ORLANDO, Fla. — A battle over immigration funding has caused the Department of Homeland Security to be unfunded since Feb. 14, and TSA employees have hit a breaking point.

What You Need To Know

Hector Vazquez has worked for TSA since 2022 and loves his job, but the most recent DHS shutdown has caused him to rethink things

He said that during the shutdown in the fall of 2025, creditors were understanding and he was able to get through, but this time around he is having more trouble and now faces possible eviction from his apartment

Vazquez has been Door Dashing to bring in some money, but if he can’t pay his car payments, insurance or gas, he will lose that too

He isn’t alone. United Against Poverty in Orlando has seen federal TSA workers coming in the past week to get food vouchers, gas vouchers, part-time employment and other financial support

Everyone has their own individual stories and circumstances, but we are talking about eviction notices, constant phone calls from creditors and the fear of losing homes and cars.

At Hector Vazquez’s home, there is endless paperwork. “I got loans, and they have given me three more days to respond,” said Vazquez, a TSA employee in Orlando. All the papers say the same thing, pay up.

“It is frustrating. It elevates the stress patterns go all the way through the roof,” Vazquez said.

He has his own paperwork to pass along to creditors, saying that there is a shutdown and that he is not being paid. He said that last fall during the shutdown, it worked for the most part and creditors were understanding. “This time around, I have been getting, ‘Oh, again,’” Vazquez said.

He is at risk of losing his Orlando apartment. “It has been very difficult dealing with notice of possible evictions and that kind of stuff that is scary especially for me. I need to have a place for my kids,” Vazquez said.

He is a dad to a 17-year-old and a 12-year-old. He got a call from the school worried about his daughter crying. “Well, my daddy was hospitalized, and the government shutdown, there is no money coming in, I am afraid my dad might lose his home, that my dad might lose the car,” Vazquez said.

Vazquez has been Door Dashing to bring in some money, but if he can’t pay his car payments, insurance or gas, he will lose that too. “It has been honestly awful,” Vazquez said.

He’s not alone in this. “We understand it is hard and that is why we are here,” said Anjali Vaya, the executive director at United Against Poverty in Orlando.

The organization has seen federal TSA workers coming in the past week to get food vouchers, gas vouchers, part-time employment and other financial support. “Yes, you do have to come in, you do have to sit with one of our navigators, we do go through it with you to make sure financially we are able to cover you in the interim,” Vaya said.

But long term, all of this has taken a hit to Vazquez’s credit score, a lasting impact from a battle over the budget. “I see how we are being used and played like playing political chess. We really don’t matter, that is really the truth, we really don’t matter,” Vazquez said.

Vazuez said he has started looking for other jobs, but a good paying job takes time to get, so for now, he plans to stick this out and hope things turn around soon. He also has increasing concerns about safety as millions of people get screened by TSA every single day at airports across the nation.

But if the entire workforce is tired and stressed, that is when mistakes happen, so above all, here is now concern about the true safety of TSA the longer this drags out.