Donald Trump administration fires over 400 DHS employees in effort to cut federal workforce

The Donald Trump administration on Friday took action to fire over 400 employees at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of a broader initiative to slash the federal workforce.

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As reported by CBS News, DHS officials stated that hundreds of employees were dismissed across various agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which handles the country's immigration system.

The terminations affected “non-mission critical personnel in probationary status”, said the report.

“Under President Trump's leadership, we are making sweeping cuts and reform across the federal government to eliminate egregious waste and incompetence that has been happening for decades at the expense of the American taxpayer,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CBS News.

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McLaughlin stated that the personnel reductions will save approximately $50 million and be "incredibly valuable" to the administration's goal of reducing bureaucratic obstacles.

McLaughlin noted that the department is “actively identifying additional unnecessary positions and offices that do not support DHS' mission.”

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In total, more than 200 personnel have been fired from FEMA, the nation's disaster relief agency. These cuts come after DHS revealed earlier this week that four FEMA employees would be dismissed due to improper payments made to reimburse New York City for hotel expenses related to migrants.

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The report said that the employees were accused of bypassing agency leadership to authorize the transactions, which were part of a routine reimbursement program intended to cover costs associated with the surge in migration along the southern border.

The cuts include nearly 50 workers at USCIS, the agency responsible for processing a wide range of immigration benefit applications, such as those for citizenship, green cards, asylum, and work permits. Additionally, ten employees have been let go from DHS' Science and Technology Directorate.

(This is a developing story)