DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin says department is ‘actively identifying other wasteful positions and offices that do not fulfill DHS' mission'
The Trump administration on Friday moved to dismiss more than 400 employees at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of what it calls a broader effort to reduce the size of the federal workforce, CBS News reported.
DHS officials said the terminations affected multiple agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The employees were identified as "non-mission critical personnel in probationary status," according to department officials.
The cuts are expected to save nearly $50 million and contribute to the administration's push to reduce bureaucracy, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CBS News.
The department is "actively identifying other wasteful positions and offices that do not fulfill DHS' mission,” she added.
"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," said the DHS official.
Last month Trump ordered a commission to look at eliminating the disaster agency FEMA altogether and handing over disaster relief duties to the individual states, in a major break from longstanding policy.
Weeks of job cuts since Trump took office on Jan. 20 have drawn criticism for their speed and size – announcing layoffs of thousands of people – as well as broad Trump administration claims of waste and even criminality among the federal workforce, claims that so far have gone largely unsubstantiated.
