Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Nov 14: The U.S. government has hired nearly 50,000 employees since President Donald Trump returned to office, with most additions placed in national security agencies, reflecting the administration’s sharpened focus on immigration enforcement and internal security.
Scott Kupor, the federal government’s human resources director, told Reuters that the bulk of the new hires have joined Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), marking one of the most significant staffing shifts in recent federal history. “It’s about reshaping the workforce to focus on the priorities that we think are most important,” Kupor said.
The recruitment drive comes even as the administration continues cutting federal jobs in other sectors. Key departments—including the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services—have seen layoffs as part of Trump’s broader plan to overhaul what he has repeatedly called a “bloated and inefficient” federal workforce.
The administration expects to eliminate nearly 300,000 positions this year, Kupor had said in August, reshaping the size and structure of the 2.4 million-strong civilian workforce.
In January, Trump appointed billionaire Elon Musk to spearhead an aggressive downsizing initiative. Backed fully by the President, Musk has argued that the federal government has grown too large and slow, necessitating sweeping cuts.
As part of the restructuring, around 154,000 federal employees accepted voluntary buyouts, affecting wide-ranging functions such as weather forecasting, tax collection, food safety, healthcare programs and even space-related projects. Former employees and union representatives told Reuters that the buyouts significantly impacted operations across multiple agencies.
The administration has also dismissed workers involved in enforcing civil-rights laws, collecting tax revenues and overseeing clean-energy initiatives, signalling a major realignment of federal priorities.
With aggressive hiring on one hand and large-scale layoffs on the other, the Trump administration continues its effort to remake the American federal workforce in line with its national security and immigration agenda.