Trump officials ‘conspiring to illegally intimidate’ non-citizens via new VA report, lawmakers say

More than 20 members of Congress are demanding answers from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and homeland security officials after the Guardian revealed the VA is compiling a report on all non-US citizens “employed by or affiliated with” the government agency that will then be shared with other federal agencies, including immigration authorities.

The lawmakers, led by Illinois congresswoman Delia Ramirez – along with congressman Mark Takano of California and US senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the top Democrats on the House and Senate veterans affairs committees – have written a group letter to be sent to the VA secretary, Doug Collins, and the secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, on Friday.

The letter, shared with the Guardian, said the report, to be finalized this month, will “seed fear in noncitizens who perform duties in service to our nation’s veterans” during a time when the Trump administration is aggressively arresting, detaining and deporting thousands of immigrants in communities nationwide.

Other co-signers of the letter include US senator Tammy Duckworth, of Illinois, California congressman Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the House oversight committee, Texas congressman Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Washington congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, ranking member of the House judiciary subcommittee on immigration integrity, security, and enforcement.

The VA operates the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system, serving 9 million veterans annually across 170 hospitals and more than 1,000 outpatient clinics. It employs 450,000 workers and enjoys relationships with most major medical schools.

“It is obvious that the VA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are conspiring to illegally intimidate, imprison, and deport individuals who perform duties at the VA in service to our nation’s veterans,” the lawmakers wrote.

The VA has confirmed to the Guardian that the department intends to share some of the data it gathers with other federal agencies, including for immigration enforcement purposes. The report on the non-citizen individuals at the VA is due to be provided to Collins later this month.

The VA’s leaked memo implies non-citizen doctors, nurses, researchers, medical students, contractors and more will be included in the report.

The Guardian sent the VA a detailed inquiry and request for comment.

VA press secretary Peter Kasperowicz responded with the following statement: “VA is required by federal law to continuously vet all employees and affiliates, such as unpaid researchers and others who may have access to VA data or systems, to ensure they meet the federal government’s trusted workforce standards.

“As part of this continuous process, VA on November 25 directed under secretaries, assistant secretaries and other key officials to provide a report on all non-United States citizens who are employed by or affiliated with VA. This will not affect veterans seeking care or services at VA, or the delivery of care and services.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to a request for comment.

In an appearance on Fox News last weekend, Collins called the Guardian’s report “a nothing story”.

However, lawmakers, veterans and VA employees said the mere act of compiling this data, exclusively on non-citizens, could lead qualified workers to quit and exacerbate existing staffing shortages.

In August, the VA inspector general reported “severe” staffing shortages at all of its hospitals. An analysis of VA data by the Guardian shows the agency has lost thousands of “mission-critical” healthcare workers since Trump returned to office – including nearly 3,000 nurses and more than 1,000 doctors.

Heather Fallon, an emergency department nurse at the Captain James A Lovell Federal Health Care Center, a veterans hospital in North Chicago, said conditions there are worsening daily.

Democratic congresswoman Delia Ramirez outside the Capitol in March. Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

On Tuesday night, the emergency department, which is typically staffed with seven to eight nurses – had three or four on duty, she said. The VA declined to comment on staffing at the hospital. Fallon said the VA’s decision to allow ICE activities at the facility had already put fear into the hearts of veteran patients and health care workers and that report being compiled will further terrify patients and staff.

Fallon spoke to the Guardian in her capacity as a member of the union, National Nurses United, which also released a statement opposing the VA’s creation of a database of non-citizens.

In New York City, a doctor working at a VA hospital, who asked that their identity not be published for fear of retaliation said she worried the agency’s increasingly tough-on-immigration stance could have an especially severe impact on veterans’ access to specialists.

About 30% of psychiatrists and neurologists and more than 50% of gerontologists and kidney specialists in the United States graduated from medical schools outside the country, according to published data.

Because many VA hospitals are in rural areas with chronic doctor shortages, the agency has traditionally recruited many foreign workers, including facilitating the physicians’ legal status through the use of National Interest Waivers. The DHS and state department have sought to impose limits on visas for some healthcare workers this year, a move opposed by professional, medical associations and immigrant rights groups.

In Michigan, retired air force master sergeant Rachel Youkey said she is already experiencing delays in care linked to the immigration crackdown.

A munitions expert who sustained a brain injury from an Afghanistan bomb blast while serving there from 2010 to 2011, Youkey receives care at the VA hospital in Ann Arbor, where many workers are medical residents from the nearby University of Michigan.

She said she used to love her primary care physician, a student from Korea. But after he graduated last year, he was not replaced. She has not had a regular doctor since. “I don’t care if someone is a citizen,” she said. “I care that they know what they are doing. Are they competent? I’ll take competency above citizenship every time.”

In his appearance on Fox News, Collins attempted to downplay the VA’s efforts to collect data on non-citizens, saying the forthcoming report is “simply us going back through the process, making sure that we have updated our rolls, updated our background checks, updated the folks so that they’re actually supposed to be here”.

In their letter, however, the Democratic lawmakers express alarm over the breadth of the VA’s data collection efforts.

“Foreign-born individuals fill critical roles at VA as employees, contractors, and volunteers, including in research, healthcare, and benefits delivery,” the letter says, adding that the data collection “comes at a time when nationwide healthcare provider shortages are limiting access to care for all Americans, including veterans”.

“The broad, undefined nature of the phrase ‘or affiliated with VA’ used throughout the memorandum cited in the Guardian leads us to worry that the data collection could sweep far beyond the walls of VA and our own borders,” the letter adds. “It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the database of all non-US citizens employed by or affiliated with VA will only lead to more illegal detentions and deportations of individuals who dedicate themselves to improving veterans’ lives.”

Kristofer Goldsmith, an Iraq war veteran who heads Task Force Butler, an advocacy group that counters extremism, said: “It seems like the Trump administration is trying to reduce – not just the availability of healthcare for veterans, but for all Americans.”

He added: “There are tons of immigrants who come to the United States, dream of being citizens, become doctors, are straight-A students, are law-abiding people, who then train or work at the VA saving lives.”

The lawmakers warn that the report could also lead to increased immigration enforcement against military veterans themselves, some of whom have already been deported under Trump. Veterans make up over a quarter of the VA’s workforce, and it is not a requirement to be a US citizen to serve in the military.

“Worst of all, the proposed data collection could lead to the unlawful imprisonment or deportation of veterans who served our country and continued their service at VA, but were denied US citizenship following their military service,” the lawmakers write.

The VA directive requires “all needed data” to be provided by 26 December. A full report on all non-United States citizens with a relationship with the agency is to be provided to Collins 30 December.

In their letter, the Democratic senators and House members request documents and data from the VA and DHS, giving them a deadline of 24 December. They also requested a congressional briefing by 19 December.