The ABC7 I-Team is investigating allegations of political retaliation involving U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees from the Chicago area who were placed on leave after openly criticizing the agency’s direction under President Donald Trump’s administration.

A total of at least 139 EPA employees nationwide were suddenly put on unpaid leave Thursday after endorsing a “declaration of dissent.” This letter claims that the agency is failing to fulfill its mission to safeguard human health and the environment.

Union representatives informed the I-Team that at least 31 of the impacted employees belong to EPA Chicago Region 5, where some view the situation as clear political reprisal.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

Over the past six months, the federal EPA has gone through a major transformation. Jobs have been slashed, prompting protests.

There are shifting priorities from the Trump administration with proposals to roll back restrictions on green house gas emissions and funding cuts for environmental improvements in minority communities.

Hundreds of EPA workers, most anonymously, spoke out in the letter of dissent, calling the changes dangerous to the health and wellbeing of the American public.

Loreen Targos is an EPA scientist in Chicago Region 5 and Executive Vice President of American Federation of Government Employees Local 704, the union representing EPA workers.

“This is unprecedented,” Targos told the I-Team. “I’ve been at EPA for 10 years. I work with people who have been there 40 years, and this has never happened.”

Dozens of Targos’ colleagues have been placed on leave for publicly signing that letter, she says, for simply exercising their first amendment rights.

“This is political retaliation against people who are driven by their mission to serve the American people, protect human health and the environment, and the administrator’s failing to do that,” Targos said. “He’s taking people who are qualified to do that, removing them from the essential duties of their jobs, not allowing them to pursue enforcement actions on polluters and we spoke out about it and we’re being attacked for it.”

The EPA, in a statement Thursday, said the workers summarily placed on leave were “unlawfully undermining” President Trump’s agenda.

However, in an email to affected EPA workers obtained by the I-Team, EPA administrators stated “it is important that you understand this is not a disciplinary action.”

“Every attack on our agency over these past few months has been politically motivated, and this is the most naked form we’ve seen,” Targos said.

Targos described the current climate at the EPA.

“The mood is dark,” Targos said. “We know that we are fighting back as hard as we can.”

According to the EPA administrator email obtained Friday by the I-Team, the unpaid suspension of these employees will last at least through July 17. It is not known what additional consequences they could face after that date.