Responding to what he calls the Trump administration’s “cruelty” toward fired federal workers, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said he is looking to tap into the pool of skilled, displaced employees to fill open state jobs.

About 1,300 Marylanders have already lost their jobs as the Trump administration has sought to gut the federal workforce. Moore estimated that the figure could reach 10,000, based on the number of Marylanders who had not yet earned civil service protections.

Though there may not be room in the lifeboat for every federal worker, the invitation to apply is on the table. And Moore, a Democrat who has struggled to staff some agencies, has directed top leaders to ease the path to employment with the state government.

“In the Army, they teach you that if you get attacked, you don’t just sit there and take it, you mobilize,” said Moore, a former captain in the Army. “And in Maryland, this is our moment to mobilize.”

Moore has recently tempered his optimism for a collaborative state-federal partnership and focused his energy on protecting Marylanders. His abrupt pivot came after a visit to the White House at which President Donald Trump confronted Maine’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, threatening to withhold federal funding if she defied his executive orders.

Trump has tasked billionaire businessman Elon Musk with culling the federal workforce and shrinking the country’s government. A federal judge on Thursday said the actions are likely unlawful and ordered a pause.

Moore said he’s watching that lawsuit, but from what he’s seen in recent weeks, he feared the “arbitrary” cuts are “just the beginning.”

The firings have ripped through federal agencies, including those located in Maryland. Hundreds of workers tasked with monitoring dangerous weather events and climate change for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were dismissed Friday. At the Social Security Administration, headquartered in Woodlawn, nearly 200 employees were either fired or put on leave.

So far, more than 450 federal workers have applied for Maryland’s unemployment insurance program, according to administration officials.

“We cannot control the actions of the White House,” Moore said, “but we can control on how we respond to the actions of the White House.”

Maryland is hiring

To attract the highly educated and skilled talent, Moore’s administration is launching a job-hiring blitz and called on leaders in the nonprofit and private sectors and in local government to ramp up hiring efforts. The state will hold a virtual seminar on its recruitment efforts on March 7. Various counties have also set up job fairs.

Multiple state agencies will step up, help current and former federal workers match their expertise to state openings and streamline the hiring process. The governor has directed his education department and the Maryland Higher Education Commission to assist displaced federal workers considering a second career as a teacher to fill open teaching positions.

Moore’s office has also expanded a digital resource hub that aims to connect former federal workers with key resources and job-hunting support. The website, which was rolled out weeks ago, now includes housing support links, veterans programs and state benefits eligibility.

Federal employees comprise nearly 6% of Maryland’s workforce and are some of the state’s highest earners. Keeping them afloat while they look for new jobs benefits the state’s slow growing economy.

Ahead of the news conference, Moore held a roundtable with members of the country’s largest federal employees union who have been fired by the Trump administration. He shared the stories of three union members shaken by the sudden loss of their jobs at the National Park Service, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Personnel Management.

Jonathan Hairston told those at the news conference that he was “wrongfully dismissed” from his federal job without due diligence. Up until a few weeks ago, he worked as an artificial intelligence specialist with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

“I was dismissed with vague reasoning riddled with factual errors about my position and my division,” said Hairston, a military veteran.

Trump and Musk have also been attacking federal workers, even questioning their work ethic.

Moore said the country’s public servants have been “villainized.”

“They have been attacked,” he said. “And this is not patriotism. This is cruelty.”

Echoing Moore’s support for federal workers was U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who attended the State House event. He described the Trump administration’s actions as a “spree of lawlessness,” and said Musk’s slashing of government agencies wasn’t “making government more efficient.”

“If that’s what it was about, you would not start by firing all the inspector generals,” he added.

With Republicans loyal to Trump in control of both chambers of Congress, Democrats have few legislative tools to stop them. Maryland’s congressional representatives, all but one of whom are Democrats, have held virtual town halls, protested outside of government office buildings, dispatched updates through social media and stayed in close contact with the Moore administration and state lawmakers.

Van Hollen blasted Trump for giving Musk, who contributed $280 million to the Republican’s campaign, the “keys” to federal agencies. The Washington Post reported this week that Musk and his businesses have received at least $38 billion from the federal government in government contracts, loans and other forms of assistance.

“In my view, this is the most corrupt bargain we’ve ever seen in American history,” he said.

Lawmakers add to safety net

Democratic state lawmakers say they’ve heard from constituents who been abruptly fired and are trying to help.

State Del. Jazz Lewis and Sen. Nick Charles, Prince George’s County Democrats, have proposed a bill that would allow out-of-work federal employees to borrow small, no-interest loans from the state in addition to their unemployment insurance. The state already had the fund in place to help such workers during federal government shutdowns and most recently used it to help those affected by the Key Bridge collapse.

The loans could mean an additional $700 for each individual federal worker, even if two or more live in the same household. Lewis said he wants to keep Maryland’s “indispensable,” highly educated and skilled workforce in the state as many look for new jobs. The bill should be on the House floor early next week.

The moves to expand social safety nets come during a particularly fraught budget year. State leaders are tackling a $3 billion budget hole for the next fiscal year and facing future funding gaps for its ambitious and costly education reform plans. Moore has proposed sweeping program cuts and raising taxes on some of the state’s highest earners.

Republicans, however, have been urging Moore to impose a hiring freeze to help address the state’s tight budget. State Sen. J.B. Jennings, who represents Harford and Baltimore counties, told Moore at a budget hearing Friday, “We’re trying to get this budget balanced. Don’t hire, just get through the storm.”

In the Senate, Montgomery County Democrat Craig Zucker raised concerns about the mounting challenges.

“As a body we need to continue to work together and know some of the burden we might have is based on federal action, but we will put our politics aside and work across party lines, whoever wants to work with us, to put Maryland first and protect everybody,” the senator said,