In today’s news and commentary, the moratorium blocking the Trump Administration from implementing Reductions in Force (RIFs) against federal workers expires, and workers throughout the country protest to defund ICE.

On Friday, the moratorium that prevented the Trump Administration from engaging in the mass firings of federal workers expired. The moratorium, passed by Congress in November as part of a deal that ended the longest government shutdown in American history, lasted from mid-November until January 30th, when the stopgap funding measure expired. The spending bills passed by the Senate on Friday do not include a similar moratorium on layoffs. Instead, FEDWeek reports that the bills include language requiring that “staffing be kept at levels needed to fulfill the agency’s mission” or that the agency “notify Congress in advance of any plans for reductions below certain thresholds.” It’s unclear how quickly the Trump Administration will return to issuing RIFs. In at least one case during the moratorium, an agency reversed course; the Department of Health and Human Services rescinded the layoffs of roughly 1,000 employees in January. 

As I covered in December, the moratorium did not dissuade the Trump Administration from attempting to continue mass firings. Over 500 employees, primarily at the State Department, Department of Education, and Department of Defense, received layoff notices last month before the US District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction against the Administration. While the government argued that the moratorium did not apply to employees who received termination notices before the freeze was passed, Judge Susan Illston held in favor of the American Federation of Government Employees and reinstated the employees. 

On Friday and over the weekend, protesters engaged in over 300 actions across all 50 states to protest ICE activity and demand that the agency be held responsible for the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. As Sophia recently covered, hundreds of labor unions endorsed a call for a “National Shutdown” on the 30th, in which protesters participated in “a nationwide day of no school, no work and no shopping.” While Minnesota, which maintains the largest Somali population in the US, is currently the focus of federal immigration enforcement, the Administration appears to be turning next to Ohio. School officials in Springfield recently shared communications from the state government indicating that ICE may soon engage in a 30-day “surge” targeting Haitian immigrants in the city. ICE’s action is timed to coincide with the expiration of Temporary Protected Status for thousands of Haitians in the US. Many of these immigrants are employed as manufacturing and warehouse workers for companies including Amazon and McGregor Metalworks.