US hires 50,000 federal workers under Trump, boosting immigration roles

By Courtney Rozen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government has hired ​50,000 employees since President Donald Trump ‌took office, his top personnel official said, with the ‌new staff largely in national security positions reflecting the administration's policy focus.

The bulk of the new hires, reported first by Reuters, work at ⁠Immigration and Customs ‌Enforcement, said Scott Kupor, the federal government's human resources director, ‍in an interview on Thursday night.

The staff changes are part of Trump's campaign to reshape the government while ​sharply cutting other federal jobs.

The administration brought ‌on the new employees while freezing hiring and laying off workers in other parts of the government, such as the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The administration ⁠expects to shed about 300,​000 workers this year, ​Kupor said in August.

Trump appointed billionaire Elon Musk in January to launch a project ‍to downsize the ⁠2.4 million-strong federal civilian workforce. His administration dismissed employees charged with enforcing ⁠civil rights laws, collecting tax revenue and overseeing clean ‌energy projects.

(Reporting by Courtney Rozen; ‌Editing by Sonali Paul)