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Year: 2025

Deadline for Musk’s ultimatum to federal workers hits, but consequences remain vague

Deadline for Musk’s ultimatum to federal workers hits, but consequences remain vague

The deadline for federal workers to respond to Elon Musk’s request to verify their weekly work output passed on Monday night, but the consequences of declining to respond remain vague. Musk confirmed shortly before Monday’s deadline that federal workers would be given another chance to respond, and that failure to do so “will result in termination.” Several government agencies, including those led by loyalists to President Donald Trump, told their employees not to respond to the original request from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). While Musk himself suggested on social media that refusing to respond to the email would be “taken as a resignation,” the actual email from OPM made no mention of such consequences. “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” the OPM request read, making no threats of termination. ELON MUSK SAYS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES MUST FILL OUT PRODUCTIVITY REPORTS OR RESIGN The FBI and Department of Defense, led by Trump allies Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth, also instructed their employees not to respond, citing the confidential nature of their work. “When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses,” Patel wrote to FBI employees. TRUMP RATTLES OFF ‘FLAGRANT SCAMS’ UNCOVERED BY DOGE, TAKES AIM AT FORT KNOX IN CPAC SPEECH Trump argued there was no rift in his administration despite the conflicting orders, however. “They don’t mean that in any way combatively with Elon,” he told reporters late last week. “Everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea.” “What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday. “And then, if you don’t answer, like, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired, because a lot of people aren’t answering because they don’t even exist.” Musk nevertheless appeared angry at the lack of response to the request, turning to X to express his frustration just hours before the 11:59 p.m. Monday deadline. “The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” he wrote. “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers. Have you ever witnessed such INCOMPETENCE and CONTEMPT for how YOUR TAXES are being spent? Makes old Twitter look good. Didn’t think that was possible.” Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is in the midst of auditing various federal agencies in search of wasteful spending, corruption and mismanagement.  DOGE’s work comes as President Donald Trump ordered the federal workforce to return to the office after five years of remote work stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, and has vowed to clean house of bad actors within the government and ax overspending.

Texas governor announces crackdown on massive illegal immigrant community near major city

Texas governor announces crackdown on massive illegal immigrant community near major city

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that state authorities working with the Department of Homeland Security are conducting an immigration and law enforcement operation in Colony Ridge, a huge development known for attracting masses of illegal immigrants. “Colony Ridge is being targeted today,” Abbott, a Republican, announced on X on Monday. Colony Ridge, which is less than an hour’s drive from Texas’ biggest city, Houston, is a housing development that advertises in Spanish for quality land for low down payments. There are believed to be thousands of illegal immigrants living in the community, which also reportedly has significant cartel activity and very little police presence. DEM AND GOP GOVERNORS URGE TRUMP TO ‘LET THE STATES PLAY A ROLE’ IN IMMIGRATION DECISIONS The governor said Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers and special agents were cooperating with Homeland Security Investigations in an operation in Colony Ridge this morning, “targeting criminals & illegal immigrants.” Abbott said he has been working on this operation with President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, “for months.” In response to concerns that his post would endanger law enforcement’s operation in Colony Ridge, Abbott said the operation began hours before his post and that “long before my post anyone in the area would’ve known about the operation.” A spokesperson for DHS, however, declined to comment on the operation, citing the need to preserve secrecy about the details of the operations and concerns for the safety of the agents involved. ALLEGED FENTANYL-SMUGGLING IMMIGRANTS LEAD POLICE ON DANGEROUS CORNFIELD CHASE Local outlet ABC13 reported that officials at the nearby Liberty County Sheriff’s Office further confirmed that DPS and ICE operations were underway. Another outlet called The Vindicator reported that at least one local man, Roberto Alfaro, 24, saw “undercover” agents he believed to be from ICE “forcefully” arresting a Mexican national outside his house. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE Alfaro told The Vindicator he had never seen anything like the operation underway in Colony Ridge before and that it “feels scary.” He mentioned his concern that his mother and father would be deported back to Honduras and El Salvador. He also said he and some others were “chasing” ICE so “we could go behind them and warn others.” TRUMP FREEZES APPLICATIONS FOR BIDEN-ERA MIGRANT PROGRAMS AMID FRAUD, NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS The Trump administration has unleashed a slew of immigration enforcement actions since taking office last month, one of the most notable being a string of ICE raids in cities across the country. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, Homan announced that in Trump’s first month in the Oval Office, ICE arrested 21,000 illegal aliens. “I’m happy with the numbers,” he said. “But I’m not going to be satisfied until every criminal alien gang member, every criminal alien, every Tren de Aragua [gang member] is eradicated from this country and [we’ve] sent their a– to Gitmo, where they belong.”

Department of Veterans Affairs cutting more than 1,400 employees in another round of dismissals

Department of Veterans Affairs cutting more than 1,400 employees in another round of dismissals

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is cutting more than 1,400 probationary workers occupying “non-mission critical positions,” according to a Monday news release. “Those dismissed today are bargaining-unit probationary employees who have served less than a year in a competitive service appointment or who have served less than two years in an excepted service appointment,” the VA noted. The cuts will save over $83 million annually, the VA indicated. TRUMP ADMIN ORDERS AGENCIES TO LAY OFF PROBATIONARY WORKERS IN LATEST PUSH TO SHRINK GOVERNMENT As a result of the financial savings, the VA said it will be able to “redirect all of those resources back toward health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries.” “As an additional safeguard to ensure VA benefits and services are not impacted, the first Senior Executive Service (SES) or SES-equivalent leader in a dismissed employee’s chain of command can request that the employee be exempted from removal,” the VA noted. MUSK OFFERS ‘ANOTHER CHANCE’ TO RESPOND TO PRODUCTIVITY EMAIL, BUT WARNS FAILURE AGAIN MEANS TERMINATION This newly announced round of cuts comes after the VA previously announced the elimination of more than 1,000 workers earlier this month. “These and other recent personnel decisions are extraordinarily difficult, but VA is focused on allocating its resources to help as many Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors as possible,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in the Monday news release.  VETERANS AFFAIRS HOSPITAL CHAPLAIN ALLEGEDLY SANCTIONED OVER SERMON, FIGHTS BACK WITH DEFENSE OF FREE SPEECH CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The VA specifically said these decisions to let some employees go “will not hurt VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries” and even noted that veterans will “notice a change for the better.” “In the coming weeks and months, VA will be announcing plans to put these resources to work helping the department fulfill its core mission: providing the best possible care and benefits to Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors,” Collins said.