One employee was dismissed via email at 12:47 a.m. Another broke down in tears alongside colleagues as security escorted her from the building. A third scrambled to refill a prescription after being informed that her health insurance would expire within 24 hours.

For Stunned Federal Workers, Sleeplessness, Anger and Tears

Among them was Jacqueline Devine, a contractor in the H.I.V.-AIDS office at the United States Agency for International Development (U.S.A.I.D.). As a behavioral scientist focusing on H.I.V. treatment in sub-Saharan Africa, she was one of many affected by the abrupt mass layoffs in Washington on January 28. Unlike some, she received no severance pay.https://svtoday.org/

“I’m realizing that grief isn’t a straightforward process,” Ms. Devine said in a recent interview. “You move back and forth between anger and sadness.” Nights have been particularly tough. “I either can’t sleep at all, or I sleep just to escape,” she admitted. “Or I wake up at 1 or 2 a.m. and can’t fall back asleep.”

One casualty of the Trump administration’s assault on the federal workforce is the collective voice of those affected. Many who were fired or left in limbo feel silenced, wary of retaliation due to Elon Musk’s public attacks on U.S.A.I.D., where he referred to the agency as a “criminal organization” and claimed he had “fed it into the wood chipper.” Others remain quiet due to pending legal battles or restrictions from their agencies.

Still, a handful of former employees from U.S.A.I.D., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Justice spoke out in interviews last week. Some shared their full names, while others opted for anonymity. U.S.A.I.D. workers expressed deep concern for overseas colleagues who were suddenly recalled and feared that dismantling a $40 billion foreign aid agency—though a judge has temporarily halted some of these efforts—would ultimately lead to widespread suffering from famine, disease, and conflict.

While experts and workers alike recognize the need for reforms within the federal workforce—which, excluding military personnel and postal workers, numbers approximately 2.4 million—the approach taken by Musk and the administration has been criticized as reckless. Offering mass deferred resignations to two million workers, analysts argue, is less a reform and more an indiscriminate destruction of government operations.

“What happens if the people who resign are the ones processing Social Security payments?” asked Terry Clower, an economic expert at George Mason University.

The consequences are particularly dire in Washington, where nearly 40 percent of the region’s economy depends on the federal government, spanning public employees, contractors, nonprofits, and businesses. However, the effects extend nationwide, as over 80 percent of federal workers reside outside the capital.

Max Stier, a longtime expert on the federal workforce, recalled hearing from a forest worker in Idaho who feared losing his job. “Most Americans don’t realize the extent of civil servants’ work across the country,” he said. “The human impact of these cuts is being overlooked.”

The Prosecutor Who Was Purged

Jake Struebing, a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, was among more than a dozen individuals dismissed via email on January 31. According to him, the message made it explicit: they were being terminated for their involvement in the January 6 cases.

At 33, Mr. Struebing is one of the few fired prosecutors who have gone public, recently appearing on CNN and MSNBC. Before joining the Justice Department in September 2023, he worked at the prestigious law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. His role at the Justice Department—handling the January 6 prosecutions, the largest in its history—was a dream job.

“It was everything I had hoped for,” he said. “I loved every moment.” Unlike his previous role, where he spent most of his time behind a computer, his work at the Justice Department frequently took him to court. He participated in four trials, and one of his proudest achievements was securing a conviction against a January 6 defendant for assaulting a police officer. That same defendant, along with others, has since been pardoned by Trump.

When asked if he still had faith in the justice system, Mr. Struebing fell silent for a long time—offering no response.

However, he did say this: “I took on these prosecutions to uphold the peaceful transfer of power and defend democracy. But over time, it became just as much about standing up for the officers who protected us that day.”

Aid Workers Left in Limbo

Although a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s efforts to dismantle U.S.A.I.D.—an agency he vowed to “CLOSE DOWN!” on social media—the decision came too late for three contractors who remain unemployed.

Mieka, who specialized in gender-based violence, received a stop-work order at 6 p.m. on January 27. Four days later, she was furloughed without pay, followed by a notice that her health insurance would expire in 24 hours.

With only a two-week supply of essential medication left, she rushed to her Virginia pharmacy. When it failed to arrive the next day, she scrambled to apply for Medicaid and unemployment benefits, hoping she wouldn’t have to rely on them for long.

“I have four kids, including one in college and twins about to graduate from high school. My husband is retired,” she said. “The personal impact is overwhelming.”

Still, she tried to stay optimistic. “I’ve worked in places without Medicaid or unemployment benefits,” she noted. “I’m grateful for these systems—I just hope I don’t need them for too long.”

Mieka, who withheld her last name for fear of online harassment, had savings to stay afloat for now, but she was less hopeful about finding another job in the aid sector. With U.S.A.I.D. funding countless nonprofits in Washington and global development projects, its collapse had already triggered massive layoffs.

“Even during the pandemic, I never saw a time where every single person I knew was out of work,” she said. “It’s surreal watching an entire industry get wiped out overnight.”

One silver lining—her prescription finally arrived last week.

Sarah, a contractor in U.S.A.I.D.’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, received her stop-work order on January 28 at 11:40 a.m. By noon, security had escorted her and about a hundred others from the building. “We cried,” she recalled.

At 12:30 p.m., the displaced employees found themselves outside a U.S.A.I.D. annex in downtown Washington, stunned. No one wanted to be alone, so many gathered at a nearby restaurant, which was filled with other newly unemployed workers. Later that night, Sarah received an email informing her she had been furloughed without pay, with her health insurance set to expire in three days.

Despite everything, she tried to stay resilient. “We’re used to working in high-stress disaster zones,” she said. “But this time, the crisis is happening to us.”

Kristina, a maternal and child health contractor, anxiously refreshed her inbox every five minutes on January 28 as rumors of budget cuts spread. She finally gave up and went to bed—only to discover the next morning that her termination email had arrived at 12:47 a.m.

“One of the hardest parts of this is that it has taken decades to build trust with our global partners,” she said. “This undoes so much of what we’ve accomplished.”

The Union Lawyer in Shock

“I’m horrified,” said Nicole Cantello, a former Environmental Protection Agency lawyer who represents its union in Chicago. On Thursday, she learned that 168 employees in the agency’s Office of Environmental Justice had been placed on administrative leave—many in Chicago.

The office, created in 2022 to address pollution affecting low-income and minority communities, was an early target of Trump’s cuts.

“These people joined the agency to further Biden’s environmental policies, and now that decision has come back to haunt them,” Ms. Cantello said.

As for her own future, she remains uncertain. Project 2025—a blueprint for Trump’s administration—includes eliminating federal worker unions altogether.

Meanwhile, Ms. Devine, the former U.S.A.I.D. H.I.V.-AIDS contractor, has been overwhelmed by the upheaval. Between job-hunting, she wonders where to direct her energy: “Should I be writing, protesting, marching?”

When asked why she chose to speak out, she responded without hesitation.

“I have nothing to lose.”