President Donald Trump issued a warning to federal workers who have not yet returned to the mostly empty office buildings in Washington, D.C. He stated that they must return to work soon or risk being fired.

Additionally, he suggested that some of these workers may have violated federal regulations by taking jobs with private companies while working from home in their federal positions.

“Just for clarification purposes, because it was incorrectly reported yesterday, we have informed the federal workforce, which they’ve looked to do for many years, that if they’re working for the federal government, they must show up to the office on time and on schedule,” Trump said on Wednesday during a signing ceremony for the Laken Riley Act, an immigration law named after a young University of Georgia student killed last year by a serial criminal illegal migrant from Venezuela.

“We don’t want them to work from home because, as everyone knows, most of the time, they’re not working, they’re not very productive. And it’s unfair to the millions of people in the United States who are, in fact, working hard from job sites and not from their home. As federal employees, they must meet a high standard,” Trump continued.

“They’re representing our government. They’re representing our country. If they don’t agree by February 6th to show up back to work in their office, they will be terminated, and we will, therefore, be downscaling our government, which is something that the last 10 Presidents have tried very hard to do but failed,” Trump said. “Most of the people we’re talking about have not been going to their federal offices in many, many years, from even before COVID. But they have nevertheless been paid. Some have worked, some haven’t worked.

“And most of the studies say that some have just gone through the motions. We may ask these people to prove that they didn’t have another job during their so-called employment with the United States of America because if they did, that would be unlawful, as you understand. A lot of people are getting paychecks, but they’re actually working other jobs,” Trump claimed.

“So they’ll have to prove that to us, that they weren’t. In any event, we’re requiring them to show up to work or be terminated. We think a very substantial number of people will not show up to work, and therefore, our government will get smaller and more efficient. And that’s what we’ve been looking to do for many, many decades, frankly,” he said.