It’s been a topsy-turvy week for more than 250 federal prosecutors and support staff in the San Diego U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Trump administration’s offer to 2 million federal workers to resign by Thursday has left the office feeling under siege.
The Office of Personnel Management sent an email titled “fork in the road” to federal employees on Jan. 28. It said the aim is to reform and streamline the workforce and offers everyone a chance to resign. The email also states workers will now be subject to “enhanced standards of suitability” and should be “reliable, loyal and trustworthy.”
In response to that email, San Diego U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, sent KPBS a statement.
“At every fork in the road, this office will choose the path of justice, no matter how challenging the terrain,” the statement said. “Our prosecutors and staff are among the finest public servants in America and this district can rely on our unwavering commitment to public safety.”
Former San Diego federal prosecutor Phil Halpern is in touch with some lawyers currently working in the office. He said they view the Trump administration’s resignation offer with suspicion.
“There were a lot of people who believed that if you didn't play along, your head was going to be put on the block to be taken off,” Halpern said. “You'd be on a list of people to be fired. Because of that, there were many, many people in the office, I'd say perhaps the overwhelming majority, that received it with surprise, confusion and outrage.”
It’s unclear just how many local federal prosecutors will take the administration’s offer to resign or how broad the impacts could be. Halpern said currently about 30% of the office’s criminal cases deal with immigration.
”But there's no saying they wouldn't have 50 or 60%, because we are on the border, it could clearly affect this office in many ways,” Halpern said.
Fraud, political corruption and violent criminal prosecutions could fall by the wayside as a result, he added.
Meanwhile, California Attorney General Rob Bonta called Trump’s buyout offer “a pointed attack aimed at dismantling the federal workforce.”
The Trump administration promised to pay those who resign this week through September. But Bonta urged federal workers to heed union warnings that there’s no guarantee. Federal employee unions are also suing the Trump administration, alleging it lacks legal standing to make the offer.
