What’s open, what’s closed in South Florida during the government’s shutdown?
Services that millions of Americans rely on were shuttered Wednesday, and many government functions closed abruptly as an acrimonious impasse between President Donald Trump and Congress over the U.S. budget shut down much of the federal government for the first time in nearly seven years.
The last shutdown happened in December 2018 during Trump’s first term in office and lasted for a record 35 days. That closure followed a three-day federal goverment shutdown in January 2018.
In this shutdown, critical services will continue to operate, authorities say. The Postal Service will deliver mail. Social Security and Medicare payments will be sent out. Federal courthouses will remain open.
But many other federal functions will cease or will be cut back. This could affect security checkpoints and flights arriving to or departing from Miami International and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airports; South Florida’s national parks, including the hiking trails and boat ramps; and services at the Miami VA Medical Center, which serves thousands of veterans in South Florida.
And nearly a million government employees will work for no pay or are furloughed, until the clash over spending is resolved.
Local impact of shutdown
Here is how the government closure affects federal agencies in South Florida:
National parks
An alert on the National Park Service website advises that “National parks remain as accessible as possible during the federal government shutdown. However, some services may be limited or unavailable.”
Miami-Dade has two national parks: Everglades National Park, which goes west across Tamiami Trail and includes the Anhinga Trail and Shark Valley Visitor Center, and Biscayne National Park, which goes east into Biscayne Bay and includes Elliott Key, a popular boating spot.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversee the national parks, told the Herald in a statement that parks will remain open, and law enforcement and wildfire prevention will still occur. Many park rangers and other employees, however, are furloughed, which will affect services.
“The Department of the Interior will keep critical services open,’’ the Interior Department email said.
According to the federal government’s shutdown plan for national parks, all areas that are usually gated or locked outside of business hours must remain locked. That appears to include Shark Valley, where a third-party concessionaire that runs the tram tours noted that the tours were unavailable and the attraction is closed.
The four visitor centers at Everglades National Park are also closed, without rangers to staff them. But the third-party company that runs a hotel within the park, Flamingo Lodge, and some of the available tours nearby said the lodge will remain open and its tours will run.
“Access through the main park entrance is open,” they posted on Instagram. “The Guy Bradley visitor center is closed.”
While some outdoor services may remain open, like hiking trails, the staffers who maintain the restrooms may not be working. Most park staff, including rangers, are furloughed until the government is funded again.
The shutdown has also impacted Big Cypress National Preserve, off Tamiami Trail, near the Shark Valley Visitor Center.
“Due to the lapse in appropriations, the Off-Road Vehicle office will be closed until further notice. If you already have a permit for your vehicle, the Off-Road Vehicle trails are still open to you,” park officials posted on the Florida park service’s website.
South Florida’s third national park, Dry Tortugas off of Key West, appears to still be open. The island is only accessible by plane or boat, and the third-party concessionaire that runs ferry rides to the fort, Yankee Ferry, posted on its website that it’s running “as usual.”
The National Parks Conservation Association released a statement Wednesday saying the shutdown leaves America’s national parks “understaffed and vulnerable.” NPCA said that 64% of rangers will be furloughed under this shutdown.
During the last 35-day shutdown in 2018 and 2019, NPCA said, people vandalized national parks left unguarded by rangers. That included vandalization of ancient petroglyphs at Big Bend National Park in Texas, Joshua Trees cut down at Joshua Tree National Park in California and illegal off-roading through vulnerable landscapes at Death Valley National Park in California.
“Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this crisis, including the thousands of furloughed park staff, local business owners who rely on park visitors, and anyone whose dream national park trip may be disrupted. Every day the shutdown continues, our parks and local economies will lose millions of dollars. People and businesses will suffer,” said NPCA President Theresa Pierno in a statement.
Florida’s national parks have already taken hits this year due to federal cuts, said Eve Samples, executive director at Friends of the Everglades, a conservation and activist organization.
“Our national parks were already harmed by this year’s DOGE-driven staffing cuts, which included vital science positions at Everglades National Park. The threat of more job cuts during this government shutdown is adding insult to injury,” Samples said in an email to the Herald.
Airports
Anticipated crowds and long lines were nowhere to be seen in Concourse D and Concourse E at Miami International Airport on Wednesday, at least as of noon.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport had all TSA checkpoints open and operating normally on Wednesday, Arlene Satchell, a spokesperson said in an email to the Herald.
“At this time, the Broward County Aviation Department is not anticipating any immediate impacts to airline passenger operations at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport,” the department said in a statement.
In some areas at MIA, TSA employees outnumbered travelers.
Checkpoint 5 was operating smoothly in part because few passengers were using it. Right in front of the checkpoint, more travelers drank at the Jimmy Buffett-inspired Air Margaritaville bar than passed through TSA.
Checkpoint 4 was a tad busier with a handful of travelers entering every 30 minutes or so. Yet the line at a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken was much longer. Next door, the tables at Pizza Hut were full.
Overhead signs indicated TSA Checkpoint 3 only had a wait of 1-3 minutes.
Stephen Taber, TSA’s federal security director at MIA, made his rounds on a cart around the airport on Wednesday.
“Even though we started this morning with a shutdown, we had everybody come to work today,” he said in a brief chat after stopping his cart. “Everyone is doing their job.”
Every couple of hours, he received notification of the number of employees and any possible sick-outs.
“We have had no issues with staffing,” he said. He said he expects that to continue. Taber said he’s at MIA every day.
TSA has about 1,750 employees at MIA and over 11 checkpoints. Not all are open at the same time. Checkpoint 2 was temporarily closed in early September for renovations, the Herald reported at that time. It continues to be.
Taber, speaking on behalf of his employees and those who work at other federal agencies, said, “They don’t have anything to do with the federal budget [showdown,] but they’re the individuals who’re impacted the most.”
Like the people under him, Taber was not getting paid on Wednesday, he said.
Immigration court
On Wednesday morning, immigration court in South Florida appeared to be operational.
Judges and court staff nationwide were notified that they would not be furloughed unless a supervisor said otherwise.
The Herald virtually attended court hearings for three judges in Miami for non-detained immigrants. Video from the courts showed immigrants waiting for their proceedings to happen as well.
In previous shutdowns, judges and staff that worked with non-detained immigrants were told to not come into work, while court hearings for detained immigrants continued. During the 2018-2019 shutdown, officials estimate that over 86,000 immigration court hearings were canceled.
Avoiding a shutdown has significant implications for Miami’s immigration court, which Transactional Clearing House Records researchers say has the largest backlog of pending cases in the country. Judges can continue working through their case load while immigrants, some of whom have been waiting for years to be seen, can have their hearings.
Federal court
The federal courts for the Southern District of Florida, which includes Miami and Fort Lauderdale federal courthouses, will remain open during the shutdown, according to the federal court administrator.
Both criminal and civil court proceedings will continue.
Coast Guard
The Coast Guard, which has a large presence in South Florida, is one of the five branches of the United States military, although it falls under the Department of Homeland Security during peace time. That means that operations will continue as normal for the duration of the shutdown, according to the National Military Family Association.
Military service members will have to report for work, although some civilian employees may be furloughed, according to the nonprofit that advocates for military families.
Pay will not immediately be affected, but it would be if the shutdown goes on longer than two weeks.
“The October 1 payday covers the period before the government shutdown, so those funds will be disbursed as usual,” the group said in a message on its website.
Miami VA Medical Center
The shutdown poses no immediate changes in services by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which can fall back on “available ‘carryover funds,’” a VA spokesman said via email.
The Veterans Administration operates the Miami VA Medical Center near Jackson Memorial Hospital, which services thousands of veterans in South Florida.
Schools
Most operations at county-run public schools, like classes, should operate as usual.
“Broward County Public Schools has not been informed of any impact to our District as a result of the federal government shutdown. All school operations and services continue as normal,” the department said Wednesday in a statement.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools also said it “does not anticipate significant impacts from the federal government shutdown, as major funding sources will continue without disruption.”
Miami Herald staff writers David Goodhue, Milena Malaver, Clara-Sophia Daly, David Neal and Jay Weaver contributed to this story.
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 11:08 AM.
