The US State Department has sacked more than 1,000 employees as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the government workforce.
According to a notice addressed to State Department employees on Friday, there were 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service employees who were let go involuntarily.
More than 1,500 additional State Department employees left voluntarily earlier this year as part of the federal government’s huge reorganisation.
Critics argue that the major cuts will have an impact on the department’s work.
According to reports, nearly all civil service officers in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration’s office of admissions – a programme that resettles refugees in the US – were cut.
Individuals who worked for the State Department’s Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) office were also among the cuts.
Outside the building, protesters gathered with signs that read “Thank you to Americas diplomats” and “We all deserve better”.
Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a statement saying the “decision to fire hundreds of members of the Civil Service and Foreign Service at the Department of State undermines our national security”.
“While there are targeted reforms that our government can pursue to maximize the impact of every tax dollar, that’s not what this is,” the senators wrote. “Blanket and indiscriminate cuts – the legacy from Elon Musk’s failed DOGE effort – weaken our government’s ability to deliver for the American people in a cost-effective manner.”
The layoffs come just days after the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration’s plan to slash the sized of the federal workforce could move forward.
The cuts to the workforce originate from a campaign promise from President Donald Trump cut government spending.
Earlier this month, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) officially closed its doors, at the directive of the Trump administration.
More than 80% of all the agency’s programmes were cancelled as of March, and on 1 July the remainder were formally absorbed by the state department.
