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- Deborah Fleischaker worked for the Department of Homeland Security and ICE under President Biden.Fleischaker witnessed the Trump administration make changes to immigration guidelines she worked on.She said she's feels that federal workers are being vilified and finds it sad to watch.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 52-year-old Deborah Fleischaker, from Washington, D.C. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
On election night, I knew I was out of a job.
I'd been working for the Department of Homeland Security as a political appointee under the Biden administration. I was hopeful about staying in my position under a Harris administration, but when Trump was elected, there was no question I was going to be leaving in January.
Political appointees serve at the direction of the president, and I didn't think President Donald Trump would ask me to stay on, or that I would stay on if asked.
I've always appreciated working for the underdog. I took my first job at the DHS in 2011. It was a departure from my background in nonprofits — I enjoyed trying to support both the system and the people in it.
I held multiple career and political positions within the DHS until January 2025, including as the chief of staff at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Since leaving my job, I've been following updates on immigration policies in the news. It's been hard to watch changes being made, including to guidelines I was particularly proud to work on. I'm also disheartened to see how — in my view — government employees are being vilified right now.
I wanted to help shape policies in a political capacity during my career
I hadn't aspired to do government work, but it sounded interesting. My first role was in the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the Department of Homeland Security. I ended up loving it and stayed for almost a decade.
I handled allegations of civil rights violations in DHS activities and ICE issues. I worked through the first Trump administration and wasn't thrilled about some of the changes.
After the Biden administration came in, I worked for the DHS Office of Policy on policies that put up guardrails around immigration enforcement near courthouses, schools, and medical facilities.
I became the assistant director of regulatory affairs and policy at ICE in 2021, shifting from government employee to political appointee, which is an ally of the party in power. I've held political roles ever since, including ICE's chief of staff and chief privacy officer.
There's an assumption that ICE employees are cold and on one side of politics, but that's not my experience. Many of us were trying to do the right thing, even if we didn't agree on what that was.
You can understand that immigration requires enforcement, including detention and removal, but also support legal pathways to migration. I tried to walk that line.
The Trump administration has rescinded a policy I was particularly proud of
I'm particularly proud of the guardrails around enforcement I worked on at ICE, such as the sensitive locations policy. It made me sad to see it reversed in the first week of the Trump administration.
I feel that previous administrations were able to enforce immigration laws with the policy in place. I don't think making people scared to go to the local police, hospitals, or schools is good for communities. Since the guidelines were rescinded, there have been reports of school attendance dropping among immigrant communities.
It's hard to watch the policy changes unfold because I know the blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into creating previous policies. I've been taken aback by the speed and scope of change since the Trump administration came in, even though intellectually, I could have predicted some of it.
I feel my former colleagues in government jobs are being vilified
I was sad to leave my job after the election. There was so much more I wanted to do and so many ways I thought ICE and DHS could continue to improve. There are lots of people in the department who I respect and would be honored to work with again.
I could have gotten another career job at the DHS, but I've decided to work as a self-employed consultant, mostly on immigration. We'll see if I like it.
The vast majority of government employees are nonpartisan, hardworking people who are trying to do the right thing with taxpayer money. But especially now, I feel they're being vilified through accusations of waste, fraud, and abuse by Trump and DOGE. There are certainly changes to the civil service I would agree with, but I think we should do that work carefully and thoughtfully.
It's incredibly disheartening to watch the hard work and careers of thousands of people be disparaged.
I'm proud of the work I did over the past four years and the relationships I've made throughout the department, including with people I have different political viewpoints from.
When asked to respond to Fleischaker's statements that the White House had suddenly reversed ICE guidelines, was vilifying federal workers and disparaging the hard work and careers of thousands of workers, a spokesperson for the White House replied that the Biden administration's handling of the United States border security was "incompetent" and "Biden officials who oversaw that four-year disaster have no authority or standing to comment on the Trump administration." DOGE, ICE, and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to BI's request for comment.
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