April 14, 2026

Washington is throwing a shutdown curveball: the Department of Homeland Security has ordered thousands of furloughed employees back to work even though the agency is still officially shut down and unfunded by Congress, according to internal emails obtained by CBS News. The sweeping directive covers workers at places like FEMA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, with DHS telling staff, “All DHS employees … are being returned to a work and paid status,” and FEMA employees bluntly informed they are now “expected to report in person” to their normal duty station. It’s a dramatic break from the usual shutdown playbook, where only “excepted” employees keep working to protect life and property while everyone else stays home, and DHS says it has decided these roles “advance the purpose of available appropriations” so they can resume “normal duties” despite the funding lapse.

Leave a Reply