Trump moves to reshape Department of Homeland Security leadership Starting with high-level firings

The Trump administration is preparing to fire hundreds of high-level Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees this week, aiming to remove individuals deemed misaligned with the administration's objectives.

Sources familiar with the matter told NBC News that the administration has developed a "centralized plan" and compiled a list of senior employees across various DHS components who are slated for removal, per Caliber.Az.

These firings follow a wave of cuts that began Friday night, impacting several key agencies within DHS, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). These actions are part of a broader effort to reduce the federal workforce.

This week, sources indicated, that high-level career employees — particularly those in Senior Executive Service and General Schedule 15 positions — may be targeted. The intent, they said, is not to shrink the workforce but to remove individuals the administration believes could obstruct its goals for the agency.

DHS, which oversees agencies like Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), plays a critical role in enforcing U.S. immigration laws. The Trump administration has depended on CBP to secure the southwest border and on ICE to increase arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants.

A former senior Biden administration official noted that the employees in these positions "have an influence on policy and strategy."

In defence of the firings, a Trump administration official argued that the plan targets those who “willfully grind things to a halt.” The official added, “These people put themselves in a terrible position, and they need to be removed.”

A DHS spokesperson issued a statement, saying, "Under President Trump’s leadership, we are making sweeping cuts and reform across the federal government to eliminate egregious waste and incompetence that has been happening for decades at the expense of the American taxpayer."

By Tamilla Hasanova