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Washington, D.C.—The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today highlighted the important work that employees of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) do for their country every day and urged Congress to keep the agency open beyond Friday.

NTEU represents 25,000 employees of Customs and Border Protection, an agency within DHS, including CBP Officers and trade enforcement specialists at 329 land, sea and air ports.

“CBP employees put their lives on the line every day to keep our nation safe and our economy healthy,” NTEU National President Colleen M. Kelley said. “Forcing employees who are entrusted with such critical responsibilities to work without pay or be forced to stay home is a scenario that boggles my mind. Congress should not let these critical employees down, and pass a full-year DHS funding bill before midnight Friday.”

Americans interact with these workers every day, returning from international flights, crossing a bridge from Canada, reentering the country from Mexico, transporting imported goods or food. The NTEU leader continued, “CBP employees are at airports, seaports and land border crossings arresting suspects trying to enter the country, seizing illegal drugs, confiscating illegal weapons, intercepting fraudulent documents, detaining terrorists and ensuring goods enter our country safely and legally.”

On a typical day, CBP employees:

Process at least 1 million travelers;

Handle 70,300 cargo containers;

Stop 425 pests from entering the U.S.;

Quarantine 5,000 harmful products and substances; and

Identify nearly 600 people who raise national security concerns.

“CBP employees are vital members of our country’s national security team, but they are also middle-class Americans. They cannot afford to go without pay. They have mortgage payments, credit card bills and utility payments like anyone else,” President Kelley said. “I would ask hard-working Americans to think about how they would feel if told by their employer that they would be expected to work without pay.”

NTEU, the nation’s largest independent federal-employee union, represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including 25,000 CBP employees.