‘We’re being treated as grifters or terrorists’: US federal workers on the fear and chaos of their firings | Trump administration

R.The Trump administration launched At least 20,000 Government employees in the first month, where the “Doge” is called Elon Musk, which is dramatically working in federal agencies. Some economists have forecast These fines, which can affect approximately 300,000 workers, will be the largest job cuts in the history of the United States.

Most of the workers who were cut in Test periods It lacks functional protection that comes with work conditions longer. In social media spaces, especially R/fednews Subreddit, these workers described scenes of confusion and feelings of anger directed to Musk, an unleashed billionaire called a “private government employee” by the White House. Last week, Federal Workers’ Syndicates prosecution The Trump administration to illegally use the test periods to reduce employees.

The mass shootings appear out of completion: At the end of this week, MUSK demanded that all the remaining workers explain their daily duties at lead or confrontation. (Many federal agencies He said Their employees are not to respond to the email of musk, unions and invitation groups Move To prevent revenge on the employees who did not comply.)

Three workers were recently informed of The Guardian newspaper about the effects of their lives and work prospects, and how “” will “flow” to all Americans. They asked not to reveal his identity due to fears of revenge and the fact that they are currently looking for new jobs.

“Do I need to think to become a political refugee?”

The world that works on food sustainability issues in the northeastern United States

I was the third person who was appointed in our unit, nearly three years ago, to consider arrival and fair issues when it comes to food. Our test period for government scientists is three years. I was 10 weeks away from the end of this period; It was one of my colleagues who were also separated only six weeks.

I went on maternity leave in August. When Trump was elected, I knew this would mess with my job. Specifically, I thought he would mess with remote work, which I did half of the time after returning from maternity leave. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get time to breastfeed my child at home or manage the postpartum separation anxiety I went through. I decided to take a postponed resignation, because after that I would be a break.

Six days after my resignation, when I was in the exit process, my manager told me that I would get an end letter. It was a huge and emotional resignation process – I feel that I was intimidated by Trump to do so – but at least my decision was made. Now, I was shot. It was a crazy rotation of emotions.

Government workers are real people with families who devoted their lives and experiences in service. It seems as if we are treated as lists or terrorists, when we do not fit. Many of us have abandoned options for the highest income to do the work that we thought would help the world. This is a great huge loss of science, because government researchers now will move to the private sector. There is a lot of good work that the world will not know until it misses it, because we will not do that.

Now I wonder, do I need to think to become a political refugee? I have a large network in Europe and Canada, although I want to stay in the United States. It is difficult these days to know what is a disaster and what is good planning. I think people really hesitate to go to the worst scenario, but we know from history that things can become very bad. Some people see this coming, and some people do not.

It was also a truly disappointing and created for me to see the lack of effective resistance to Trump and musk from Congress. There is a lot of talk on the left about how all this is bad, but nothing is really accomplished. I understand the numbers, majority and minorities, but I think this is not the time to play with fascists.

“I explore legal options”

Cultural resource specialist for national resources NRCS, an agency in the United States Ministry agricultureIn North Dakota

I am an archaeologist. At any time NRCS wants to support private landowners such as livestock or celebrities, they are legally required to have a gay person to conduct drilling surveys on the ground and site fossils.

It started on December 30. I left on February 13. I moved from California to Northern Dakota, and I honestly or not believe the transportation expenses to help pay the price of my movement. I came here with my wife and my father, and we spent a good amount of money to do so. I sold Camry and bought Subaru because I thought I needed a car that could deal with snow here; Now I have a new four -wheel drive vehicle and pay a car.

They told me that if I do not work for the federal government for more than a year, I must pay these expenses. I don’t know if they will come after that now.

It would be one thing if they send me a dedicated message saying something like: “Your position is cut.” Instead, I got the speech of the general model that still says “template” in the title of the document. Tell me that I was shot for performance reasons, but my manager and I was like, I haven’t worked here for a long time enough to get a performance review. How can they say that?

I think there is intimate among the people who were cut, but more than that everyone talks about how stupid is. Do they really make the government more efficient if they get rid of all these people who do things required under the law? I have the impression that Musk treats this as if it would form a private company like Twitter, as it launched a lot of people. He behaves like the CEO, but he is not his company. It is the federal government.

I explore the legal options with employment lawyers, who indicated that I will have to go to the largest classic type. There are two of the collective lawsuits that I have submitted to my information. I also apply for jobs, and I have some interviews. One of them is for a job in this field, and another outside the state. If something good appears, I will take it and move. It won’t be very difficult – I was so much that I haven’t emptied everything yet.

“I did not go to this because I wanted to make six numbers.”

Teacher in a national forest in Oregon

I have worked in the forest in one way or another since 2019, first as a trainee and then in my season. I got my permanent position in July last year. During the first week of Trump, they requested a list of the names of everyone who was appointed last year. This put me on the edge of the abyss.

One day, I saw a group of people in the US Department of Agriculture published on subreddit for federal employees about fire. I was going to send a text message to the question supervisor: “Did he shoot?” Then she called me to say that she had no details, but perhaps that would have happened. The next day, Valentine’s Day, called her final list. This was Friday. It was not a good weekend.

It is an overwhelming thing to know that all the works that I have done during the past five years are completely lost. I have a two -year -old child, and my husband and I wanted to get another, but now we don’t know that. Working in the field of natural resources, I do not know the jobs that will be available, and I am not sure where my career will go. Do I just give up and go to accountability or something like that? It is very uncertain.

I feel we are attacked. There were always anti -government people, but now I feel that people see all government employees as a wicked. I really care about the work I did, and I didn’t go to this because I wanted to create six numbers. Forest or garden services have always been from the two parties, and it is not something you can get rid of easily.

We do a lot of school trips – that will not happen without us. Children, especially those who come from poor societies, will not have the opportunity to go out here and see the natural world. The forest will be in a state of chaos, the bathrooms will not be cleaned, and anyone will come here a terrible experience. Without preserving the forest, wildlife will have a worse home. All these things flow. People who launched us are the highest who do not work in this field; Everyone who knows the daily of how to take care of this place has been given.