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The latest lucky ducks to learn they’ll be illegally paid during the GOP’s government shutdown are those terrorizing immigrants. Hey there, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents, come on down!
HuffPost obtained an internal Department of Homeland Security memo showing that despite the federal funding lapse, the White House has ordered the agency to pay officers at ICE, Border Patrol, and Customs and Border Protection.
The memo appears to be light on details like “Where is this money coming from?” and “What is the legal justification for this?” Nonetheless, DHS is ensuring them “full and timely payments” for the entirety of the shutdown. In fact, just so the most fascistic federal employees don’t miss a cent, they’ve been promised the money (and back pay) no later than Oct. 22.
If you want any better symbol of how only President Donald Trump’s favorite employees are getting paid, the DHS staff required to cut checks will not be paid for their efforts until after the shutdown ends, according to one HuffPost source.
Well, maybe they get paid. The administration is plotting a way to ignore the law that requires furloughed federal workers to be paid when a shutdown ends. In other words, all those DHS payroll folks might get the privilege of working pro bono during the shutdown.
But who cares about them, right? America’s masked fascists at ICE and CBP will now join military troops, including the Coast Guardin getting paid during the shutdown.
Is this illegal?
Folks, it is so illegal, and it is all just vibes.
Trump has ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to coordinate with the Office of Management and Budget to “use for the purpose of pay and allowances any funds appropriated by the Congress that remain available for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2026 to accomplish the scheduled disbursement of military pay and allowances.”
So, the president is directing the defense secretary to use whatever funds he feels like to pay the troops, regardless of the fact that Congress may have appropriated those funds for other things—and, of course, regardless of the fact there is a government shutdown and funding has lapsed.
The New York Times headline writers are not meeting the moment at all, reporting this as Trump “expanding his authority” to spend federal money without Congress.
This is not a thing. The president doesn’t have this authority. There’s nothing for him to expand. This is just sheer lawlessness where Trump is singlehandedly deciding how all tax dollars are spent. It’s from the same playbook as his idea of taking the revenue he got from singlehandedly imposing illegal tariffs, and illegally shuffling it over to farmers, who are being hurt by … his illegal tariffs. Gotta keep them voting Republican!
It’s the same impulse behind DHS demanding that airports show Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s little propaganda video, in which she attacks Democrats for the GOP’s shutdown.
The administration wants to tie shutdown pain to Democrats while saving its favored groups from any pain at all.
In another new and ominous development, Trump is claiming a “very wealthy” person offered to pick up the tab and pay troops during the shutdown.
Arguably, this is worse than Trump decreeing he can ignore congressional appropriations and the funding lapse, and use money however he wants. Linking the payment of the military to the purported largesse of some unnamed donor is some end-of-empire shit. The military should not be beholden to the whims of a random billionaire—but it’s something Trump is now discussing, even if he’s saying it won’t happen.
All of these are moves to consolidate the loyalty of the military and other favored groups under Trump. He, Trump, is the one who stood up for them, who made sure they got paid, all while the Democrats kept the government shut down. He, Trump, kept money in their pockets and food on their table and a roof over their family’s heads while the Democrats kept the government shut down.
What wouldn’t you do for a guy like that?
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