The US State Department on Thursday formally told Congress it intends to make sweeping changes to focus on the Trump administration’s priorities, including reducing immigration to the US and promoting the administration’s worldview, with less emphasis on protecting and promoting human rights across the globe.
The proposed overhaul was announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in April. Thursday’s more than 100 page long congressional notification lays out further details on the plan, which includes scores of office closures and mergers, renaming and restructuring offices, and firing staff at the headquarters in Washington, DC. It comes as the US State Department finalizes its plans to subsume the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and amid broader cuts throughout the federal government.
“The plan submitted to Congress was the result of thoughtful and deliberative work by senior Department leadership,” Rubio said in a statement. “We have taken into account feedback from lawmakers, bureaus, and long-serving employees. The reorganization plan will result in a more agile Department, better equipped to promote America’s interests and keep Americans safe across the world.”
The congressional notification – a copy of which was obtained by CNN – proposes an increased focus on migration and the border, rather than refugees, at the State Department. The Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration’s “existing migration functions will be consolidated into three new functional offices under a (Deputy Assistant Secretary of State) for Migration Matters.”
“Reflecting core Administration priorities, these offices will be substantially reorganized to shift focus towards supporting the Administration’s efforts to return illegal aliens to their country of origin or legal status,” it states.
One of those “functional offices” will be called the Office of Remigration and will be a “hub for immigration issues and repatriation tracking.”
“It will provide a policy platform for interagency coordination with DHS and other agencies on removals/repatriations, and for intra-agency policy work to advance the President’s immigration agenda” and will use State Department funds to “actively facilitate the voluntary return of migrants to their country of origin or legal status.”
Much of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor “will be focused on advancing the Administration’s affirmative vision of American and Western values” with three offices under a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy & Western Values, the congressional notification says.
One office – the Office of Natural Rights – “will ground the Department’s values-based diplomacy in traditional western conceptions of core freedoms and advance the Department’s affirmative vision of civil liberties.”
“For example, the office will build the foundation for criticisms of free speech backsliding in Europe and other developed nations,” it states, noting it will be staffed from the Bureau’s eliminated European and Asian offices, as well as its policy planning and public diplomacy office.
Another office – the Office of Free Markets and Free Labor – “will refocus existing international labor policy engagement toward the promotion of free market principles and efforts to ensure that American works compete in a fair and open global labor playing field,” it states.
The notification also confirms that USAID’s international disaster assistance work will be folded into the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration – a move that has been highly criticized. USAID’s disaster assistance response teams were highly trained and would be dispatched immediately in the wake of major disasters around the world. However, as the administration dismantled USAID, it also cut contracts critical to the disaster relief work and sources say folding the functions under the bureau at the State Department further exacerbates the problem.
The bureau “is not prepared with the staffing, systems, or strategy to handle this absorption,” a State Department official focused on foreign aid told CNN.
“Absolutely nothing about this reorg is thoughtful or smart. It signals the end of a lot of functions of the US government that will render us completely irrelevant in a lot of international dynamics,” they said.
The notification says the disaster assistance functions will be overseen by a Senate-confirmed Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, who will report directly to the secretary of state. “Until a Coordinator is confirmed by the Senate, the Department anticipates the duties and functions of the office to be performed by a former USAID foreign service officer with extensive experience in disaster and humanitarian response,” it states.
Notably, the State Department congressional notification says that no workforce cuts “are planned for locally employed staff or U.S. direct hire personnel posted overseas.” Reports had swirled that locally employed staff could be impacted by the reorganization.
However, back in the US, the notification proposes “reducing the workforce domestically by up to 3,448 personnel from a baseline staffing levels as of May 4, 2025.” That baseline staffing level was listed as 18,730. The proposed reduction includes a 10% cut – 1,873 personnel assigned to domestic offices – “and up to 1,575 already indicated voluntary departures, such as through employee participation in the Department’s two previously offered Deferred Resignation Programs (DRP).”
The domestic cuts would not “impact personnel within Consular Affairs’ passport or visa operations, federal DS Special Agents whose responsibilities include an active law enforcement and security role, or personnel assigned to a regional bureau country ‘desk.’”
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
