Trump Tells 61,000 Unpaid TSA Workers to 'Go to Work' While Gold Bars Were Carted Around the White House

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday to urge roughly 61,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers to keep showing up to their posts — even as they went without their first full paycheque amid a partial government shutdown that has now stretched close to a month. In the post, Trump acknowledged that TSA agents are 'going to work but not being paid,' before directing them to clock in regardless.

'They want your money to go to "Border Criminals, Murderers, foreign Drug Dealers, and some of the worst people on earth." They don't want it to go to you,' Trump wrote on Truth Social, blaming 'Radical Left Democrats' for the funding deadlock. 'Keep fighting for the USA. GO TO WORK! I promise that I will never forget you!!!'

Gold at the White House, Zero in Pay Packets

The timing of Trump's post drew scrutiny. On the same day TSA officers received a $0 paycheque, Friday 13 March, it was reported that large gold bars had been seen being carted through the White House, linked to a licensing deal with Minerven, a Venezuelan state-owned gold mining company. Later that day, separate reporting placed the administration's fee for brokering the deal that kept TikTok operating in the United States at $10 billion (approx. £7.5 billion).

Union representatives and commentators online drew a contrast between the administration's financial dealings that week and the zero-dollar pay slips received by federal workers on the same day.

'Desperation in the Eyes of My Coworkers'

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been partially shut down since funding lapsed on 14 February, making this the third shutdown to hit DHS employees in recent months. According to data from the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), TSA employees have worked without pay for nearly half of all workdays so far in fiscal year 2026.

Union representatives said screeners have taken second jobs with DoorDash, Uber and Lyft to supplement their incomes. Others are facing eviction notices and have temporarily slept in their cars. Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees' (AFGE) Council 100, said the situation had reached a breaking point. 'They don't have the levers to pull to help them weather the storm, I'm afraid. I'm seeing desperation in the eyes of my coworkers,' Jones said.

Acting TSA administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, in written testimony for a House subcommittee hearing, warned that 'during a shutdown, the ability to pay for rent, bills, groceries, child care, and gas just to get to work becomes very challenging, leading to increased unscheduled absences.' She had previously told lawmakers that around 95 per cent of the agency's approximately 61,000 employees are deemed essential and cannot simply stay home.

A Workforce Already Stretched Thin

More than 300 TSA officers have quit since the start of the shutdown and unscheduled absences have more than doubled, according to internal TSA data. The consequences have been visible at airports across the country, with queues at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York stretching to two hours, particularly damaging as millions of Americans travel for the spring break season.

AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli said he expects conditions to worsen before they improve. 'They're going to get paid eventually, but these are paycheck-to-paycheck jobs,' he said. 'If this thing goes on for a long time, people are going to start leaving.'

TSA officer Aaron Barker, president of AFGE TSA Local 554 in Atlanta, was direct. 'It's terrible that TSA officers are being used as pawns, held hostage for something that's not a partisan issue,' he said. 'We should not have to go through a shutdown every year.'

The Political Deadlock Behind the Crisis

Democrats are demanding new restrictions on immigration enforcement as a condition for funding the agency, after two US citizens were shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Republicans, backed by President Trump, have rejected policy changes as a condition of funding. Senate Democrats introduced bills to fund TSA and other parts of DHS separately, but Republicans blocked them.

Meanwhile, airline passengers are still paying the security fees that help fund TSA's budget even as the partial shutdown drags on. Airlines collect $5.60 (approx. £4.21) for each one-way segment on a domestic flight — money that has continued to accrue without finding its way into the bank accounts of TSA workers.

The standoff over DHS funding is no longer an abstract political dispute — it is reshaping daily life at American airports and threatening the financial stability of tens of thousands of federal workers. With spring break travel volumes climbing and no deal in sight on Capitol Hill, the pressure on an already strained workforce will only continue to mount.