By Lindsay Ellis

WASHINGTON -- President Trump said he would sign an executive order to pay all Department of Homeland Security employees amid a congressional funding standoff that has prevented many workers at the agency from receiving a paycheck.

In a social-media post on Thursday morning, the president criticized Democrats for not moving more quickly to fund the department. "I will soon sign an order to pay ALL of the incredible employees at the Department of Homeland Security. Their families have suffered far too long," he wrote.

The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for more details about the president's planned order. The Office of Management and Budget released a memo on Wednesday that suggested such a move was possible.

On Wednesday, Trump and Republican congressional leaders threw their weight behind a Senate plan to fund most of DHS, which Congress could pass in coming weeks with Democratic support. Republicans would then try to pass a separate, GOP-only measure funding immigration-enforcement functions by June 1.

Trump last week signed an order to pay Transportation Security Administration workers using unspent government funds. After weeks without a paycheck, many TSA officers had been calling in sick, leading to long lines at many airports. TSA is housed within DHS.

DHS has more than 200,000 employees that work on issues such as border control and emergency response. Funding lapsed on Feb. 14 after Senate Democrats blocked funding for DHS over demands for changes in federal immigration-enforcement tactics. Two U.S. citizens were killed in confrontations with immigration agents in Minnesota earlier this year.

Since the funding lapsed, some Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection workers had been paid out of funds from the sprawling tax-and-spending law that Republicans passed last year.

Write to Lindsay Ellis at lindsay.ellis@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 02, 2026 11:12 ET (15:12 GMT)

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