By SHARON O’MALLEY
PHOTO CREDIT Giuseppe LoPiccolo
A College Park resident who works for the federal government said this week she has been “shaking like a leaf every day” since President Donald Trump announced his dramatic plan to slash the federal workforce by tens of thousands of employees.
Documented migrants who live in College Park have told the city’s mayor, Fazlul Kabir, that they have started carrying their passports with them everywhere they go in case an immigration agent questions their right to be in the country.
And federal agencies located in College Park, like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, and the National Archives are following orders to dismantle their diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Just a few miles from the District, College Park is grappling with the fallout from an array of executive orders that are drastically changing life for federal employees, immigrants and the transgender community.
“We’re a part of everything that’s going on in the nation’s capital,” Kabir said. “We’re five miles away.”
Cities like College Park, which get most of their funding from commercial and residential property taxes, along with allocations and grants from the county and state, so far do not have to make changes to their local governments to match what the new administration is requiring of federal agencies.
So College Park, for example, is not doing away with programs that focus on racial equity and restorative justice.
Still, because the city is home to a large number of federal employees—the city does not keep track of how many—and a substantial population of immigrant families, residents are feeling the sting of decisions that could cost them their jobs and disrupt their communities.
“The morale of the community is very low,” Kabir said.
He acknowledged that “there are so many jobs of federal employees at stake,” and added, “The only way we can address it is by supporting each other.”
To that end, the city has published links (https://tinyurl.com/48h4kbn7) to resources from Prince George’s County Public Schools, including an assurance that the system does not track the immigration status of students or their families; from Care Solace, which partners with the city to help those experiencing housing or food insecurity, medical needs, stress or mental health issues; and county resources for immigrants.
In addition, the mayor has issued a proclamation called “One College Park” that focuses on the city’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
It contains a passage that declares the city is committed to “excellence and kindness, with inclusion and hope, with balance and optimism. We will reject and resolve attitudes of fear, pessimism or cynicism.” It finishes with a promise of “our continuing commitment to be an inclusive community that rejects stigma and bias against individuals because of race, ethnicity, place of origin, physical ability, socio-economic status, gender identity, sexual orientation, age or religion.”
Prince George’s County’s two congressional representatives, Glenn Ivey and Steny Hoyer, joined county council Chair Jolene Ivey on Feb. 7 at a virtual forum for local federal employees that drew 14,000 participants.
They advised the workers to reject any offers to resign, as they do not come with guarantees of severance pay and could prevent employees from collecting unemployment benefits. Unions and pro-worker organizations, along with some states and counties, are fighting potential job losses through lawsuits, they said.
Still, the federal worker who said she shakes every day out of fear of losing her job—and asked not to be named in this article out of the same fear—admitted she and her co-workers are “in sheer panic right now. People are shutting down their Facebook accounts and afraid of using our phones to send text messages. We don’t know how much we are being spied on. We’re so scared we could be targeted for a particular affiliation.”
At the College Park City Council meeting on Feb. 4, Councilmember John Rigg (District 3) acknowledged that what those workers feel is “an anxiety that permeates a lot of populations in our city.”
And Councilmember Llatetra Brown Esters (District 2) reminded residents to take care of themselves by “finding support, mental health and immigration services. … Take time away from the news and other things if you need to, but most importantly, take care of yourself.”