In O.C., Many Federal Employees Still on the Job : Shutdown: Hundreds are sent home, but thousands more keep working. IRS and Social Security remain open.

At least 300 federal workers in Orange County were told to go home Monday, but thousands more stayed at their jobs and key federal agencies remained open amid the second federal budget crisis within a month.

Unaffected so far by the federal impasse were the local courts, Internal Revenue Service, Social Security and air traffic controllers.

“We were fortunate this time. We were not affected by the furlough, [because] our budget was approved and passed earlier,” said Gindy Barnard, a spokeswoman for the IRS office in Laguna Niguel, which has 2,200 workers.

However, the budget fight has already been felt here as the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service sent home 253 out of the agency’s 715 workers in Laguna Niguel.

“They came in and reported to work as usual,” said INS spokesman Ron Rogers. “And, if some heard by 10 or 11 that they were furloughed, they got their furlough packet and left. They were told to stay tuned to the news. . . . “

Also, all 50 employees at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Carlsbad were sent home late Monday morning, not knowing when they would return. The office serves Orange County and four other counties in the region.

“We’re rapidly trying to finish up as much as we can before we go out,” assistant field supervisor Sherry Barrett said shortly before the office closed at 11 a.m. “It’s very frustrating for us. We’re in the middle of all these projects that we want to get completed.”

One project left in the lurch is the federal review of the Foothill Transportation Corridor’s impact on an area east of Mission Viejo called Chiquita Canyon, home to a community of the rare songbirds known as California gnatcatchers.

The review of the controversial project was due by Friday, but the furlough could delay it by several days or longer, federal officials said Monday. Toll-road builders hope to begin work on the segment as early as January.

Paul Clayton, resident agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Santa Ana office, sent two administrators home during the last federal shutdown. This time, he said, the office will run at full strength unless told to do otherwise.

“We’re just working day to day,” Clayton said.

Bob Hartnett, assistant IRS district manager in Santa Ana, said the White House and Congress did not want to limit people’s access to Social Security. During the last shutdown, the agency was, for the most part, closed.

The immediate impact was not as great as the four-day shutdown in November because many agency budgets already have been approved and aren’t subject to political bickering until the next budget cycle.

Sharon L. Roadway, director of the Federal Records Center in Laguna Niguel, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration, said the center’s 100 workers were spared from further furloughs when their budget was approved in mid-November.

“I’m real pleased that we’re not closed today,” Roadway said. “Most of our staff did not get paid the last [shutdown]. They lost four days of wages. After all, these are the holidays.”

Times staff writer Deborah Schoch contributed to this story.