Five former secretaries of Homeland Security — including former White House chief of staff John Kelly — implored President Donald Trump and congressional lawmakers on Wednesday to strike a deal to restore funding to the department, which has gone without funding since late last year because of the partial government shutdown.

In a letter to the president and Congress obtained by multiple news outlets, former secretaries Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff, Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson joined Kelly to call for the reopening of the department that they all once led. The secretaries wrote that DHS is as central to national security as the Department of Defense, which lawmakers typically prioritize funding for during shutdowns.


"Congress does so because putting national security at risk is an option we simply can't afford," they wrote of funding for the Defense Department, which is fully funded through the fiscal year's end. "DHS should be no different."

Kelly's signature on the letter comes just weeks after his departure from the Trump administration, where he first served as Homeland Security secretary before moving to the White House to serve as chief of staff. Kelly's White House tenure ended at the beginning of this year, more than a week into the shutdown that is now in its 34th day.

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The impetus for the shutdown has been Trump's demand that Congress fund construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Congressional Democrats have refused to meet the president's demand, bringing negotiations to a standstill.

The impasse has devolved into a political theater of sorts, with Trump storming out of a meeting with Democrats earlier this month, and a tit for tat between Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; he canceled her secret congressional travel plans and she postponed his State of the Union address, which had been scheduled for next week.


If the shutdown continues through Friday, roughly 800,000 federal workers would miss their second paychecks. The financial crunch on the federal workforce has manifested itself in government employees lining up in droves at food banks, scenes the former secretaries called unconscionable.

"DHS employees who protect the traveling public, investigate and counter terrorism, and protect critical infrastructure should not have to rely on the charitable generosity of others for assistance in feeding their families and paying their bills while they steadfastly focus on the mission at hand," the former secretaries wrote.

The five former secretaries also warned that the shutdown could have a dire effect on the agency’s ability to maintain and recruit a skilled workforce, as some DHS employees might seek other, more stable employment or decline to join the department, writing that "the Department is facing a real crisis in retaining this workforce week after week."

They also noted that while some federal employees have sought side jobs to make ends meet during the shutdown, members of the Coast Guard are barred by law from doing so.


“We call on our elected leaders to restore the funding necessary to ensure our homeland remains safe and that the Department's critical national security functions continue without compromise,” they wrote.