11% of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work, according to DHS. That is more than 3,120 callouts. Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the union is grateful the TSA workers will be paid, but said Congress must stay in session to pass a deal “that funds DHS, pays all DHS workers, and keeps these vital agencies running.”Melissa Gates said she would not make her flight to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after waiting more than 2½ hours and still not reaching the security checkpoint. She said no other flights were available until Friday.Senate Majority Leader John Thune Thune did not disclose details of the new framework, but he said it picked up from a previous offer over the weekend, before talks with the White House and Democrats had broken off.But as senators retreated to privately discuss the new plan, action stalled out. Democrats argued the GOP proposals have not gone far enough at putting guardrails on officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and other federal agencies who are engaged in the immigration sweeps, particularly after the They want federal agents to wear identification, remove their face masks and refrain from conducting raids around schools, churches or other sensitive places. Democrats have also pushed for an end of administrative warrants, insisting that judges sign off before agents search people's homes or private spaces — something newTrump had largely left the issue to Congress, but warned he was ready to take action, threatening to send the National Guard to airports in addition to his deployment of ICE agents who are now checking travelers’ IDs. “They need to end this shutdown immediately or we’ll have to take drastic measures,” Trump said during a Thursday morning Cabinet meeting.that Trump signed into law last year funneled billions to DHS, including $75 billion for ICE operations, ensuring the immigration officers are still being paid during the shutdown. Any deal almost certainly needs to involve a compromise as lawmakers on the left and right flanks revolt. Conservative Republicans have panned their own party's proposals, demanding full funding for immigration operations.Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti, Kevin Freking, Rebecca Santana, Collin Binkley and Ben Finley in Washington, Lekan Oyekanmi in Houston, Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York, Rio Yamat in Las Vegas, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Gabriela Aoun Angueira in San Diego contributed to this report. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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