Many of these workers are defense attorneys, federal parks maintenance crews, TSA security employees and even IRS workers.

Many have looked on these dire situations with almost scolding temperaments, saying that furloughed employees shouldn’t complain because they’ll receive back pay.

Because of this, and the sweeping impacts the shutdown has had, we at the Daily Herald would like to remind everyone that yes, the shutdown will affect you in some way if it hasn’t already.

Let’s start with the IRS, because it seems to be the most maligned federal agency currently furloughed. Yes, the agency as a whole is often the butt of jokes and most feel no sympathy to the tax collectors and auditors. But let’s flip this around for a second. The IRS has assured the public that the shutdown will not affect tax returns. However, many IRS employees who have been asked to come work without pay are instead striking. That getaway vacation to Disneyland that you’ll use your tax refund to cover may not happen if the IRS isn’t there to process it.

The Wall Street Journal wrote earlier this month that the shutdown will “likely delay billions of dollars in income-tax refunds.” You may have to wait a month or two to hang out with Mickey and Goofy.

Let’s now talk about getting to that beloved Disneyland trip. Unless you’re driving to Anaheim, which many do considering the reasonable drive time, you’re going to likely fly out of either the Provo Airport or the Salt Lake International Airport. As of Wednesday, about 10 percent of TSA agents are staying home.

Right now, CNBC reports that most airport wait times are within TSA standards. The longest wait time reported domestically was at Atlanta, with an average wait time of 42 minutes. But many first-hand accounts on social media — which, being social media, can’t always be completely verified — spin tales of lackadaisical TSA security checkers. Many travelers aren’t being asked to remove shoes or belts as TSA is just trying to shuttle travelers through security checkpoints as fast as possible while their colleagues are staying home.

We caution people to assume that those staying home are doing so by protest. A story on NPR shared how many employees aren’t getting to work because they can’t afford the gas in the first place.

It isn’t the fault of federal employees that they are missing a second paycheck. It is the fault of a dysfunctional Washington. We would hesitate to say, as many have said, that furloughed employees should stop complaining, or that the back-pay will make up for it. We laud those who’ve reached out with charitable arms to furloughed employees, by providing food or other charity. We understand that much of it is symbolic, and what these employees truly need is a paycheck.

But unfortunately, until the two bickering parties and largely Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi came to any sort of agreement, this stalemate of a shutdown seems to have no end in sight. The two go back and forth like petulant toddlers, with Pelosi denying Trump his State of the Union address and Trump denying Pelosi clearance to visit troops abroad.

We don’t mean to say the reason they’re bickering isn’t important. We believe tighter borders, strengthened immigration policies and thorough vetting processes of those seeking asylum are extremely vital. We don’t believe anyone wants drugs or crime coming into our country.

But we also don’t believe a border wall, which will often cut through private property, would cost the taxpayers billions and would be an environmental and ecological disaster, is the way to do stop illegal immigration. According to findings published by NPR, visa overstays have outnumbered illegal southern border crossings for since 2007 by hundreds of thousands. In the most recent fiscal year, 700,000 individuals entered the U.S. and overstayed their visa, while only 300,000 border crossing apprehensions were made.

This week, the trial for Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, notorious Mexican drug lord, started. Through testimony, it was alleged by former drug cartel members that the drugs brought into the U.S. went not by tunnels or drug mules crossing the river. It was through legal border crossings on trucks, trains, boats and other means.

It is also a complete, nonsensical oxymoron that Homeland Security and the Border Patrol have been asked to protect the border unpaid while Trump fumes over his treasured wall.

Don’t shrug this shutdown off because it doesn’t affect you now. Don’t dismiss this disaster because it’s “partial,” and isn’t as impactful as a full shutdown. If this drags on as it is, it’s predicted in many political publications it will take some sort of disaster and a catastrophic need for a federal department before this will end. We hope that’s wrong. We hope our readers will demand that their representatives fight back against party leaders and demand an end to this senseless shutdown.