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The Indiana Daily Student

Federal hiring freeze affects students pursuing internships

Campus Filler

Before President Trump took office, junior Anabel Carmona-Gutierrez had a plan. She would get a job for one year and then return to her home country, Spain, to get a master’s 
degree.

When Trump issued a presidential memorandum Jan. 23 to stop hiring new federal civilian workers, Carmona-Gutierrez’s plan fell apart. She said she hoped to work at the Environmental Protection Agency, but now that may not be possible.

Trump’s order challenges students pursuing internships within the government. The federal hiring freeze, however, does not affect jobs related to the military, national security and public safety.

If Carmona-Gutierrez were to return to Spain after graduation, she faces the problem of high unemployment. According to Trading Economics, Spain’s unemployment as of Jan. 26 is 18.36 percent. The United State’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Along with the freeze, Carmona-Gutierrez said she is worried about Trump’s recent executive order banning immigration from seven countries and her future in the U.S. as an immigrant.

“It is a concern because Spain has been very open about taking refugees,” Carmona-Gutierrez said. “There are signs in city that say they are welcome. If the president were to start trying to punish different countries that are pro-refugees, then I would be affected.”

Carmona-Gutierrez faces a dilemma. She can remain in the U.S. with her fears of the about the treatment of immigrants and try to pursue a job in the private sector, or she can return to Spain and confront the high levels of 
unemployment.

While Carmona-Gutierrez faces the additional challenge of being an immigrant, other IU students are also experiencing challenges with Trump’s federal hiring freeze.

In September IU junior James Cole applied to two internships with the government. One was at the U.N. headquarters in New York City, and one was at the U.S. embassy in 
London.

Nearly five months later, Cole is still waiting, not to see if he was chosen for the internship, but to see if the internship still exists.

“It’s the one I applied to first, and I’ve been waiting on this the most,” Cole said. “To get to the end of the journey, and, instead, I just might not find out at all is very 
unfulfilling.”

Cole and others pursuing federal internships are now left in a gray area. While these candidates applied to the internships before the freeze, Cole said it is still unclear whether or not he and other applicants will be hired even after contacting the Department of State .

“They don’t know if it’s hiring new people, people that are paid or people at all,” Cole said. “They may be able to hire because it’s 
unpaid, but they couldn’t tell me.”

Cole is studying 
international studies and economics. He said he always wanted to go into a foreign or civil service job, but, with no progress on the status of his government internships, Cole said he is looking into the private sector.

It concerns him the internship options he had last year may no longer exist, he said.

Jeff Bae, a sophomore who applied to three government internships, said he is less concerned with Trump’s freeze because there are internships available at the state level.

“None of the sites or applications are saying ‘We’re not taking anyone,’” Bae said.

Bae is an infantryman with the Indiana Army National Guard who said he’s always been passionate about working in the public sector.

“It didn’t really surprise me that much considering what their goals are,” Bae said. “What they’re trying to accomplish makes a lot of sense especially because the Department of Defense didn’t get any hiring frozen.”

For now, students seeking federal internships will have to wait for guidance from the Trump administration or see how the agencies interpret the freeze policies. As a result of the insecurity, many, like Cole, have turned to the private sector as they wait for the gray area to become clear.

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