The federal government’s civilian workforce was then presented with a straightforward deal: announce their resignation and continue receiving pay and benefits until September, or continue working with no assurance that their position would not be eliminated in the coming months.

“I chose to hope that I would survive,” said a former employee at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The former employee, a recent graduate of Michigan State University, spoke to The State News on the condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation should she rejoin the federal government.

Even if the federal government could successfully argue for the “deferred resignation” program’s legality, she figured the program lacked a concrete funding structure and would fold under its weight before long, she said. A rumor that taking the deal would permanently mark a resigning employee as disloyal to their agency also began to circulate among employees.

“I was willing to fight to stay in that job as hard as I could just for the chance to stay,” the former employee said. “I didn’t want to risk the possibility of not being able to one day rejoin the federal service.”

The deferred resignation program closed two weeks later — its benefits promised only to those who had resigned before 7:20 p.m. ET on Feb. 12.

The MSU graduate — who had been with the EPA for just under one year — was fired at the end of that week, Valentine’s Day.

She is one out of an estimated 200,000 federal workers who have been fired in the weeks since the Trump administration began its dismantling of federal agencies. In addition to those fired, 75,000 workers accepted the deferred resignation program, according to ABC News.

The mass firings — in tandem with a freeze on hiring within federal agencies — also contain implications for current MSU students wishing to intern with the federal government during the next four years.

‘Am I going to be fired today?’

A “cruel” waiting game began for the nation’s 2 million federal workers soon after Trump took office, the former EPA employee said.

Rumors that executive branch agencies would institute mass firings had been circulating since the 2024 election, the former EPA employee said. Trump had promised throughout the campaign to greatly reduce the size of the federal workforce and, after winning the election, tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head the administration’s cost cutting efforts.

“Every single day you were checking your email, waiting to see if you were going to get fired that day,” the former EPA employee said.

In those early days, the office consensus was that probationary employees — workers who usually had been working in their current position for fewer than one year during a “trial period” of sorts — would be the first to go. Compared to their entrenched colleagues, probationary federal employees lack protection against being fired without cause.

As the firings began, there were some attempts to shorten workers’ probationary periods to ensure they would qualify for the protections, the former employee said.

Those efforts were ultimately fruitless; 388 probationary employees, including the MSU graduate, were fired from the EPA.

“There was nothing they could do,” she said. “They tried, but it was difficult. They couldn’t even save the people who had been there for a lot longer than I was who were technically probationary.”

Once fired, a new challenge of securing unemployment benefits, food assistance and health insurance — all while frantically applying to job postings and staying on top of rent — presented itself.

“It’s like there’s no time to breathe,” she said. “You just have to keep fighting forward.”

Despite experiencing immense stress for weeks beforehand and now facing financial hardship after being fired, the former employee said she'd jump at the chance to return to what she referred to as her “dream job” at the EPA.

“I would give anything to go back,” she said. “I hope I get the chance one day.”

Internships and jobs in jeopardy 

The mass firings and hiring freeze have also raised concerns among MSU students and faculty regarding the availability of internships and long-term employment opportunities with federal agencies. 

James Madison College hosts webinars for students to learn about federal career opportunities and has started including discussions about changing federal careers in those meetings. Promotional materials for a webinar on "Federal Government Internship + Job Search Strategies" hosted by the college's career adviser on Feb. 18 noted that the program would "incorporate a review of the current federal hiring landscape, including recent Executive Orders related to federal career opportunities." 

“There’s a lot of uncertainty whether or not internship opportunities will exist in the future,” political science Assistant Professor Marty Jordan said. “And then, of course, even if there are internships, will there be job opportunities?”

Students enrolled in James Madison College or those studying political science are required to complete an “experiential learning” credit before graduating. Some political science students obtain those credits through study abroad programs, but the vast majority — around 40 to 50 students per semester — obtain them through internships, Jordan said.

The majority of those internships take place at the state capitol, with students working with state legislators or in the governor’s office, Jordan said. Others work around the Greater Lansing area with lobbying groups, law firms, nonprofits or state agencies.

Approximately 5% of political science students intern within the federal government during an average semester, with that rate increasing to 10% during the summer, Jordan said.

It’s a similar story in James Madison College. Only two of 90 students completed internships with federal agencies for credit last summer, a spokesperson for the college said. 

Still, students have expressed concerns that they’ll be unable to obtain an internship with federal agencies or with nonprofits that depend on federal grants and contracts, Jordan said.

Even if students do obtain an internship with the federal government, he added, an agency’s gutted staff could be ill-equipped to properly support its interns.

The change also impacts graduating students. The federal government employs the third-most graduates from James Madison College and the political science department, only behind the state government and MSU itself, according to the university’s Career Services Network. 

While the legality of the mass firings are fought over in federal courtrooms, Jordan said, students should apply to more internship and employment opportunities than usual — but still tailor each application to the organization they’re applying to. Students should also leverage their professional network and reach out to alumni working in their desired field, he added.

The former EPA employee similarly recommended students interested in working with federal agencies connect with alumni still at those agencies. The former employee said she also hopes students share job opportunities with unemployed workers to help them get back on their feet.

“I know that Michigan State is always going to be in my corner and always be family to me,” she said. “And I know that they will be for all federal workers.”