BREAKING NEWS Trump's mass layoffs hit State Department as 1,300 workers are axed in deep state purge
The department sent layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with assignments in the United States, the Associated Press reported.
The notices said positions were being 'abolished.' The employees affected were also told they'd lose access to the State Department headquarters in Washington D.C., their emails and their shared drives by 5pm on Friday.
The layoffs come only days after the Supreme Court cleared the way for Trump 's executive order allowing mass layoffs across the federal government to proceed, despite ongoing legal challenges.
Employees, some of whom were crying, were seen exiting the State Department holding boxes of their belongings.
Staffers who weren't laid off lined up in the lobby and applauded for their former colleagues.
Outside the building were dozens of former colleagues, ambassadors, members of Congress and others who were protesting.
Signs seen in the crowd said, 'Thank you to America's diplomats,' and 'We all deserve better.'
'We talk about people in uniform serving. But foreign service officers take an oath of office, just like military officers,' Anne Bodine, who retired from the State Department in 2011 after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, told the AP.
'This is not the way to treat people who served their country and who believe in "America First."'
Friday's firings were part of President Donald Trump's mission to dramatically shrink the size of the federal government.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though not yet commenting on the layoffs, was the one who proposed to Congress the reorganization of his department in late May.
The State Department also lauded the Supreme Court ruling that allowed this reorganization to go through unchallenged.
'Today's near unanimous decision from the Supreme Court further confirms that the law was on our side throughout this entire process. We will continue to move forward with our historic reorganization plan at the State Department, as announced earlier this year,' the department posted on X, which was later reposted by Rubio himself.
Rubio said officials took 'a very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and more focused.'
'It's not a consequence of trying to get rid of people. But if you close the bureau, you don't need those positions,' Rubio told reporters Thursday. 'Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people.'
Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will formally lose their jobs. For most civil servants the separation period lasts 60 days.
Critics say the scale of cuts floated at the State Department will 'leave the US with limited tools to engage as a leader on the world stage during this critical juncture,' making it hard for many offices to carry out their missions.
The cuts follow Trump's earlier elimination of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) - a major pillar of America's global aid apparatus that employed over 10,000 people worldwide.
Diplomats warn the gutting of both agencies in a single year could cripple US influence abroad, especially as conflicts intensify in the Middle East and Ukraine, and China expands its global footprint.
The American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents diplomats, urged the State Department last month to hold off on job cuts.
Notices for a reduction in force, which would not only lay off employees but eliminate positions altogether, 'should be a last resort,' association President Tom Yazdgerdi said.
'Disrupting the Foreign Service like this puts national interests at risk - and Americans everywhere will bear the consequences.'
While the administration is framing the cuts as streamlining, critics say the real effect is a hollowing out of US diplomacy with human rights, refugee resettlement, and war crimes offices facing extinction under the restructuring.
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