What Trump’s mass layoffs at Voice of America mean for AA+PI news

For nearly 80 years, the news outlet Voice of America (VOA) has served as a beacon of information for immigrants, dissidents, and global citizens alike. But last week, President Donald Trump’s administration’s sweeping layoffs of nearly 600 VOA employees marked the sharpest dismantling of the government-funded news agency in its history, an effort critics say threatens the very mission of VOA and its role as an informational lifeline—especially to AA+PI communities.

The mass terminations—issued without explanation to primarily contractor staff, including editors, reporters, and graphic designers—followed months of mounting tension. Trump, who has long accused VOA of harboring an anti-Trump bias, called it “The Voice of Radical America.” In March, he signed an executive order enabling the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA, to restructure federal broadcasters with little oversight. Kari Lake, now a senior adviser to USAGM and a staunch Trump ally, recently announced a controversial partnership between VOA and conservative network One America News.

Yet for many, VOA has never been partisan. It’s been personal. AA+PI families across generations recall listening to VOA’s live radio programs to stay informed about crises back home. One such listener was the father of JoySauce editor, Samantha Pak, who tuned in during the late 1970s to VOA’s Khmer-language broadcasts as the Khmer Rouge ravaged Cambodia. For Pak’s father, that’s how he learned the truth. VOA was one of the only ways he knew what was really happening in Cambodia.

For decades, VOA has covered international affairs in more than 40 languages, often filling the information void for immigrants, refugees, and those living under censorship. The outlet played a vital role in countering propaganda during the Cold War and continues to report from authoritarian regions like Iran, China, and Afghanistan. Many VOA journalists, some now at risk of deportation, are themselves political refugees or exiles and will likely be forced to leave the country within 30 days of their contracts’ May 30 termination due to being J-1 visa holders. These reporters face possible arrest or worse if they are to return to their home countries because of their reporting for VOA.

Today, VOA’s Asian-language services, such as Mandarin, Farsi, Dari, and Pashto, are among the few surviving departments amid ongoing layoffs. Its “VOA Asia” segment delivers reporting on U.S.-Asia relations, cultural identity, and AA+PI political participation. Recent stories have highlighted the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, the impact of immigration policy changes, and the growing AA+PI electorate’s influence. VOA’s reporting isn’t just stories; it’s a survival guide. Especially for diaspora communities, VOA provides context that mainstream American media often overlooks.

“The plaintiffs and our legal team will fight this in court for as long as it takes,” Patsy Widakuswara, VOA’s White House bureau chief and one of the lead plaintiffs in the employees’ lawsuit against Lake and USAGM, tells Politico. “Until there is no more fight left.”

Though a federal judge recently ordered partial restoration of VOA operations, a full reinstatement remains in legal limbo. Advocates worry that the damage, particularly the silencing of independent voices in conflict zones, may be long-lasting. “Working with VOA allowed us to tell local stories without fear of censorship,” an anonymous South Asian journalist based in Srinagar tells News Decoder. “Now that channel is gone.”

VOA’s future may still hang in the balance, but for the communities who have long relied on it, from war-torn nations to first-generation AA+PI households, the need for its voice has never been clearer.