At least three cases, including two with the Gopalganj sadar police station and the other with the Kashiani police station, were filed against 1,329 people between Thursday night and Friday over allegations of attacking police and vandalising their vehicles and felling trees to create obstructions on Wednesday centering the National Citizen Party rally. The death toll from the violence in Gopalganj over NCP rally on Wednesday reached five as a rickshaw puller hit by bullet died while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital early Friday.

The government, meanwhile, extended the curfew over Gopalganj district till 6:00am on Saturday and it might be extended further while the joint forces arrested 90 more people since Thursday night. The Wednesday violence in Gopalganj erupted as security forces personnel and Awami League and its banned student body Bangladesh Chhatra league members got locked into clashes after the latter attacked NCP leaders in their motorcade.

The interim government on May 12 banned all activities of the Awami League and its affiliated, allied, and like-minded organisations until the completion of the trials involving them at the International Crimes Tribunal. Ramjan Munshi, 32, a resident of Thana Para, Gopalganj town, son of Akbar Munshi, died at about 1:45am on Friday, according to DMCH officials.

Asked about the death in a gunshot injury, DMCH director Brigadier General Md Asaduzzaman acknowledged the death but did not provide details. According to DMCH officials, Ramjan Munshi was admitted to the DMCH at about 4:30pm on Thursday. They said that the body was sent to the DMCH morgue for autopsy. While talking to New Age in front of the morgue, the victim’s brother Hira Munshi said that his brother received a bullet injury in the chest at Chowrangi Mor on Wednesday.

‘We first got him admitted to Gopalganj Sadar Hospital and later shifted him to Dhaka Medical College,’ he said.

According to police, two cases were filed with the Gopalganj sadar police station but none of them were filed in connection with the killing of five people. Gopalganj sadar police station inspector for investigation Abdullah Al Mamun told New Age that a case was filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2009 on Thursday night against 575 people, including 75 named for beating police members with the intention to kill and vandalising a police vehicle at Ulpur under sadar upazila, on Wednesday.

‘Police filed another case with the sadar police station on Friday against 404 people, including 54 named persons under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2009,’ the inspector added.

Gopalganj district assistant superintendent of police for Muksudpur Circle Md Abdul Based said that Kashiani police sub-inspector Alimul Huda Jony filed a case against 300-350 people, both named and unnamed, on the allegation of obstructing the highway near Sampan Highway Restaurant by felling trees on the road. He, however, also said that they had arrested 90 people, including 66 in Muksudpur and 24 in Kashiani area, over the Wednesday violence since Thursday night.

‘We will continue our drive to arrest the accused,’ he added.

Earlier, the joint forces arrested 25 people and the number of arrestees rose to 115 so far. The Inter Services Public Relation directorate in a statement on Thursday said that the Bangladesh Army was compelled to use force at one point in self defence in Gopalganj on Wednesday as attackers threw a huge number of crude bombs and brick bats at them.

At about 7:30pm on Wednesday, a group of unruly people took away the bodies of the deceased from the Gopalganj District Hospital. They prevented doctors from carrying out autopsy of the bodies, said the chief adviser’s press wing on Thursday.

In the Wednesday violence in Gopalganj, a police vehicle was torched, upazila nirbahi officer was attacked, cocktails were exploded, brick bats were hurled, and the NCP rally venue and motorcade were attacked.

The police fired rubber bullets, hurled sound grenades, and lobbed tear gas shells while members of the Bangladesh Army opened fire in the air to disperse Awami League activists and to save the NCP leaders.

On Sunday (July 13), a government order signed by Jeti Pru, Senior Assistant Secretary of the Appointment-2 Branch of the Ministry of Public Administration, announced the extension of magistracy powers for the armed forces.

According to the order, powers of Special Executive Magistrate have been delegated under Sections 12(1) and 17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, to commissioned officers of the rank of Captain and above in the Armed Forces, including equivalent officers deployed on deputation in the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Coast Guard.

These officers will be authorized across the country to take action under Sections 64, 65, 83, 84, 86, 95(2), 100, 105, 107, 109, 110, 126, 127, 128, 130, 133, and 142 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, in controlling offenses.

This order, issued in the public interest under the authority of the President, takes effect immediately.

Previously, on September 17, the armed forces were granted magistracy powers for 60 days. Since then, the tenure has been extended several times.

The same PSG that defeated clubs like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich to reach the final was brought down by Chelsea. On Sunday (July 13) at midnight, Chelsea beat the in-form PSG 3-0 to win the FIFA Club World Cup.

Although PSG dominated possession throughout the match, Chelsea led in attacks, build-up play, and creating scoring chances. They reaped the rewards as early as the 22nd minute, when Cole Palmer found the net from a pass by Gusto inside the box.

Just eight minutes later, Palmer scored again—this time assisted by Colwill. Trailing by two goals, PSG began to lose composure, and Chelsea took advantage. In the 43rd minute, João Pedro scored the third goal. It was his third goal since joining Chelsea.

While PSG couldn’t create any notable chances in the first half, they began pressing for opportunities early in the second half. However, Dembélé and his teammates couldn’t break Chelsea’s solid defense. As the match began slipping out of PSG’s hands, frustration started to show.

In the 85th minute, PSG’s Portuguese star João Neves received a red card for pulling Chelsea defender Cucurella’s hair. In the 87th minute, Ousmane Dembélé was shown a yellow card for arguing with the referee. Ultimately, Chelsea walked off the field with a convincing 3-goal victory. After the match, players from both sides clashed physically, and PSG coach Luis Enrique also lost his temper and got involved.

Thus, PSG’s dream of a perfect season came to an end. After winning the treble, they were the hot favorites to win the Club World Cup. They even made it to the final, but couldn’t secure the title. On the other hand, Chelsea, who had earlier won the Conference League, ended their season with another trophy. This marks their second Club World Cup title. They first won it in 2021 by defeating Brazilian club Palmeiras.

A recent spate of violent crimes across the country has raised serious concerns about the effectiveness of law enforcement, nearly a year into the interim government’s tenure. Data from the Police Headquarters (PHQ) presents a grim picture of violent crimes, including murder, mugging, robbery, extortion, and mob violence, in the first six months of 2025.

Moreover, many of these incidents were caught on camera and widely shared on social media, fuelling fear and insecurity among the public. Inspector General of Police Mohammad Baharul Alam admitted that the police are yet to regain their control following last year’s traumatic political upheaval.

“You may say we haven’t been 100 percent successful. Maybe not even 50 percent. The situation is widespread … we must find ways to deal with it,” he told yesterday.

Experts warned that the situation may worsen if the government fails to take prompt and effective measures to tackle it. According to PHQ, 1,336 cases of dacoity and robbery were reported across the country in the first six months of this year.

During the same period, police recorded 1,930 murder cases, though over 400 of them were filed over incidents that took place in previous years. Crimes against women and children also remained a serious concern. From January to June this year, 11,008 cases related to the repression of women and children were filed.

In addition, 515 kidnapping cases were reported in the same period, indicating a growing threat to personal security. Mob violence remained a disturbing trend. At least 89 people were killed in mob attacks between January and June this year, including 45 in Dhaka alone, according to rights group Ain o Salish Kendra. Such incidents have continued despite repeated warnings from law enforcement officials and government advisers.

One such case is the recent brutal killing of scrap metal trader Lal Chand alias Sohag in the capital’s Mitford area on Wednesday, a video of which went viral on social media, sparking public outrage. Many criticised how such a barbaric assault could occur in broad daylight and in full view of bystanders, without any intervention.

Meanwhile, a group of armed men attacked a business establishment in the capital’s Pallabi on Friday, allegedly for not getting Tk 5 crore in extortion money. Also on Friday, unidentified assailants severed tendons and shot dead a former Jubo Dal leader in front of his house in Khulna city.

The same day, a 75-year-old khatib of a local mosque was hacked with a machete after Juma prayers in Chandpur. On Friday morning, muggers in the capital’s Shyamoli area not only snatched valuables from a man but also took his shirt and shoes.

Just a day before, police recovered the body of a man bearing multiple hack wounds, with his hands cuffed behind his back and legs tied with a scarf, from a roadside in the capital’s Mirpur-11 area.Such killings have lately hogged the headlines.

Apart from these, mugging incidents, some taking place in broad daylight, have also rattled people’s confidence in the country’s law and order. These incidents kept occurring even as the army remains deployed across the country with magistracy powers to assist in maintaining law and order. IGP Baharul Alam yesterday said the authorities are yet a find a way to make the force fully operational.

“Our main challenge is making the force 100 percent effective after such a traumatic experience [last year],” he said at an event in Gendaria.

“I’m still not satisfied [with the situation]. We’re still in the process [of regaining control],” he said, adding that operations and arrests of known criminals are ongoing.

On political ties to crimes, he said the expulsion of accused individuals from political organisations is a welcome sign. Meanwhile, Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury defended law enforcers. “If police were inactive, arrests wouldn’t have happened in last two days,” he said, referring to the Mitford murder.

“There may have been some delays in action, but we acted after verifying information,” he said, urging people to contact police instead of taking law into their own hands.

Meanwhile, Rapid Action Battalion Director General AKM Shahidur Rahman said the elite force is focused on regaining public trust following criticism during last year’s political unrest. “Gaining public trust is the main task,” he said at a press briefing in Karwan Bazar.

Omar Faruk, a professor at the Department of Criminology and Police Science at Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, said prolonged political misuse of the police has deeply damaged the institution.

“For 15 years, police have been used politically. That damage is hard to reverse,” he told. “Police still don’t behave like they should in a democratic country.”

He added, “I have spoken to several officers. They believe the police are going through a crisis period, and once it’s over, the situation will be under control, gradually.” However, he said the government has to arrange training or counselling programmes to help officers adapt to the situation. He also said curated efforts are needed to rebuild the trust between the force and the people.

Militancy in Bangladesh was once “nothing more than a drama,” from which the country has now been freed, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police for Dhaka Range Rezaul Karim Mallick has said.

“For 18 long years, we were under fascist rule — we are free from that as well. We are now working as part of the new police force of a new Bangladesh,” he said while addressing a public gathering in Shariatpur today (13 July). Addressing the issue of extortion, DIG Rezaul said police are working to stop extortion on roads, waterways, and other sectors.

“No extortion or terrorism will be tolerated. Anyone involved in extortion will be arrested wherever they are found,” he warned.

The anti-drug, anti-terrorism, and anti-militancy event was held at the drill shed of the Shariatpur Police Lines at 11am today. The event was attended by leaders of various political parties, representatives of the Students Against Discrimination, family members of those killed in the 2024 mass uprising, members of civil society, and district police officials. At the end of the programme, DIG Rezaul distributed gifts to 14 families in Shariatpur who had lost loved ones during the July uprising.

The State Department began firing more than 1,350 U.S.-based employees on Friday as the administration of President Donald Trump presses ahead with an unprecedented overhaul of its diplomatic corps, a move critics say will undermine U.S. ability to defend and promote U.S. interests abroad. The layoffs, which affect 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service officers based in the United States, come at a time when Washington is grappling with multiple crises on the world stage: Russia’s war in Ukraine, the almost two-year-long Gaza conflict, and the Middle East on edge due to high tension between Israel and Iran.

“The Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” an internal State Department notice that was sent to the workforce said. “Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found,” it added. The total reduction in the workforce will be nearly 3,000, including the voluntary departures, according to the notice and a senior State Department official, out of the 18,000 employees based in the United States.

The move is the first step of a restructuring that Trump has sought to ensure U.S. foreign policy is aligned with his “America First” agenda. Former diplomats and critics say the firing of foreign service officers risks America’s ability to counter the growing assertiveness from adversaries such as China and Russia.

“President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio are once again making America less safe and less secure,” Democratic senator Tim Kaine from Virginia said in a statement.

“This is one of the most ridiculous decisions that could possibly be made at a time when China is increasing its diplomatic footprint around the world and establishing an overseas network of military and transportation bases, Russia is continuing its years-long brutal assault of a sovereign country, and the Middle East is careening from crisis to crisis,” Kaine said.

Dozens of State Department employees crowded the lobby of the agency’s headquarters in Washington holding an impromptu “clap-out” for their colleagues who have been fired. Dozens of people were crying, as they carried their belongings in boxes and hugged and bid farewell to friends and fellow workers.

Everyone agrees: it’s getting worse. The people of Kyiv have, like the citizens of other Ukrainian cities, been through a lot. After three and a half years of fluctuating fortunes, they are tough and extremely resilient. But in recent months, they have been experiencing something new: vast, coordinated waves of attacks from the air, involving hundreds of drones and missiles, often concentrated on a single city.

Last night, it was Kyiv. And the week before too. In between, it was Lutsk in the far west. Three years ago, Iranian-supplied Shahed drones were a relative novelty. I remember hearing my first, buzzing a lazy arc across the night sky above the southern city of Zaporizhzhia in October 2022. But now everyone is familiar with the sound, and its most fearsome recent iteration: a dive-bombing wail some have compared to the German World War Two Stuka aircraft.

The sound of swarms of approaching drones have sent hardened civilians back to bomb shelters, the metro and underground car parks for the first time since the early days of the war.

“The house shook like it was made of paper,” Katya, a Kyiv resident, told me after last night’s heavy bombardment.

“We spent the entire night sitting in the bathroom.”

“I went to the parking for the first time,” another resident, Svitlana, told me.

“The building shook and I could see fires across the river.”

The attacks don’t always claim lives, but they are spreading fear and eroding morale.

After an attack on a residential block in Kyiv last week, a shocked grandmother, Mariia, told me that her 11-year old grandson had turned to her, in the shelter, and said he understood the meaning of death for the first time.

He has every reason to be fearful. The UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) says June saw the highest monthly civilian casualties in three years, with 232 people killed and over 1,300 injured. Many will have been killed or wounded in communities close to the front lines, but others have been killed in cities far from the fighting.

“The surge in long-range missile and drone strikes across the country has brought even more death and destruction to civilians far away from the frontline,” says Danielle Bell, head of HRMMU.

President Donald Trump has announced that the European Union and Mexico will face a 30% tariff on imports to the US from 1 August. He warned he would impose even higher import taxes if either of the US trading partners decided to retaliate. The 27-member EU – America’s biggest trading partner – said earlier this week it hoped to agree a deal with Washington before 1 August.

Trump has this week also said the US will impose new tariffs on goods from Japan, South Korea, Canada and Brazil, also starting from 1 August. Similar letters were sent this week to a number of smaller US trade partners.

In the letter sent on Friday to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Trump wrote: “We have had years to discuss our trading relationship with the European Union, and have concluded that we must move away from these long-term-large, and persistent, trade deficits, engendered by your tariff, and non-tariff, policies and trade barriers.”

“Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from reciprocal,” the letter added.

The EU has been a frequent target of Trump’s criticism. On 2 April, he proposed a 20% tariff for goods from the bloc, as well as dozens of other trade partners. He then threatened to raise the EU import taxes to 50% as trade talks stalled.

Washington and Brussels had hoped to reach an agreement before a deadline of 9 July, but there have been no announcements on progress.In 2024, the US trade deficit with the bloc was $235.6bn (€202bn; £174bn), according to the office of the US trade representative. Von der Leyen said the EU remained ready “to continue working towards an agreement by Aug 1”.

“Few economies in the world match the European Union’s level of openness and adherence to fair trading practices,” her statement added.

“We will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”

Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement she trusted “a fair agreement” could be reached, adding: “It would make no sense to trigger a trade war between the two sides of the Atlantic.” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on social media that the EU “must remain united and resolute” in its aim to reach a “mutually beneficial” deal with the US.

Germany’s Association of the Automotive Industry warned about the prospect of rising costs for German carmakers and suppliers, and said it was “regrettable that there is a threat of a further escalation of the trade conflict”.

In his letter to Mexico’s leader, Trump said the country had not done enough to stop North America becoming a “Narco-Trafficking Playground”.

“Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,” Trump added.

In his letters to the EU and Mexico, Trump warned that if either trade partner retaliated with import duties of their own against the US, he would hit back by raising tariffs by a similar percentage over and above the 30%.

Mexico responded to Trump’s threat on Saturday, calling it an “unfair deal”.

Trump’s letter did not say if Mexico goods traded within the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement would be exempt from the proposed 1 August tariff hikes, as the White House said would be the case with Canada.

Earlier this week, the White House sent a letter to Canada threatening a 35% tariff. As of Saturday, the Trump administration has now proposed tariff conditions on 24 countries and the EU. On 12 April, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro set a goal to secure “90 deals in 90 days”. So far, the president has announced the outlines of two such pacts with the United Kingdom and Vietnam amid ongoing negotiations.

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have beaten to death a 20-year-old United States citizen, the victim’s family members and rights groups have said. Settlers attacked and killed Sayfollah Musallet in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, on Friday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Relatives of Musallet, who was from Tampa, Florida, were also quoted by The Washington Post as saying he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers.

“We are aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the West Bank,” Reuters reported a State Department spokesperson as saying. The official declined to comment further “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim.

Muslat had travelled from his home in Florida to visit family in Palestine, his cousin Fatmah Muhammad said in a social media post.

Another Palestinian, identified by the Health Ministry as Mohammed Shalabi, was fatally shot by settlers during the attack.

Rights advocates have documented repeated instances where Israeli settlers in the West Bank ransack Palestinian neighbourhoods and towns, burning homes and vehicles in attacks sometimes described as pogroms.

The Israeli military often protects the settlers during their rampages and has shot Palestinians who show any resistance.

The United Nations and other prominent human rights organisations consider the Israeli settlements in the West Bank violations of international law, as part of a broader strategy to displace Palestinians.

While some Western countries like France and Australia have imposed sanctions on violent settlers, attacks have increased since the outbreak of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.

When President Donald Trump took office earlier this year, his administration revoked sanctions on settlers imposed by his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Israeli forces have killed at least nine US citizens since 2022, including veteran Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.

But none of the incidents have resulted in criminal charges.

The US provides billions of dollars to Israel every year. Advocates have accused successive US administrations of failing to protect American citizens from Israeli violence in the Middle East.

On Friday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on Washington to ensure accountability for the killing of Musallet.

“Every other murder of an American citizen has gone unpunished by the American government, which is why the Israeli government keeps wantonly killing American Palestinians and, of course, other Palestinians,” CAIR deputy director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.

He then pointed out that Trump has repeatedly promised to prioritise American interests, as typified by his campaign slogan “America First”.

“If President Trump will not even put America first when Israel murders American citizens, then this is truly an Israel First administration,” Mitchell said.

The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) also called for action from the US administration, noting that settlers are “lynching Palestinians more frequently – with full support from Israel’s army and government”.

“The US government has a legal and moral obligation to stop Israel’s racist violence against Palestinians. Instead, it’s still backing and funding it,” the group said in a statement.

The US Department of State did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment about the killing of Musallet.

The Palestinian group Hamas condemned the murder of Muslat, describing it as “barbaric”, and called on Palestinians across the West Bank to rise up to “confront the settlers and their terrorist attacks”.

Israel said it was “investigating” what happened in Sinjil, claiming that the violence started when Palestinians threw rocks at an Israeli vehicle.

“Shortly thereafter, violent clashes developed in the area between Palestinians and Israeli civilians, which included the destruction of Palestinian property, arson, physical confrontations, and stone-throwing,” the Israeli military said in a statement. Israeli investigations often lead to no charges or meaningful accountability for the abuses of Israeli officers and settlers.

As settler and military violence intensifies in the West Bank, Israel has killed at least 57,762 Palestinians in Gaza in a campaign that rights groups have described as a genocide.

A Supreme Court decision giving the Trump administration the greenlight to lay off tens of thousands of employees threatens to reshape the federal workforce amid a broader battle over whether the president has the power to do so. The Tuesday decision was the latest example of the court stepping in to stop a nationwide injunction – leaving President Trump free to conduct widespread layoffs even as the legal tussle continues.

While a patchwork of other injunctions leaves a few limited protections in place, employees at some 17 agencies impacted by the ruling are bracing for what President Trump in February called “a critical transformation of the Federal bureaucracy.”

The Trump administration was on the precipice of carrying out layoffs when the courts blocked the plan in May – agencies had been asked to submit their plans for Reductions in Force (RIFs) by April and were just waiting for administration approval. Some agencies have already said they plan to take swift action in the wake of the decision.

“The Supreme Court decision has allowed us to commence, and that’s what we’re doing,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters Thursday.

“It will happen quickly. This is not going to be an extended wait for people who are listening and watching in this building or fellow Americans at home and around the world. This will happen quickly. We understand that there has been a delay, not to our interests but because of the courts.”

On Friday, the department said it would lay off more than 1,300 employees, including 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers who currently have domestic assignments in the United States. And others among the 17 agencies have already given signals as to the extent of their planned cuts. Health and Human Services, which already announced plans to cut 10,000 employees of the 82,000 on payroll at the start of the administration.

Agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Social Security Agency, Veterans Affairs and more are impacted by the ruling. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest federal government union, described the news as devastating for government services as it is for employees’ careers.

“There is a lot of legitimate concern among our members not just for their own jobs, but for the Americans who rely on the services they provide — from small businesses, veterans, and Social Security recipients to everyday American consumers,” AFGE president Everett Kelley

“It’s a life-altering decision for tens of thousands of American families. Federal employees across the country will sit at their dinner tables tonight with their layoff notice next to a pile of bills, knowing the Supreme Court’s action just changed their lives forever, and they’re wondering what they’re going to do next to make ends meet. They didn’t ask for this – all they wanted to do was serve their country.”

The Supreme Court’s decision only weighed the injunction lifted by a lower court judge, not the underlying layoff authority or plans themselves. “The content of the [Agency RIF and Reorganization Plans] thus remains squarely at issue in this case,” U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston wrote in a Thursday order granting further discovery in the case.

The dissent from Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, however, faulted her colleagues for giving the go ahead on a plan that may later be determined to be unlawful.

“That temporary, practical, harm-reducing preservation of the status quo was no match for this Court’s demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this President’s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture,” she wrote.

The decision will allow “all the harmful upheaval that edict entails, while the lower courts evaluate its lawfulness. In my view, this was the wrong decision at the wrong moment, especially given what little this Court knows about what is actually happening on the ground,” she argued.

Unions too had argued there would be “no way to unscramble that egg.”

The ruling comes after the Supreme Court in a case dealing with Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship placed limits on the extent lower courts can use nationwide injunctions – a massive win for the Trump administration amid complaints about district court judges blocking their policies.

Agencies are in many cases still waiting to hear back from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management on their plans, but a joint memo from the agencies suggested speed is the goal.

Agencies were directed to seek a waiver to shorten the notification window for employees, giving workers as little as 30 days notice that they will lose their jobs, rather than the traditional 60 days. Once those plans are revealed, the specifics could also be challeneged as well as the process for rolling them out. RIF plans in some cases can require congressional or union notification.

Lawmakers in regions with large numbers of federal employees also said they plan to be engaged on any efforts for sweeping layoffs.

“The Court’s decision to allow this damage to be done before ruling on the merits shows how detached they are from the reality of the moment,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)

“Make no mistake, the Trump Administration’s plan isn’t about efficiency, it’s about rigging the government to only benefit the wealthy and powerful special interests. We are not done fighting in Congress, in the courts, and in our communities to defend the dedicated public servants who go to work on behalf of the American people day in and day out.”

The planned RIFs follow a number of other moves from Trump to shrink the scope of the federal government. Shortly after taking office, departments across government dismissed employees still in their probationary period – a time frame that can last a year or two depending on the role and that can also be reactivated by a promotion. That too left the government dismissing thousands of federal workers who also saw their efforts to fight their dismissal hamstrung at different turns.

A challenge at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) lost the backing of the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) after Trump fired former President Biden’s five-year appointee to the role, Hampton Dellinger.

Dellinger backed the MSPB challenge while he was fighting his own suit to keep his job, but the OSC reversed course once courts determined he could not stay in the job amid his own legal battle.

Like with the RIFs, there are some injunctions still in place that block some of the firings, but in other cases they’ve been permitted to proceed. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) criticized the latest plans for firings as part of a broader “witch hunt.”

“I will continue to fight against this President’s witch hunt targeting federal workers,” she wrote on X.

“When you attack civil servants, you attack the very people they serve – the American people.”