NEED TO KNOW

• DHS is recalling all furloughed employees Monday using "available funding" — not a congressional appropriation
• The partial shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history, began Feb. 14 and remains unresolved
• Employees are being recalled without a legislative fix—the underlying funding dispute is unchanged

RANDALLSTOWN, Md. (TDR) — Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin ordered all furloughed DHS employees back to work Monday, recalling thousands of workers who have gone without full paychecks for weeks — while the shutdown remains in effect and Congress has no funding agreement.

The big picture: The partial shutdown began Feb. 14 after Democrats blocked DHS funding over the administration's immigration enforcement practices, following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis in January. It is now the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.

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• DHS has more than 270,000 employees; furloughs hit roughly 60% of CISA's workforce and nearly 75% of Coast Guard civilian specialists
• Over 400 TSA officers quit during the shutdown as staffing shortages produced hour-long security lines at major airports

Why it matters: The recall gets paychecks flowing. It does not resolve the funding dispute, pass an appropriation, or change the political dynamics that produced the shutdown.

• Congress returns this week facing the same standoff between House Republicans demanding ICE funding and Democrats refusing it without ICE reforms
• FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund is near depletion—hurricane season begins June 1 with no appropriation in place

Driving the news: A DHS notice sent Friday ordered all furloughed staff back on their next scheduled shift.

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• "All DHS employees, excepted and non-excepted/non-exempt," are to be returned "to a work and paid status," the notice read
• Mullin "will be utilizing available funding to recall the entire DHS workforce" — paychecks are being processed, per the DHS spokesperson
• The notice includes a warning: "Should the department exhaust currently available funds before an FY 2026 appropriation is enacted, you will receive a new notification."

What they're saying: Both parties claim the other owns the shutdown.

• The DHS spokesperson blamed Democrats: "For nearly 8 weeks, Democrats prevented many DHS employees from being paid."
• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has countered: "House Republicans own the longest government shutdown in history."

Yes, but: The Senate passed a bipartisan bill to fund most of DHS — but the House has refused to take it up.

• The Senate bill funds TSA, Coast Guard, FEMA, and CISA but excludes ICE and parts of CBP, which received separate reconciliation funding
• House Republicans and the Freedom Caucus rejected it, demanding full ICE funding and a federal voter ID requirement as conditions for any deal

Between the lines: The White House is now funding a 270,000-person department through emergency executive orders — bypassing appropriations entirely. That is not a workaround. It is a governing model.

• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged the problem in March: "The president just can't keep signing presidential memorandums every time Congress fails to do its job."
• The funding source — reportedly diverted from last year's reconciliation law — has not been clarified by the White House, leaving unresolved legal and accounting questions

What's next:

• Congress returns this week — no deal framework is in place
• DHS employees have been warned they could be re-furloughed if available funds run out before an appropriation
• Hurricane season begins June 1 with FEMA's disaster fund at critically low levels

If the executive branch can fund a department for months without a congressional appropriation, what is Congress actually in charge of anymore?

Sources

This report was compiled using information from Federal News Network, NBC News, CBS News, CNBC, Al Jazeera, Government Executive, and the Washington Times.

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