MORE than 1,300 State Department employees were fired Friday in a downsizing ordered by President Donald Trump and touted as cutting bloated government — but which critics predict will hamstring US influence around the world.
Diplomats and other staff clapped out departing colleagues in emotional scenes at the Washington headquarters of the department, which runs US foreign policy and the global network of embassies.
Some were crying as they walked out with boxes of belongings.
A State Department official said 1,107 members of the civil service and 246 Foreign Service diplomatic employees were terminated.
The layoffs at the department came three days after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to begin carrying out its plan to gut entire government departments.
The conservative-dominated top court lifted a temporary block imposed by a lower court on Trump’s plans to lay off potentially tens of thousands of employees.
AFP
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