Donald Trump

By Miriam Raftery

Photo via Alt National Park Service:  upside down flag hung by employees at Yosemite National Park signals dire distress

February 25, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – In what’s been dubbed a Valentine’s Day massacre, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has fired 1,000 National Park Service employees from the nation’s 63 national parks, plus another 2,000 U.S. Forest Service workers. Additional cuts target Bureau of Land Management’s 245 million acres and other federal lands.  The action is creating havoc, including in California, which has more national parks than any other state.

At Yosemite, where the cuts have forced temporary closure of four popular campgrounds, park employees hung an upside-down flag, a universal symbol of distress, atop El Capitan as crowds gathered for the annual firefall event. 

“It’s not sustainable if we want to keep the parks open,” Gavin Carpenter, a Yosemite maintenance worker who supplied the flag, told the San Francisco Chronicle.  “We’re bringing attention to the parks, which are every American’s properties.”

Alex Wild is now the only ranger at Devil’s Postpile National Monument in California who is certified as an emergency medical technician. “I’m the only person available to rescue someone, to do CPR, to carry them out from a trail if they got injured,” he told NBC. The cuts could mean “life or death for someone who’s having an emergency.”

Fire prevention workers have also been let go, including Michael Maierhofer, a Forest Service trail maintenance worker at the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. He says his crew was dubbed a “fire militia” for its efforts to help with fires in the district ranging from extinguishing abandoned campfires to aiding in larger wildfire suppression, Montana Free Press reports.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado has been forced to close two days a week due to lack of staffing, the site posted on Facebook, while visitors to Zion National Park in Utah found long lines of vehicles due to not enough staff to man entry booths, CNN reports.

At Wrangell ST. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska, which encompasses more than 14 million acres, the only bush pilot was fired, Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers told CNN. “Now how do they protect the wildlife and detect poaching activities, or find somebody that’s overdue in the park or climbers in distress and so forth?” he asked.

Without enough rangers to patrol vast areas such as Yellowstone National Park, environmentalists fear poaching of endangered or threatened wildlife and destruction of sensitive plant species.

Photo, left by Miriam Raftery: moose at Yellowstone National Park

 Beth Pratt, California Director of National Wildlife Federation, recalls that when parks were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t have staffers there, “people were cutting down Joshua Trees” at Joshua National Park, she recalls, adding that graffiti, trash, and driving on protected meadowlands also occurred.

“There’s no real staffing plan. It’s chaotic, and there’s no leadership from the Secretary of the Interior,” said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, NPR reports.

 Fired workers accuse DOGE of lying in claims of poor performance reviews, with many saying they had positive recent reviews. “It’s a complete lie,” says Andria Townsend,  a fired Yosemite specialist on carnivores.  “I work really hard at my job. I have two degrees,” she told KFSN.

Richard Midgette, an IT specialist in Yellowstone who was also fired on Feb. 14, says he’s done “great work” including helping to optimize Yellowstone’s communications system and developing computer code to streamline onboarding and offboard employees.  He believes his firing is both unwarranted and illegal. Claiming poor performance without evidence is “just a legal way that they’re trying to cover their ass.”

The layoffs present hardships for the thousands of employees let go, since most were low paid and moved long distances to work for the park or forest service,  and now have no alternative jobs in the vicinity.

The National Federation of Federal Employees, the union representing Forest Service and National Park Service workers, has filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse the firings of those and other federal agency employees, a total that the union said could impact a half million federal workers, the Montana Free Press reports. The suit contends that DOGE and an executive order signed by President Donald Trump violate federal law outlining how federal workforce reductions must be handled—which requires action by Congress.

“There is no statute that expressly authorizes the President to slash roughly one-quarter of the federal workforce, imperiling the statutory missions that Congress has assigned to federal agencies,” the unions’ Feb. 14 filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia states,” adding that the executive branch’s efforts to “hobble agencies that Congress created” by carrying out “mass firings and a pressure campaign for resignations violates separation of power principles.”

Since the initial Feb. 14 mass firings, the Trump administration has backtracked partially, agreeing to hire nearly 3,000 seasonal workers for the summer season, Associated Press reports. But seasonal jobs are entry-level, and won’t make up for management-level employees fired, says Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association.

“You really can’t have the seasonals without the other full0time staff people who are helping to manage them,” Brengel told CNN. 

Brengel notes that national parks were already short-staffed before the recent lay-offs, operating with 20% fewer employees than in 2010. “There was no fat to trim,” she asserts.

The cuts also come after the Trump administration has voiced support for opening up federal lands including national forests to mining, logging, oil and gas drilling.

“It feels like if nothing is done to prevent this administration from dismantling our public lands and the support behind them, we could very well lose access to the trails, the mountains, the plains and the wildlife that we all love so dearly,” former National Parks employee Midgette says.

Twenty Congressional Democrats did sign a letter calling the cuts “damaging and short-sighted” and warning that the mass layoffs could cause “staffing chaos” in national parks and even lead to closure of some parks entirely.  But Democrats lack power, since Republicans control both houses of Congress and the presidency. While most Republicans have been silent on the issue, Republican Senator Susan Collins from Maine has voiced concerns over the impacts on Acadia National Park in her state.

Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers, believes it’s up to the public to take action and save America’s most beloved places.

“It’s clear that the people of this country really love their national parks,” he told CNN. “and now it’s time for them to do something about it.”

East County News Service

February 22, 2025 (New York) -- California Attorney General Rob Bonta today released a statement after the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York's issuance of a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing Americans’ personal and private information maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department.

“We are pleased the court granted our request to further halt the Elon Musk-led DOGE from accessing millions of Americans’ private and sensitive data,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Californians can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the California Department of Justice is going to the mat for them and standing up against the Trump Administration’s chilling overreach of power.”  

Background

On February 7, Attorney General Bonta joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit seeking to block DOGE from accessing sensitive Treasury Department material, including millions of Americans’ bank account and social security numbers. Hours after filing the lawsuit, the court responded by granting a temporary restraining order barring DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems and information. Today’s preliminary injunction keeps those restrictions in place pending further order of the court.

Since Inauguration Day, DOGE has infiltrated executive agencies with the goal of eliminating federal funding, services, and personnel. Starting last month, there were reports of billionaire Elon Musk and his DOGE associates gaining an unprecedented level of access to vital payment systems of the U.S Treasury.

The Treasury Department payment systems — managed by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) — are responsible for trillions of dollars in U.S. government payments. Millions of Americans rely on the support of these payments for services like health care, childcare, and other essential programs, including Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, veterans’ benefits, salaries for federal employees, and tax refunds. The Treasury Department’s payment systems are critical, sensitive, and incredibly vital. Given their critical importance to U.S. government operations, these systems have been highly regulated and tightly guarded — but with the election of Donald Trump, are no longer safe. 

In their complaint, the attorneys general allege the Trump Administration has no constitutional, statutory, or regulatory authority to widen access to the BFS payment system for political appointees or special government employees, including members of DOGE. 

Specifically, the court temporarily prohibits DOGE from being granted access any Treasury Dept. records containing personally identifiable or confidential financial information. The Dept. of the Treasury must submit a report to the court by March 24 certifying that DOGE team members have received all training typically required of individuals granted access to the Bureau of Fiscal Services payment systems containing personal data such as tax return information and sensitive financial data.

In addition, the judge asks for certification on the vetting process for DOGE team members and how that compares to career employees previously allowed access to the system.

“The public interest is plainly served by requiring the Treasury Department to ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the security of these systems and the information contained therein,” Judge Jeannette A. Vargas wrote.

A copy of the court's order can be found here.

By Miriam Raftery

February 20, 2025 (Greenbell, Md.) -- A legal complaint filed by 26 unnamed former and current employees in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland alleges that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has violated the Constitution’s Appointments Clause.  That clause mandates that presidential appointments require the advice and consent of the Senate, which President Donald Trump did not seek when he appointed Musk and delegate vast powers.

Musk, without any Congressional approval, has virtually deleted entire agencies such as USAID, accessed millions of Americans’ private data, deleted government records such as health reports and  records on missing and murdered indigenous persons, and ordered mass firings, some without required authorization. Even employees charged with overseeing air traffic safety and nuclear weapons lost their jobs in the purge by Musk’s team.

“Questions regarding Defendant Musk’s and DOGE’s role, scope of authority, and proper appointment processes are not merely academic. Plaintiffs — among countless other American individuals and entities — have had their lives upended as a result of the actions undertaken by Defendants Musk and DOGE,” according to the lawsuit.

The employees, though unidentified, collectively have decades of service at federal agencies, including USAID, where on Feb. 2 Musk’s DOGE personnel broke into the agency’s headquarters and cancelled international aid programs such as those to ease hunger in Africa, Gaza and Ukraine, distribution of vaccines and life-saving medicines in countries around the world.

Citing damages to their careers and financial security, the plaintiffs are asking the court to block “Defendant Musk and his DOGE subordinates from performing their significant and wide-ranging duties unless and until Defendant Musk is properly appointed pursuant to the U.S. Constitution.”

The lawsuit is one of several filed over DOGE’s actions, though the first based on the Constitution’s appointments clause.

East County News Service

Photo via 50501: thousands rallied against Trump in Washington D.C. outside Capitol

February 19, 2025 (San Diego) –  Protesters held “Not My President” rallies at state capitols in all 50 states and other locations to oppose unprecedented attacks on our democratic system’s checks and balances by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

“We witness, with growing alarm, how our constitutional rights are trampled upon, how the authority of the President is being usurped by those who seek to consolidate power for Personal gain. Meanwhile, President Trump systematically dismantles the very guardrails designed to ensure accountability across the branches of government,” reads a statement from the events’ organizer, the 50501 Movement.  The name stands for 50 protests in 50 statements, one movement  and has been organized on social media.

Trump has asserted king-like power on his social media, posting this week, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” an action CNN likened to channeling  Napolean. He is asking the Supreme Court to give him absolute power to hire or fire agency officials that Congress established to operate with independence from political pressures.

Calling for justice, transparency, and an end to executive overreach, the group adds, “We stand firm at a critical moment in history, demanding that the American people be heard and that the White  House be governed by the true will of the people—not by a tech billionaire who seeks to buy influence and control.” The latter statement refers to tech mogul Musk, owner of Space-X, Tesla and X (formerly Twitter).

Trump bypassed the Senate to appoint Musk to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Musk’s workers have drawn criticism for accessing private data of millions of Americans and deleting massive amounts of critical data on everything from healthcare to school test results, eliminating entire departments such as USAid, and mass firing government workers, even firing people in charge of overseeing nuclear weapons, workers responsible for airline safety oversight, and preventing foreign intervention in U.S. elections. DOGE workers also locked Congressional members out of the Department of Education, when the legislators attempted to oversee actions of Musk’s team.

In Washington D.C., a massive protest included rallies outside the Capitol, White House, and Lincoln Memorial. Rallies in New York and Los Angeles reportedly drew more than 10,000 people each.

In San Diego, anti-Trump protesters rallied at Waterfront Park.

Photo by Genevieve Seaman: San Diego protester objects that DOGE is not one of the three branches of government.

“We need to stand up to stop the overrunning of the rule of law,” Genevieve Seaman, who participated in the San Diego rally, told ECM.  Seaman, who formerly lived in East County and now resides in San Ysidro, added, “Failure of Congress Republicans to stop the overturning of the check and balance system is frightening. Unless we act, we could lose it all. Grass roots must show we care.”

A lone counter-protester turned up, 10 News reports. The man, who declined to provide his name, said Trump “needs support where other people go against him, even if it’s just one person at that moment.”

Source: America’s Voice

January 29, 2025 (Washington, DC) — Yesterday delivered several reminders that the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda is sweeping in its scope, harm and indiscriminate nature, viewing all immigrants here without legal status as “criminal” and comfortable in the reality that U.S. citizens and tribal members are among those being targeted and detained in their early enforcement efforts. These fresh reminders, detailed below, follow our assessment yesterday that highlighted the indiscriminate nature of the early Trump administration’s deportation agenda.  

• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt [Inaccurately] Calls All Immigrants Here without Status Criminals: As Axios recapped, “In her first White House briefing, Leavitt falsely labeled all 3,500 immigrants arrested for suspicion of being in the country illegally ‘criminals.’ Being in the country illegally is a civil violation, not a criminal one, and the individuals who were arrested have not been convicted of a crime … Asked by a reporter how many of the 3,500 immigrants arrested since Trump took office have criminal records, Leavitt said, ‘all of them because they illegally broke our nation’s laws.’” Keep in mind that this characterization would apply to Dreamers, TPS holders, those who arrived legally, heads of mixed immigration status households, and long-settled and deeply rooted undocumented immigrants who currently have no path to become legal residents of the nation they’ve long called home.
• U.S. Citizen Family in Milwaukee Detained by ICE After Speaking Spanish: In Milwaukee, the local Telemundo affiliate details the story of a Puerto Rican family – inherently U.S. citizens – detained by ICE after being heard speaking Spanish. As Adrian Carrasquillo of The Bulwark recapped, “Another PUERTO RICAN family detained, a man tells Telemundo his sister, her mother in law, & a child were taken by ICE in Milwaukee & driven to facility where his sister explained they’re US CITIZENS. ICE response to this flagrant violation? ‘Sorry’.”
• More Than a Dozen Indigenous Peoples Racially Profiled and Asked to Produce Proof of Citizenship: At least 15 Diné/Navajo and other Indigenous tribal citizens in the Southwest have been questioned, detained, or asked to provide proof of citizenship, forcing panicked tribal leaders to reach out to DHS and the governors of Arizona and New Mexico, CNN reports. “My office has received multiple reports from Navajo citizens that they have had negative, and sometimes traumatizing, experiences with federal agents targeting undocumented immigrants in the Southwest,” the Office of Navajo President Buu Nygren said in a statement, and urged members to carry documentation including Certificates of Indian blood.

According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:  

“Tom Homan has promised ‘no one is off the table,’ which apparently means U.S. citizens, those who arrived legally, parents of U.S. citizen kids, and anyone speaking Spanish, judging by the terrifying story out of Milwaukee. Now, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is confirming Homan’s promises and falsely alleging that civil immigration violators are ‘criminal’ actions. The cruelty, chaos, and costs of this indiscriminate enforcement agenda – for the nation, not just immigrants – is a feature and not a bug of the Trump team’s approach and will wreak havoc on families, communities, industries, and core American values if unchecked.”

As AV noted yesterday, already on display is fear in schools and churches and among K-12 educators and religious leaders. Employers, including those in restaurants, food services, and other sectors of our economy that rely on immigrant labor, are worried about their workforce. And those already targeted for enforcement include families who arrived here legally, as well as U.S. citizens being profiled and detained due to their ethnicity. In addition to the Milwaukee example, the troubling details of last week’s Newark, NJ ICE raid – which led to the detention of a U.S. military veteran and U.S. citizen – was a snapshot of the types of indiscriminate enforcement we fear the Trump administration is seeking to turbocharge. 

By Alastair Bland, CalMatters

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters

Photo via Calif. Dept. of Water Resources:  A drone provides a view of a section of the California Aqueduct within the California State Water Project, located near John R. Teerink Pumping Plant.

January 27, 2025 (Central Valley, Calif.) - President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order Sunday that told federal agencies to “immediately take action” to deliver more Central Valley water and eliminate rules that stand in the way, including endangered species protections.

By Miriam Raftery

January 23, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) – A federal judge appointed by conservative Ronald Reagan called President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship “blatantly unconstitutional.” U.S. District Judge John Coughenour issued a temporary restraining order to block the order from taking effect, Associated Press (AP) reports. The case was filed by Washington state and others. Plaintiffs argued that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment and Supreme Court case law have cemented birthright citizenship, KQED reports.  The judge’s order applies nationwide, while this and other cases are litigated and appealed. A total of five lawsuits have been filed over the issue by 22 states including California, as well as by immigrant rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union.

“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” Coughenour said during the hearing, CNN reported.

Trump’s order seeks to end citizenship from being issued to children born in the U.S. if the parents are not in the U.S. legally In addition, his order would prohibit citizenship from children born to a mother who is in the U.S. on a temporary and legal basis, such as student, work, or tourist visas, unless the father is a citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order would take effect in 30 days, on Feb. 19, and apply to children born on or after that date.

The order is in direct contradiction to the U.S. Constitution’s 14^th amendment, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Trump’s order contends that children of undocumented immigrants as well as children born to mothers here on a temporary basis are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S.

The 14^th amendment was adopted after the Supreme Court’s ruling in the controversial Dred Scott v. Sandford case back in 1857, in which justices held that children of slaves were not entitled to citizenship. After passage of the 14^th Amendment, a later Supreme Court case in 1898 ruled that Wong Kim Ark, an American citizen born in San Francisco, was wrongly denied reentry to the U.S. after a trip abroad and affirmed the Chinese-American man’s right to citizenship.

View our prior coverage of Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order: 

https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/trump-defies-constitution-orders-birthright-citizenship-end-lawsuits-filed-block-implementation

"This order is about administering political loyalty tests to everyday employees in the federal workforce," said the president of the National Treasury Employees Union

By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams

Photo:  Trump official portrait, 2025

January 21, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) - A union representing workers across dozens of federal agencies sued the Trump administration late Monday over an executive order stripping many career civil servants of protections designed to insulate them from political pressure.

The lawsuit was filed by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) shortly after President Donald Trump signed an order that reinstated, with some amendments, the "Schedule F" measure he implemented at the tail end of his first White House term—an action that former President Joe Biden reversed.

This article first appeared in Common Dreams and is featured in East County Magazine under a Creative Commons license.