The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is among the many federal government agencies that the Trump Administration has targeted for downsizing and mass layoffs with the help of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), formerly led by Tesla/SpaceX/X.com head Elon Musk.
Now, according to The Guardian’s José Olivares, past and present VA employees fear the agency will be targeted by the Trump Administration for something else: employing U.S. residents who are not U.S. citizens.
In an article published on December 3, Olivares reports that the VA “is in the process of creating an urgent and massive new internal database of non-U.S. citizens who are ’employed or affiliated’ with the government department, a sensitive memo leaked to the Guardian has revealed.” The memo, according to Olivares, is “prompting alarm within the sprawling agency over a potential immigration crackdown.”
“More than 450,000 people are employed at the VA, providing healthcare, education, rehabilitation and other services to veterans,” Olivares reports. “The VA also works with thousands of contractors nationwide for day-to-day operations. It is the second biggest federal department after the Pentagon and provides healthcare, financial and many other services to millions of U.S. military veterans.”
Olivares adds, “The broad and vague nature of the memo implies the information dragnet may target a range of non-citizens, including doctors and nurses working in VA clinics, medical school students completing their clinical training at VA hospitals, scientists working in advancing medical research contracted by the department, volunteers working VA-related events, even contractors performing cleaning or maintenance jobs at facilities — and thousands more.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Illinois) and Nayna Gupta, policy director at the American Immigration Council, are among the critical of the Trump Administration’s immigration policies who are sounding the alarm about the VA.
The Democratic lawmaker told The Guardian, “List-making by the state is an authoritarian tactic meant to stoke fear. At the direction of Secretary Collins, the VA is persecuting non-citizen employees who provide essential services and benefits to our veterans…. The reported memo could have far-reaching implications. Attacking immigrants authorized to work is just another way (U.S. President Donald) Trump and the (VA) secretary seek to deconstruct, decimate, and demoralize the VA workforce.”
Gupta told The Guardian, “Once information is collected on who is a non-citizen, and the exact status and posture of their protections and rights to be in the United States, it becomes incredibly easy for the federal government to make an effort to get that information. This data collection and reporting is a form of intimidation, in a context where a list of names of non-citizens can so obviously get into the hands of an agency pursuing this agenda.”
Read José Olivares’ full article for The Guardian at this link.
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