How the government shutdown is affecting San Diego

Thousands of San Diegans on Wednesday showed up to their federal government jobs — from the downtown federal courthouses to the San Diego-Tijuana border crossing to the county’s multiple military bases — with no idea when they’ll receive their next paycheck.

After the U.S. Senate adjourned Tuesday night without reaching a deal on extending federal funding into the new fiscal year, the U.S. government shut down just after midnight Wednesday, marking the nation’s first federal government shutdown in nearly seven years.

The shutdown was expected to result in roughly 750,000 federal workers across the nation being furloughed, and possibly some fired, by President Donald Trump’s administration. Many other federal workers, however, are considered essential and were directed to show up and do their jobs Wednesday. That included air traffic controllers at San Diego International Airport, members of the military serving on the local Navy and Marine Corps bases and customs officers monitoring ports of entry.

In large part because of those workers, who won’t be paid until Congress passes a funding bill, federal agencies across the county appeared to be functioning mostly normally Wednesday, with some exceptions.

People hoping to visit Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma were forced to turn around at the gates, with many exasperated when they realized it was due to the government shutdown. A monument ranger sat in his vehicle near the park’s check-in to turn around visitors who tried to enter.

Aurelio Denaro, a flight attendant from Italy on a layover in San Diego, rode to the monument on a rented bike, hoping to visit for the first time. He says he heard about the shutdown Tuesday when he arrived in San Diego but didn’t realize how it could impact his visit to the monument.

A San Diego resident who regularly runs the monument’s trails said she knew about the shutdown but “didn’t put two and two together when I came out here.”

Here’s where things stood around the county on Wednesday.

The border

Operations at the San Ysidro Port of Entry appeared typical Wednesday morning. Many people in the pedestrian line said they were either unaware of the shutdown or that they did not expect significant changes as a result of it.

San Diego resident Eduardo Cortez said he was half expecting a longer line. But that wasn’t the case as of 11 a.m., when he noted that the line was moving smoothly.

Joaquin Luken, the executive director of the nonprofit Smart Border Coalition, said that he crossed the border on Wednesday and that it was “business as usual.”

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott wrote on the social media platform X that personnel from his agency “(continue) to report for duty and protect America 24/7/365 regardless of the failures in the legislative branch.”

“But the reality is that political gridlock in Congress forces thousands of CBP employees to risk their lives without pay, even as assaults against our officers have skyrocketed,” Scott wrote. “The men and women of CBP stand the line regardless, but they should never be treated as pawns in political games.”

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks also pointed out on X that his agency’s operations will go on uninterrupted. “The only thing shut down is the border,” he wrote. “Do not attempt to cross illegally.”

The military

The shutdown is not expected to have an immediate impact on San Diego County’s defense industry, the largest employer in the region. Roughly 113,000 people serve as everything from sailors and Marines to civilian ship-repair welders.

The Defense Department said all military personnel will report for duty even though they will not get paid until a budget resolution is passed. The situation comes as the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is preparing for a major deployment to the Indo-Pacific.

As for military veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ San Diego Regional Benefit Office in Kearny Mesa was closed, and throughout the shutdown the department will not offer some services and programs such as career counseling, public affairs and outreach, and the GI Bill Hotline.

But VA medical facilities will continue to operate, the agency will continue to process and deliver benefits, and scheduled burials at VA national cemeteries will go on as planned. The Veterans Crisis Line will also remain in operation.

Schools and universities

Public colleges and universities typically don’t scale back during a government shutdown because they get much of their money from state governments. UC San Diego, which has about 45,000 students this fall, is still operating.

“If a short or partial federal government shutdown occurs, (the University of California system) expects it to have limited, if any, immediate impact on educational services and financial aid programs,” the UC said in a statement. “But our assessment will change depending on how long a federal government shutdown lasts.”

San Diego State University, which has a record 40,000 students this fall, said that classes are unaffected, adding in a statement, “Researchers with active federally funded grants and contracts have been asked to continue their work currently without interruption.”

Several local school districts’ leaders indicated they were not expecting an immediate impact from the shutdown, though some minor programs could be affected, especially if the shutdown drags on.

San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Fabiola Bagula said at a Tuesday night school board meeting that one area of potential concern is Impact Aid, which provides assistance to school districts that include parcels of land that are owned by the federal government. Bagula said the shutdown could delay the program’s first payment, which generally goes out in October.

Bradley Johnson, superintendent of Dehesa School District, said the biggest impact could be to the district’s nutritional program if the shutdown continues after October.

Superintendent Liz Bystedt of the Jamul-Dulzura Union School District said her district is small and does not receive much funding from the federal government, but if the shutdown continues it will affect some future professional development opportunities, child nutrition and potentially some staffing.

Cori Harris, communications director for Santee School District, said district leaders were notified that they should not submit billing or reimbursement requests for their Department of Defense Education Activity grant, which could delay their receiving funding reimbursements.

U.S. District Court

U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant, chief judge in the Southern District of California, issued an order Tuesday directing all federal court employees “to report to work during the normally scheduled hours and to continue normal operations.”

The order said judges, their staffs, other court employees and personnel from the probation and pretrial services departments are all essential employees.

“To the fullest extent practicable, activities will be limited to those functions necessary and essential to the continued resolution of cases and supervision of defendants and sentenced offenders,” the order stated. “Purchasing, travel, and other expenses will be limited to those absolutely necessary to support the Court’s operation.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego was expected to maintain mostly normal operations and move forward as scheduled with prosecutions of criminal defendants, who have constitutional rights to speedy trials and timely prosecutions.

An email to a spokesperson for the local U.S. attorney’s office was met with an automated response that said in part: “Thank you for reaching out to the Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs. During the current lapse in appropriations, DOJ operations are directed toward national security, violations of federal law, and essential public safety functions. Inquiries outside of these functions will be considered when the lapse in appropriations ends.”

Some civil cases, however, could be delayed because of the shutdown.

An attorney with the Department of Justice filed a motion Wednesday seeking to stay all deadlines and hearings in litigation dealing with the Trump administration’s violations of a settlement agreement in a historic lawsuit involving the separation of immigrant families.

“Absent an appropriation, Department of Justice attorneys and employees of the federal Defendants are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances,” the attorney wrote. He requested that the judge issue the stay and push all deadlines and hearings back by the same number of days for which the shutdown lasts.

Weather and disaster preparedness

Operations will run as normal at the National Weather Service in San Diego. The agency’s “products, watches and warnings will continue to be issued as normal and will not be affected,” the NWS said in a statement.

The NWS in San Diego serves nearly 11 million people in San Diego and Orange counties, as well as parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties. It’s a particularly important area at this time of year when dangerous Santa Ana winds often peak and bring with them the possibility of rapidly moving wildfires.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that while the NWS will continue issuing its “life-saving forecasts and warnings,” longer-term climate research and upgrades to forecasting tools have been suspended “at a time when California faces growing weather extremes.”

The governor said that while wildland firefighters remain deployed, about one-quarter of federal forest service staffers who focus on prevention and planning have been furloughed.

Newsom also said key grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Department of Homeland Security, including disaster reimbursement and mitigation funding, have been paused until federal appropriations resume.

Staff writers Gary Robbins, Alexandra Mendoza, Jemma Stephenson and Maura Fox and the Associated Press contributed to this report.