NATIONWIDE — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday directing the Department of Homeland Security to pay TSA agents the compensation they were owed after weeks of working without pay during the partial government shutdown. Most TSA agents received retroactive paychecks on Monday, covering pay periods 4 and 5.

The partial government shutdown, which started nearly six weeks ago and remains ongoing, has left the Transportation Security Administration without congressional funding. The shutdown is the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history. DHS was working as of Monday to distribute pay for half of pay period 3 to TSA agents.

Working without pay forced more than 500 officers to leave the TSA, and thousands were forced to call out, according to a statement by Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary at DHS. Bis also noted that some agents could face delays in receiving their paychecks due to processing times at financial institutions or issues with direct deposit.

A TSA agent in the southeast confirmed receiving compensation for pay periods 4 and 5. A TSA agent at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport said he was financially depleted after covering his car and housing payments and late fees accumulated during the shutdown.

Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the TSA chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, said TSA workers told union leadership that they received some, but not all, of their back pay. Jones said the rest of the back pay is expected by next week. Some employees reported incorrect backpay amounts, including missing overtime, according to the union.

Conditions at airport security checkpoints showed variation on Monday. Checkpoint lines that at times had stretched to four hours at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport shrank to waits of 10 minutes or less. Travelers in Atlanta and at Baltimore-Washington International Airport were moving smoothly to their flights. At the same time, some airports were still experiencing long lines at TSA security checkpoints while wait times at other locations had eased.

The TSA updated its furlough policy on Sunday by removing guidance that had allowed officers to request a furlough for reasons tied to the shutdown, such as lack of transportation or child care, according to the union. A DHS spokesperson said some frontline officers were sleeping in their cars, selling blood to make ends meet, and struggling to pay rent, and called on Congress to reopen DHS.