Jennifer Nikolaeff slowly inhales and exhales as she seeks “a moment of calm” at a free yoga class for sacked government workers in Washington, where life has been upended by Donald Trump’s return.”Many of us are trying to get jobs again, so this is just one way for us all to get together,” said Nikolaeff, 53, who was recently fired from aid agency USAID after 15 years of service across the globe.As dramatic job losses mount among government staff, a sense of gloom has descended on the US capital.Of the city’s 700,000 residents, 70,000 are federal employees with at least another 110,000 living in the suburbs.Civil servants and contract workers, who are often passionate about politics and left-leaning, look on distraught as President Trump and his fellow Republicans slash the government and move to shut many of its agencies headquartered in the city.Nikolaeff was locked out of her work system at the start of February. Two weeks later, she received a letter saying she was let go.Since then “it felt like every day was going through an entire cycle of grief, from sadness to loss, anger,” she said.In the city that voted 90 percent for Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential election, three times as many people filed for unemployment benefits in February as in the same period last year.- Awaiting bad news -“The energy has been sucked from everyone,” said Nick McFarland, a waiter in a Washington bar.While many have been laid off, others fear they are next to receive the fateful email. Staff are often locked out of offices in the days before cuts are confirmed.Some of those laid off are already looking for a new job, while also fighting in court to keep their current ones.Those still on the payroll have had work-from-home options cut back or eliminated.The city “isn’t sleeping anymore,” said a headline in the Washington Post.Elana Woolf, a mental health therapist, says she has seen the impact on patients.”A lot of people are having increased levels of anxiety, depression,” she said. “You can really feel the change in mood and the change in the environment.”In solidarity, some businesses are making small gestures for former civil servants and contract workers.Veterinarian services offer discounted prices, bars have special “happy hours,” and career workshops offer to help revamp CVs.”The job market is already kind of a mess, with a lot of high skilled workers flooding the market,” said Seth Commichaux, who worked at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for nine years before being terminated.”When I’m applying to jobs, it’s not unusual for there to be 1,000 applications on something within a couple of days,” he told AFP at a small protest gathering of fired employees.- Shell-shocked -The local real estate market is not yet showing an exodus of residents. But “there is a lot of uncertainty, and so many people are just shell-shocked by the news right now,” said Sarah Brown, a real estate agent who organized the free yoga session, adding that many people have frozen their plans.The city government anticipates a drop in revenue of around one billion dollars “over the next four to five years due to these layoffs,” Brianne Nadeau, a local Democratic representative, told AFP.In a physical sign of change, a celebrated “Black Lives Matter” street mural just outside the White House has been dug up and removed.  The capital’s Democratic mayor Muriel Bowser agreed to remove the anti-racist statement after Republican lawmakers threatened to cut funding to the city, which is under congressional control.Back at the yoga studio, owner Kristine Erickson says “there is a feeling of helplessness among us. It feels like we are being punished.”   

Nader says that the fear caused by President Donald Trump’s immigration policies have left the streets of his largely migrant neighborhood in Queens, New York empty, forcing him to shutter his furniture store.”It’s almost dead out here,” said Nader, a Palestinian-American who like others in this article declined to give his full name.He described his neighbors’ trepidation as having contributed to the worst business in his 35 years in the furniture trade. “I have a lot of customers — especially from Guatemala — and nobody is coming to the streets (to) buy furniture,” he said, explaining that people fear arrest and deportation.The main square in Corona, Queens was once a bustling meeting point at the heart of the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, but is now quiet with little foot traffic.Sometimes three days go by without a single sale, said 57-year-old Nader, now facing an uncertain future.Occupying a spot next to Corona’s main drag, Roosevelt Avenue, Nader said “I never thought it would end like this” as he contends with unaffordable rent.His customers were often undocumented — like many of the people in the melting pot neighborhood, now fearful of the mass deportations threatened by Republican Trump.Faced with uncertainty, people are wary of committing to purchasing a bed, a mattress or chest of drawers when they might be forced to leave at a moment’s notice, Nader said.Local clothing stores, grocers, remittance offices and food stands also complain that business has fallen by around half since the beginning of the year. Customers at phone stores have also halved, said Javier who reported his clients have cut back on their phone plans, while others pay the minimum to avoid losing their number. Most prefer to wait to buy a new device, he said.”People used to spend without issue. ‘I have a job, I have money.’ Now they leave work and may not make it home,” said Javier, a 31-year-old Mexican.- ‘Kick out more’ -Unlike around Trump’s inauguration when ICE roamed the area in force to act on deportation orders, the officers are not commonly seen now — but the fear remains. “It will last for years,” Javier said darkly.From the inauguration to March 12, ICE agents removed 28,319 people across the country, according to official statistics.”What if they keep up the deportations?” Javier added, insisting that local businesses depended on the Latin community — both documented and undocumented.Javier, like many of his friends, has taken his savings to Mexico as a precaution, fearful of what might happen, and has retained only what he needs to live.Compounding store closures and layoffs are businesses that are dismissing undocumented employees ahead of possible round ups.Ecuadoran Francisco Lopez, who works in construction, complained that employers were changing workers every “fifteen days.” He was paid off with a check that bounced, he recounted angrily.A 53-year-old Mexican woman, who declined to give her name, has a food stand in Corona’s main square and also reports being hit by the impact of Trumps’ anti-immigrant rhetoric.Last year she made up to $500 daily, from which she paid for transportation, kitchen equipment rentals, her tent, ingredients and costs related to her four children. But in recent days it has been a struggle to make more than $140 daily, said the undocumented migrant who came to the United States 32 years ago and has paid taxes and even received a license from the city for her food stand.”I have to come to work — even if I’m afraid,” she said, adding that she had to reassure her young children who fear she could be deported. She is considering granting her eldest daughter, 21, power of attorney to care for her siblings in case something happens.”If Mr Trump said ‘The people who live here, I will leave these people alone — nobody will touch these people who don’t have papers,’ that would be good. But he doesn’t,” said Nader.”Instead, he says he wants to kick out more.”