Vets hope thousands will rally against VA cuts in nationwide protests
Veterans organizations will hold a day of protests in various cities and at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities around the country on Friday, June 6, headlined by a rally in Washington, D.C. that will feature the punk and activist band Dropkick Murphys.
The protests, say organizers of the D.C. event, are aimed at speaking out against expected staffing cuts to the VA, which they say will greatly impact care for veterans.
'We want to have a big tent for this. Veterans Affairs affects more than 14 million American veterans, of every political stripe and from every socio-economic background,' Joe Plenzler, a Marine veteran, told Task & Purpose. Plenzler has previously written opinion essays for Task & Purpose about veteran issues.
Along with the Washington, D.C. rally, online organizers have plans for over 200 other events at VA facilities in nearly every state, coinciding with the 81st anniversary of D-Day and the invasion of Normandy.
Organizers of the D.C. event, dubbed the Unite for Veterans rally, say they expect several thousand people to turn out on the National Mall for the 2 p.m. event. Plenzler, one of the event's organizers, told Task & Purpose the rally will feature several prominent veterans as speakers, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America CEO Kyleanne Hunter, and Shawn Vandiver, founder of AfghanEvac, a non-profit that works to resettle Afghans in the United States.
The organizers acknowledged that the millions of veterans in the United States can have disparate political views, but one unifying aspect behind the rally is a demand that VA care and services not be diminished.
'We want to have a big tent for this. Veterans Affairs affects more than 14 million American veterans, of every political stripe and from every socio-economic background,' Plenzler said.
Plenzler said that the prospect of severe staffing cuts could both reduce care and also cost many vets their jobs, since a third of all federal employees are veterans.
'If you go into the VA, upwards of 25% of their employees are veterans. It's veterans caring for veterans,' he said.
For its part, the VA has repeatedly claimed that personnel cuts won't impact care.
In a statement to Task & Purpose, VA Press Secretary Peter Kasperowicz said that 'anyone who says VA is cutting health care and benefits is not being honest. In fact, VA is expanding health care and benefits.'
The proposed cuts, first reported by the Associated Press, would amount to a 15% reduction of the department's workforce. VA Secretary Douglas Collins described the number as a 'goal' rather than a fixed plan last month.
Kasperowicz also accused rally organizers of opposing necessary reforms on political grounds.
'Imagine how much better off veterans would be if this union-led group cared as much about fixing the department as it does about protecting VA's broken bureaucracy,' Kasperowicz said.
Sen. Duckworth, in a statement to Task & Purpose, said that she was outraged at the administration's policies towards veterans.
'Donald Trump has fired more veterans than any president in modern history, and by gutting the VA he is hurting our veterans' access to the quality health care and other benefits they've earned through their service,' she said.
Dusty Gannon, an Army officer who served in Afghanistan as a platoon leader, said he was planning on going to the rally because he sees a disconnect between how veterans in the U.S. are venerated and how they're cared for.
'We have this whole [generation] of veterans who fought in all of these conflicts who are all coming home, and the government is failing us,' he said. 'They've just left us high and dry.'
Gannon said he hopes the rally will be a chance to meet and spend time with fellow veterans who understand the 'gravity of the experience,' he said.
Nationally, organizers are tracking the times and locations of rallies on a central online spreadsheet.
Navy SEAL Team 6 operator will be the military's new top enlisted leader
Veterans receiving disability payments might have been underpaid, IG finds
Guam barracks conditions are 'baffling,' Navy admiral says in email
Navy fires admiral in charge of unmanned systems office after investigation
The Pentagon wants troops to change duty stations less often
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Homeland Security seeks weapons, drones for LA immigration crackdown
WASHINGTON —The Department of Homeland Security has asked the Pentagon for help in transporting weapons from Fort Benning in Georgia and another site in Wyoming to Los Angeles, where its immigration crackdown has become increasingly militarized. The request came Monday after President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered thousands of National Guard troops and 700 active-duty Marines to Los Angeles over the objection of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Trump and Hegseth said the troops are needed to restore order, protect federal buildings and law enforcement officials arresting and deporting migrants in the United States illegally. The request from Homeland Security, confirmed by a Defense official, also seeks 'drone surveillance support,' direction to troops on detaining or arresting 'lawbreakers,' and graduates from an organization like the Marines' School of Advanced Warfighting School for setting up a joint operation center. It's unclear what type of weapons Homeland Security officials are seeking for their immigration crackdown in California. Also unclear: who would use them and who they would be used against. Pentagon officials are reviewing the request, according to the official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its request. On Wednesday, Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, asked Hegseth if he would authorize drones and the use of 'military forces to detain or arrest American citizens.' Reed is a member of the Senate Defense Approprations subcommittee and the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Hegseth did not answer directly, saying, 'Senator, every authorization we've provided, the National Guard, and the Marines in Los Angeles is under the authority of the president of the United States. Is lawful and constitutional.' Active-duty troops are generally barred by federal law from participating in law enforcement operations, based on century's old tradition separating the military from domestic policing. There is an exception under the Insurrection Act that allows the president to use the military to put down an internal rebellion. National Guard troops have fewer restrictions. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are carrying out a directive from Trump to find immigrants living in the United States without legal status. Protests have sprung up against the sweeps the agency is carrying out in various neighborhoods. News that Homeland Security officials want ammunition, drones and combat expertise follows another request it made of the Pentagon. That one seeks for the first time more than 20,000 National Guard troops for their 'support of interior immigration enforcement operations.' That could put Guardsmen far from the southern border -- where they have supported enforcement operations for years -- and thrust them into center of the administration's crackdown on illegal immigration in American cities. "DHS requested 20,000 National Guard members to help carry out the president's mandate from the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens," DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "The Department of Homeland Security will use every tool and resource available to get criminal illegal aliens including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, and other violent criminals out of our country. The safety of American citizens comes first.' More: Trump wants 20,000 troops to hunt, transport immigrants. Cost estimate: $3.6 billion It's not a given that these requests will be granted in part or in full. Pentagon officials review the proposals and decide what the military can spare without compromising its mission. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Homeland Security seeks weapons, drones for LA immigration crackdown
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Some Los Angeles families are skipping school graduation because they are afraid of ICE
At Palms Middle School in Los Angeles, the aggressive immigration crackdown that is dominating the city loomed over a joyous middle school commencement ceremony on June 10. A doleful Principal Arturo Enriquez told Angeleno families that parents and community members were stationed outside of the campus "ready to call me" if United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials showed up. "We are a melting pot of beautiful, incredible people," Enriquez said to the crowd before wiping a tear from his eye. "This incredible community, all of these students, all of these parents, guardians, friends and family, it is because of you that these young people are here ready to go on to that next step – to that high school life, to represent each of us as an incredible member of society." Some families too afraid to attend the graduation out of fear of increased presence of immigration enforcement officials across the city didn't hear the principal's message. They and many other Angeleno immigrants who live in the sanctuary city are foregoing the chance to witness their young loved ones receive diplomas or advance to the next grade at upcoming school graduation ceremonies out of fear of getting deported. "I've spoken with parents who've told me that their daughter would be the first in their family to graduate high school and they're not going to be there to witness it, because they have a fear of the place of graduation being targeted,' said Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, which covers the majority of the city and some surrounding areas of Los Angeles and serves more than a half of a million public school students, during a June 9 news conference. More than one-third of Angelenos are immigrants. ICE detained a Los Angeles fourth grader from Torrance Elementary School and his father in Texas on May 29. They are expected to be deported to Honduras. The young child's deportation has left a wound. 'When something like this happens, it shakes all of us in the community," Torrance Elementary PTA volunteer Ria Villanueva told The Los Angeles Times. Homeland security agents attemped to enter two Los Angeles schools in early April, but they were denied entry. Arrests of young people by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are happening nationwide in other targeted American communities, such as Milford, Massachusetts, where an 11th grader's arrest and detention by ICE has heightened anxiety among the area's immigrants, and in New York City, where educations officials say ICE have recently arrested and detained two students. 'President Trump is keeping his promise to deport illegal aliens and the law enforcement officers conducting operations do so efficiently and professionally," said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, in response to a question from USA TODAY about the Trump administration's enforcement on immigration at and around schools. "Individuals, like the violent rioters in LA, who try to obstruct or deter operations put law enforcement officers and law abiding citizens at risk.' The Trump administration's increased immigration enforcement and related protests around LA Unified schools over the last several weeks have put parents, students and school officials on especially high alert. After law enforcement officers deployed flash-bang grenades against protesters near a Los Angeles Unified elementary school campus, the school community went into lockdown on June 6. The tensions have left the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest district in the nation, at the center of the national battle on immigration deportations and family separations. Ahead of future graduation ceremonies in the district, Carvalho said he said he has directed Los Angeles Unified school police to stand at the front lines and "intervene and interfere with any federal agency who may want to take action during these joyous times that we call graduation." The Los Angeles families' anxieties come after a series of Trump administration-led anti-immigrant actions in the city, making it a national battleground for President Donald Trump's long-promised crackdown on illegal immigration. President Donald Trump and his administration have deployed thousands of National Guard members to the nation's second-largest city since June 8. The National Guard entered Los Angeles after citizens who were angry about immigration raids in the city, including one at a Home Depot, launched largely peaceful demonstrations against the administration's enforcement of illegal immigration. How did the LA protests begin? A look at the immigration raids that sparked outrage Chaos and violence have since erupted across Los Angeles, resulting in the detainment of some immigrants, destruction of city property and fear and hiding among immigrant families and children of immigrants who attend school across the region. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vehemently objected against the immigration raids and deployment of federal guards, even filing a lawsuit against Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth alleging they deployed "members of the California National Guard, without lawful authority, and in violation of the Constitution." "Instead of focusing on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records and people with final deportation orders – a strategy both parties have long supported – this administration is pushing mass deportations - indiscriminately targeting hardworking, immigrant families regardless of their roots or risk, " Newsom, a Democrat, said in a video posted on Instagram. There's no sign that the immigration raids will end. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on X on June 9 that they will deploy about 700 active duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles "to restore order." Trump has also threatened to arrest Newsom for challenging the federal government. 700 Marines Heading to LA; Newsom calls move 'deranged fantasy' of Trump A third-grade elementary school teacher in the district, who asked to remain anonymous because she is worried that her school and her students will be targeted by immigration enforcement officials if she is identified, said she has felt deep fear and constant anxiety in her students about them or their families being detained by ICE officials. She said many kids in her classroom whose parents are undocumented immigrants, some of whom are newcomers from Guatemala, are worried about being deported or separated from their families. Their fears have intensified since immigration raids have occurred close to the school. Attendance was unusually low and many school bus stops were eerily quiet during the last two days of school in her classroom on June 9 and 10, she said. "I try to pretend everything's normal when everything's falling apart outside of the school," she said. Her six-year-old son, who attends the same school where she teaches, found about about the immigration raids through friends and told her, 'Mom, I'm glad you have papers so they can't take you.' Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Carvlaho said in a statement on June 6 that he is "dismayed" by the recent immigration enforcement activity occurring near district schools. "These actions are causing unnecessary fear, confusion, and trauma for our students and families – many of whom are simply trying to get to and from school and work, and to live with dignity," Carvalho said. The presence of federal immigration activity near school campuses threatens prevents schools from being a "safe haven" where students "can learn, grow, and thrive without fear of being separated from their loved ones," he said. California State Superintendent of Education Tony Thurmond called Trump's military deployment and mass immigration raids "unnecessary," "a betrayal of our American values" and "an assault on all Californians" in a statement on June 9. Thurmond said about half of California kids have at least one immigrant parent. "Innocent children should never be in handcuffs, and families should never be torn apart by our government. Our children deserve to be protected and cared for, not terrified at school or ripped from their families," Thurmond said. "Let's be clear: When the President targets our immigrant families, he harms California's children." California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Thurmond have called on Trump to end the mass immigration raids and pull back National Guard troops from Los Angeles for the safety of Los Angeles families. 'My message to President Trump is very clear: keep your hands off California's kids," Thurmond said on June 9. "The President's unchecked, unnecessary deployment of our nation's military to the city of Los Angeles is deeply dangerous for our children, for our families, and for our country." The officials' sentiments haven't calmed the widespread fear among many of the city's vast immigrant communities. Britt Vaughan, a spokesperson for Los Angeles Unified school district, said that parents and community members have been anxiously calleing into schools to report federal immigration activity in their communities. Enriquez, from Palms Middle School, told students and their families at the commencement ceremony to use the momentum of graduation as an opportunity to stand up to what he called "injustice" against their community. "Be empowered. Injustices exist in the world," he said. "Speak up. Stand up against any injustice anywhere." Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@ Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fearing ICE, some LA families skip school graduations
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Opinion - Thomas Massie and Warren Davidson: Two Republican profiles in courage
The passage of the budget reconciliation bill by the House of Representatives in the early hours of May 22 demonstrated once again President Trump's ability to win the votes of Republican members of Congress. But there were two noteworthy exceptions. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) were the only Republicans to resist Trump's pressure and vote against his so-called 'big, beautiful bill.' Both men deserve the country's gratitude, even from those on the political left who would struggle to find much in common with these far-right conservatives. Both men are comfortable with Trump's MAGA-world and both have voting records that put them at odds with Democrats. But in voting to oppose the tax bill, they demonstrated that their convictions are real and lived up to the ideal of an independent legislative branch capable of acting without a president's direction. Alongside a Republican party unwilling to balance the power of the presidency, Democrats have demonstrated an equally unproductive tendency to place loyalty to a party leader above their constituents and the country. The aggressive efforts to downplay, dismiss and cover up former President Joe Biden's declining faculties in 2024 offers a prime example of this type of misplaced loyalty. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) went so far as to explain his support for Biden after the June 2024 presidential debate by saying simply, 'I don't do disloyalty.' This sentiment was indicative of a Democratic Party wholly unwilling to call out the obvious — whose leaders and members chose instead to misinform the American people. With their votes in favor of Trump's tax bill, too many Republican members of Congress have done something similar. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) took a middle path, voting 'present' rather than for or against the bill. But the effect of that meek decision pales in comparison to the clarity offered by Massie and Davidson. Both opposed the bill because they know it massively increases the size of the federal government's annual deficit and relies on future members of Congress to address a problem that needs to be resolved now. Their unwillingness to kick the can further down the road is in keeping with the character it takes to stand up to a president who is willing to threaten the political future of Republicans who oppose his will. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was courageous enough to admit publicly what most Republicans understand in private: 'We are all afraid.' Republican politicians are intimidated by Trump and his allies. Murkowski has consistently demonstrated uncommon fortitude by her principled opposition to Trump when she disagrees with him or believes his policies will harm her constituents. Massie and Davidson have earned their place as the most principled Republicans in the House by sticking with their beliefs when faced with political consequences. They exemplify the idea that it is better to lose with your principles intact than to win after sacrificing them to political pressure and conformity. In recent decades, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have abdicated their proper constitutional role in favor of powerful chief executives from their respective parties. At the same time, the judiciary has replaced Congress as the primary check on presidential power — a development that perhaps encourages courts to overstep their intended role. The rebalancing of power in the federal government will start only when members of Congress are willing to assert their independence. A more confident legislative branch would take pressure off the courts and allow them to return to a less activist role. Neither Massie nor Davidson is likely to earn plaudits from Democrats, who have demonstrated their own willingness to put party loyalty over country and are quick to dismiss the value of political independence. They showed this by their shoddy treatment of Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) after he challenged Biden for the nomination in 2024, and by their growing criticism of Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) for deviating slightly from the ideology of the far left. Democrats have done and are doing exactly what they now accuse Republicans of doing by mindlessly supporting the president's tax bill. Massie and Davidson showed us something better. We might make real progress if more of their colleagues were willing to follow. Colin Pascal is a retired Army lieutenant colonel, a registered Democrat and a graduate student in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.