The State Department is firing over 1,300 employees in line with a dramatic reorganization plan initiated by the Trump administration earlier this year.

The State Department began firing more than 1,350 U.S.-based employees on Friday as the administration of President Donald Trump presses ahead with an unprecedented overhaul of its diplomatic corps, a move critics say will undermine U.S. ability to defend and promote U.S. interests abroad.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tour the Texas flood devastation and the State Department begins laying employees.

No State Department official publicly said when the first notices for the planned layoffs would be sent, but the widespread expectation is for the terminations to start as soon as Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department began firing more than 1,350 U.S.-based employees on Friday as the administration of President Donald Trump presses ahead with an unprecedented overhaul of its diplomatic corps, a move critics say will undermine U.S. ability to defend and promote U.S. interests abroad.

Employees of the U.S. State Department could receive a layoff notice via email very soon as part of the Trump administration's plan to downsize the government.

The U.S. State Department fired more than 1,300 employees on Friday. The layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s plan to reduce the size of the federal government. The firings include the remaining employees working on global climate talks.

Senate Democrats on Friday joined State Department employees in protest of the Trump administration’s decision to layoff 1,300 employees this week. “This is not America first. This is America in retreat,

In connection with the departmental reorganization … the department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities.”

Videos show emotional scenes as tearful State Department employees emerge to applause from colleagues after being abruptly fired.