The United States of America President Donald Trump has begun mass layoffs at Voice of America and other US-funded media.

This comes 24 hours after all employees were put on leave; staff working on a contractual basis received an email notifying them that they were terminated at the end of March.

“You must cease all work immediately and are not permitted to access any agency buildings or systems,” the email confirmed to AFP, several employees told contract workers.

Contractors make up much of VOA’s workforce and dominate staffing in the non-English language services, although recent figures were not immediately available.

Many contractors are not US citizens, meaning they likely depend on their soon-to-disappear jobs for visas to stay in the United States.

Accordingly, most full-time VOA staff, who have more legal protections, were not immediately terminated but remain on administrative leave and have been told not to work.

Voice of America, created during World War II, broadcasts around the world in 49 languages with a mission to reach countries without media freedom.

Confirming the development, Liam Scott, a VOA reporter who covers press freedom and disinformation, said he was also being dismissed on March 31, 2025.

The Trump administration’s destruction of VOA and sister outlets “is part of its efforts to dismantle the government more broadly—but it’s also part of the administration’s broader assault on press freedom and the media,” he wrote on X.

“I’ve covered press freedom for a long time, and I’ve never seen something like what’s happened in the US over the past couple of months.”

With the debacle at VOA, some of its services have switched to playing music for lack of new programming.

Recall that in the past, the Trump administration has faced legal challenges after it dismissed probationary workers across various federal agencies, including Defense, Agriculture, Energy, Interior, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.