President Donald Trump has maintained that federal immigration agents, U.S. Border Patrol officers, FBI special agents, and active-duty military personnel will continue to receive paychecks during the ongoing government shutdown, while hundreds of thousands of civilian federal workers remain furloughed or work without compensation. This targeted funding reflects the administration’s prioritization of roles directly aligned with its immigration and national security agenda as the shutdown extends into its fourth week.
This selective pay approach has raised concerns among political analysts and federal employees about the emergence of a two-tiered federal workforce divided by function, potentially undermining civilian-led public services. Employees interviewed by Reuters expressed worry that this strategy could erode morale across government agencies, especially amid Trump’s sweeping overhaul of traditionally non-partisan federal institutions. Vice President JD Vance, emphasizing the administration’s commitment, stated at a California event that Trump was making every effort to “compensate” Marines, while portraying congressional Democrats as indifferent to the shutdown’s impact on troop pay.
Julian Zelizer, a Princeton historian and public affairs professor, remarked on Trump’s distinctive use of shutdown tactics, noting, “more than any other modern president, Trump is using a shutdown to prioritize pay to a subset of workers to advance his agenda.” Zelizer also highlighted Trump’s unprecedented move to attempt firing federal workers during the shutdown. “It’s like a really fine-tuned partisan response to the shutdown that’s different than in previous years,” he said.
Last week, Trump signed an order instructing the Pentagon to ensure payment for the nation’s 1.3 million active-duty military personnel, with the administration tapping unused research and development funds to cover the October 15 payday. The funding source for the next payday remains uncertain. Additionally, carve-outs guarantee pay for over 70,000 law enforcement officers across the Department of Homeland Security—including Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Secret Service, and the Transportation Security Administration—thereby sustaining the agents charged with implementing the administration’s immigration enforcement priorities.
However, this approach has left approximately 1.4 million federal workers unpaid, including crucial roles such as IT specialists in the U.S. Army, Social Security service representatives, and air traffic controllers. Historically, furloughed workers receive back pay after a shutdown ends, though President Trump has threatened to eliminate this guarantee. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson blamed Democrats for the impasse, stating, “The Trump Administration wants every federal worker to be paid – that’s why we have repeatedly urged the Democrats to reopen the government.”
All eight federal employees interviewed supported paying active-duty military personnel, reflecting bipartisan consensus on the importance of troop readiness during shutdowns. Yet several voiced disapproval of selective payments extended to ICE agents and others like sky marshals, warning such divisiveness could foster resentment if the shutdown persists. One Transportation Security Officer at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport said, “Everyone with their feet on the ground, who deals with the safety of others should be getting paid.”
The impact will deepen for workers like Katrina Wynn, an Army base IT specialist furloughed in Alabama, who faces missing her first full paycheck soon. She voiced frustration with the administration’s divisive policies: “What upsets me about this administration is the divide that’s being forced on us. They’re playing party when they should be (focused on) people.”
Legal questions have also arisen regarding the administration’s funding decisions. Democrats insist on extending healthcare subsidies in any spending bill to end the shutdown, demands met with resistance from Trump and Republican lawmakers. The president’s efforts to terminate thousands of federal workers during the shutdown were blocked temporarily by a federal judge following union lawsuits alleging overreach.
Unions have expressed concern about selective pay but, so far, have avoided legal action to protect some members’ salaries. Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union representing 150,000 federal workers including Customs and Border Protection, condemned the partial pay policy as “extremely unfair and disrespectful.”
At the FBI, special agents receive pay while intelligence analysts and support staff do not, prompting reports of lowered morale. One anonymous agent cautioned that unpaid employees struggling financially may be less effective in their duties. The FBI has stated it considers all staff critical and is “pursuing options to pay all employees” without disclosing funding details.
White House Budget Director Russell Vought described the administration’s efforts as a complex exercise in “budgetary Twister,” reallocating funds to pay select employees. DHS confirmed that funding for the recent special “supercheck” issued to ICE and other Department agents originated from the July tax cut and spending legislation.
Experts and Democrats have raised constitutional concerns about the repurposing of funds without congressional authorization, emphasizing that “Congress has the power of the purse,” as noted by George Washington University political science professor Sarah Binder. “There does seem to be a problem here about whether or not there’s any authority to be moving money around,” she said.
This selective payment strategy highlights the administration’s partisan approach during the shutdown, with national security and immigration enforcement roles shielded from furloughs, while large swaths of the civilian federal workforce face financial uncertainty and operational disruption.
