This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh, Fredrikson Immigration Department Chair, is a member.
Shortly before the deadline on September 30, 2023, Congress passed and President Biden signed H.R. 5860, a short-term funding bill to keep the federal government funded for 45 days. A shutdown is still possible after November 17.
On September 28, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security released a fact sheet on the impact of a potential shutdown on its workforce. The fact sheet noted that if there is a shutdown, nearly three in four DHS employees—more than 185,000 people—would be required to continue working through a shutdown without receiving a paycheck during that time. Those working without pay would include law enforcement officers, analysts, investigators and disaster response officials. DHS said a shutdown would result in, among other things:
- More than 19,000 unpaid U.S. Border Patrol agents and 25,000 unpaid Office of Field Operations officers, including CBP agents and officers working at more than 300 ports of entry and guarding more than 6,000 miles of border.
- Stopped funding to border communities and interior cities, including funding to cover costs that border and interior communities incur associated with sheltering migrants in their cities. "Recipients may be unable to draw down on a portion of the funds, and no new awards will be made under a shutdown," DHS said.
- Short- and long-term effects on hiring and onboarding, including a pause in processing of nearly 2,500 tentative job offers to DHS candidates for employment.
