The Democrats Shutdown Affects The DHS Modus Operandi.

Washington DC; February 2026: After a week of being shut down by Congressional Democrats, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it must take emergency measures to preserve limited funds and personnel to mitigate the national security and public safety damage at the hands of Congressional Democrats.

The Democrats’ decision to put politics over public safety, for a third time this Congress, has forced the Department to direct its components to take the following measures effective at 06:00 Hours ET, February 22nd, 2026:

1. Halting all non-disaster-related Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) response efforts to prioritise disaster response;
2. Ending Transportation Security Administration (TSA) PreCheck® lanes and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Global Entry service, to refocus Department personnel on the majority of travelers; and
3. Suspending all courtesy and family police escorts at airports for Members of Congress, which is drawing staff away from the critical mission of getting passengers screened.

Kristi Noem, Department of Homeland Security Secretary have said, “This is the third time that Democrat politicians have shut down this department during the 119th Congress. Shutdowns have real world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security. The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians. TSA and CBP are prioritising the general traveling population at our airports and ports of entry and suspending courtesy and special privilege escorts. FEMA will halt all non-disaster related response to prioritise disasters. This is particularly important given this weekend another significant winter storm is forecast to impact the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States.”

A full list of measures being taken are below:

FEMA: FEMA has entered emergency operating status, and is scaling back to bare-minimum, life-saving operations only. Effective 06:00 hours on February 22nd, FEMA will cease all non-essential activities and focus exclusively on immediate disaster response where there is an active threat to life, public health, or safety. As a result: 

• Public Assistance will not move forward for ongoing or legacy disasters. FEMA will only carry out Public Assistance activities for new or recent disasters requiring immediate emergency action to protect lives or prevent catastrophic damage.

• All non-emergency recovery work is paused, including project formulation, long-term recovery efforts, planning, and administrative processing that does not address an imminent threat.

• Non-disaster-related activities are halted so limited personnel and resources can be redirected to urgent response operations.

• New initiatives, discretionary programs, pilot efforts, and policy development are suspended until funding is restored.

• Travel, deployments, and operational support are restricted to those strictly necessary to respond to active disasters and life-safety emergencies.

These actions reflect the reality of operating without appropriations. FEMA cannot continue normal recovery operations under these conditions and must prioritise only its most critical, life-saving responsibilities. Full recovery and assistance operations will resume once funding is restored.

TSA: As the Transportation Security Administration enters emergency operating status, resources are being consolidated to prioritise essential security operations and focus personnel on detecting and countering threats. Effective at 06:00 hours on February 22nd, nonessential privileges and courtesies provided by TSA will cease.

Consequences: TSA PreCheck® lanes will be closed. All TSA PreCheck® members will be directed to general screening lanes to maintain our security standards and consolidate TSA’s limited personnel and resources.

• All courtesy escorts, including for members of Congress, will cease. These escorts put increased strain on our officers, who must be allowed to prioritise their critical work of screening passengers.

• Operations at all airports will prioritise screening of the general traveling population. Without appropriations, TSA simply cannot afford to risk overstretching our staff and weakening our security posture.

• Until funding is restored, all travelers should expect a process that does not sacrifice security, but refocuses TSA officers to standard screening procedures. TSA PreCheck® and other services will resume upon Department of Homeland Security funding being signed into law.

CBP: As of 06:00 hours on February 22nd, 2026 U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations will halt all Global Entry arrival processing at participating airports.

• Officers assigned to process Global Entry travelers will be re-assigned to process all other arriving travelers.

• U.S. citizens and lawful permanent resident Global Entry Members can proceed to the properly marked primary processing lanes for arriving U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. All other Global Entry members can proceed to the properly marked visitor lanes.

• CBP will also be suspending requests for port courtesies for members of Congress at all ports of entry to include escorts and tours in order for personnel to be reassigned to essential border security operations.

Team Maverick.