On and off for 10 years, Amy Paris made life a little bit easier for a lot of Americans. Working at the highest levels of the federal government, she has been tasked with the kinds of responsibilities that impacted many lives, but that most people wouldn’t want to tackle, like revising government forms so that people could apply for jobs or update their federal documents. 

Until last Friday, Paris worked as a deputy digital services lead in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a fancy title for overseeing the safety of organ donations in the United States. 

After more than a decade of service working in various capacities across five presidential administrations, Paris was fired on February 14, one of the thousands of casualties of the Trump administration’s mass layoffs. 

“They said I was fired for performance,” Paris told The 19th. “I have clear evidence in multiple different ways that I was one of the highest-performing people in the entirety of the federal government.”

According to Paris, she scored a 4.75 out of a possible five on her last performance review. In 2022, the Biden administration held her up as an example of a high-level problem solver whose connection to the transgender community gave her insight that allowed her to tailor unique solutions across many marginalized groups. 

Since taking office, Trump has issued five anti-transgender executive orders, including: barring gender-affirming care for trans youth, preventing trans girls from playing sports with their peers, claiming that there are just two sexes and they cannot be changed, mandating that schools do not acknowledge the genders of transgender youth and barring transgender people from military service. 

Trump’s orders have been met with swift resistance in the courts. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes suggested that the trans military order was “arguably rampant with animus” before blocking it. Another judge blocked Trump’s gender-affirming care ban. 

Paris suspects her termination was politically motivated. She was one of the highest-ranking transgender women to work in the federal government, after former Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine. Until April 2024, Paris worked in the U.S. Digital Service. Under the Biden administration, she oversaw the implementation of trans-friendly policies like the implementation of passports with “X” gender markers and less invasive airport friendly screenings. 

Moreover, she claims, she was good at her job. 

“They’re trying to actually not make the government more efficient, but disrupt the government and disrupt citizen services that the American people need in order to conduct their daily lives,” she said. “They are trying to sow discord and disrupt confidence in the workings of the federal government.” 

HHS officials did not respond to a request from The 19th to comment on why Paris was dismissed. 

The 45-year-old said she will fight her termination and is exploring legal options.