Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has received the largest share of the 50,000 new federal employees hired by the US government since President Donald Trump took office. According to Trump’s top staff official, the new staff, mostly in national security positions, reflects the political focus of the administration.
Scott Kupor, the federal government’s director of human resources, confirmed to Reuters that most of the new hires work in Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The personnel changes are part of Trump’s campaign to overhaul the government while sharply cutting other federal jobs.
The administration has hired new employees while freezing hiring and firing in other parts of the government, such as the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The administration expects to lay off about 300,000 workers this year, Kupor said in August.
In January, Trump appointed billionaire Elon Musk to lead a project aimed at reducing the number of 2.4 million federal civilian workers. Musk, with Trump’s support, said the federal workforce has become too large and too inefficient.
The Trump administration has fired employees tasked with enforcing civil rights laws, collecting tax cuts and overseeing clean energy projects.
As part of that, about 154,000 employees accepted a buyout offer from the Trump administration. According to former federal employees and unions who spoke to Reuters earlier this year, the buyouts affected a wide range of government activities, including weather forecasting, food safety, health programs and space projects.
