The firings hit facilities in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Waco and Temple. The VA said the scale of the layoffs was 'small' but refused to divulge a number.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said it laid off a small number of employees at its hospitals and clinics across Texas but refused to say how many. The agency told the San Antonio Express-News on Thursday that the South Texas Veterans Health Care System , locations of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in Austin , Waco and Temple , and the Michael E.
DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston “each dismissed a small number of probationary staff.” The South Texas Veterans Health Care System includes the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital in San Antonio, the Kerrville VA Medical Center and numerous clinics. Probationary employees in the VA are those who have been on the job less than two years or less than one year, depending on the position. The Trump administration has ordered firings of probationary employees across a large swath of the federal government. The VA said in a statement that the terminations would 'have no negative effect on veteran health care, benefits or other services and will allow VA to focus more effectively on its core mission of serving veterans, families, caregivers and survivors.' Asked how many health care employees were let go, a VA spokeswoman told the San Antonio Express-News, “We cannot discuss specific personnel matters due to privacy concerns.' The federal Privacy Act forbids the release of information about individuals, but the newspaper asked for the number of personnel fired at each location, not for their names. After the VA insisted it could not disclose numerical information, the Express-News filed a formal request for it under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Budget cuts and firings have become a signature of President Donald Trump's second term. The administration is pushing for Pentagon cuts of 8% a year over the next five years. The annual defense budget is $850 billion. While probationary employees were cut at VA medical facilities, there were no staff reductions at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio or Houston National Cemetery. The national cemeteries are part of the VA. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio Democrat, demanded that the Trump administration disclose how many probationary VA employees had been fired but said he had yet to learn the exact number. He met last week with leaders of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3511 after the union expressed concern about the threat of layoffs. The San Antonio-based local represents 2,700 VA employees. 'We’ve not been able to get comprehensive data from the VA, either, but are pushing,' an aide to Castro told the Express-News. The VA said last week that it was firing more than 1,000 non-union probationary employees across the country. The number includes the dismissals at VA health care facilities in Texas. 'The personnel moves will save the department more than $98 million per year, and VA will redirect all of those resources back toward health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries,' the department said in a statement. The firings 'are part of a government-wide Trump Administration effort to make agencies more efficient, effective and responsive to the American People,' the statement said. The VA said most of its 43,000 probationary employees are exempt from dismissal because they serve in 'mission-critical positions' or are covered by collective bargaining agreements. Castro, whose constituents include more than 50,000 San Antonio veterans, joined dozens of House Democrats in sending a letter to VA Secretary Douglas Collins on Saturday, demanding answers about the firings. “The Administration’s late-night actions on February 13, 2025, to terminate over 1,000 dedicated federal civil servants at the Department of Veterans Affairs directly contradicts your recent testimony before the U.S. Senate, where you said, 'I want to strengthen VA so it works better for America’s heroes, and I will embrace your oversight and seek your counsel as we work together to do just that,'” the House members said in the letter. 'Yet, rather than seeking the counsel of Congress, you took unilateral action to abruptly dismiss service-disabled veterans, military spouses, medical researchers, and countless others without any apparent justification — undermining the very mission of VA. “There is nothing strengthening about gutting the workforce with the sacred mission to serve veterans, caregivers, and survivors. It defies logic that you would terminate employees who are veterans themselves and who are serving veterans daily, all without regard to their performance or the devastating consequences of these firings,” the lawmakers said. “This Administration may believe it can run government agencies the way Elon Musk gutted Twitter — by arbitrarily slashing staff and expecting operations to somehow function seamlessly — but VA is not a tech start-up, and veterans are not an experiment. We will not allow reckless political games to undermine the care and benefits our veterans have earned.”
San Antonio Express-News South Texas Veterans Health Care System Central Texas Veterans Health Care System Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Center Kerrville VA Medical Center American Federation Of Government Employees House Pentagon U.S. Senate Congress Trump Administration Joaquin Castro Donald Trump Democrats Douglas Collins Elon Musk American People San Antonio Houston Texas Temple Austin Waco Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital Houston National Cemetery Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery U.S. Freedom Of Information Act Twitter Privacy Act
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