Trump administration wants to un-fire nuclear safety workers but can’t figure out how to reach them

By Peter Alexander and Alexandra Marquez

WASHINGTON — National Nuclear Security Administration officials on Friday attempted to notify some employees who had been let go the day before that they are now due to be reinstated — but they struggled to find them because they didn’t have their new contact information.

In an email sent to employees at NNSA and obtained by NBC News, officials wrote, “The termination letters for some NNSA probationary employees are being rescinded, but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel.”

The individuals the letter refers to had been fired on Thursday and lost access to their federal government email accounts. NNSA, which is within the Department of Energy and oversees the nation’s nuclear stockpile, cannot reach these employees directly and is now asking recipients of the email, “Please work with your supervisors to send this information (once you get it) to people’s personal contact emails.”

The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment.

President Donald Trump’s administration has acted with unprecedented speed — and in some cases, questionable legality — in seeking to cut large portions of the federal government, laying off staff and ending contracts. But that speed has resulted in complications, including firing people agencies actually want to keep.

The emails come after multiple staff — all civil servants — at the NNSA received termination notices late Thursday, according to a source with direct knowledge of the notifications. NBC News reviewed the termination notification, which included the subject line: “Notification of Termination During Probationary/Trial Period.”

The NNSA is tasked with designing, building and overseeing the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

The termination notices, which read “effective today,” came within hours of a Russian drone striking the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine. NNSA tracks nuclear risks in Ukraine, including through sensor systems.

The NNSA saga comes as the Trump administration executed mass firings throughout the federal government this week, primarily slashing the jobs of employees categorized as “probationary.”

Some departments saw massive numbers of layoffs, like the Department of Homeland Security, where over 400 people were told that their jobs were cut.

An NNSA nuclear safety specialist fired Thursday because she was a two-year probationary employee told NBC News she was still locked out of her email, but her manager had called to inform her that her “termination was rescinded” and to report to work on Tuesday.

“I will be honest, I intend to keep looking for work,” the employee said. “I will go back, but as soon as I find another role, I’ll be leaving.”

Asked why she will still look for employment elsewhere, she said that she has “no faith I will keep my job.”

The move comes as Trump and one of his top advisers, tech mogul Elon Musk, seek to slash the size of the federal government.

The federal cuts have been met with pushback from Democrats, labor unions and progressive organizations. More than 60 lawsuits against the Trump administration alleging executive overreach and other violations are pending.

Justice Department fires multiple immigration judges amid case backlog

A union representing the judges said it “makes no sense” to make cuts to immigration courts as Trump promises to carry out mass deportations, which must go through the courts.

Attorney General Pam Bondi holds a news conference to announce charges against the state of New York for an alleged failure to enforce federal immigration laws.

NBC NEWS Feb. 15, 2025

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice fired multiple immigration judges on Friday, according to two sources familiar with the decision and a statement from one of the judges on LinkedIn.

The move threatens to throw sand in the gears of an already strained immigration system as the Trump administration moves to rapidly reshape the federal workforce.

The terminations were enacted by the acting director of the Executive Office of Immigration Review at the Justice Department, which oversees immigration courts.

A union representing immigration judges said that since the start of the Trump administration, more than two dozen immigration judges, managers and new hires have been fired.

Five midlevel assistant chief immigration judges and 13 candidates to become new judges received termination notices on Friday, according to the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.

“You have a president now who campaigned on immigration and removing people from the country on the one hand.

And on the other hand, he’s actually firing the very judges that have to hear these cases and make those decisions.

So, it makes no sense. It’s a head scratcher,” said Matt Biggs, the president of the IFPTE.

Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the administration has fired at least four top managers in the Executive Office of Immigration Review as well as a fifth senior manager, the union said.

Kerry Doyle, a recently appointed immigration judge, said on LinkedIn she and others appointed by then-President Joe Biden received an email on Friday telling them they had been fired.

Doyle previously served as deputy general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security during the Biden administration.

“This firing occurred despite the fact that the Immigration Court currently has in the neighborhood of 3.5 MILLION pending cases and DOJ is asking Congress for more money to hire more people at EOIR!” Doyle said in a statement on LinkedIn, referring to the Executive Office of Immigration Review.

Doyle alleged that the “firing was political,” noting that she and colleagues who were fired had been hired during the Biden administration.

NBC News cannot independently verify the claims, as the number of fired judges remains unclear.

The Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.