US senator calls veterans affairs’ data collection of non-citizen workers ‘thinly veiled effort to instill fear’

Adam Schiff, a US senator, is expressing alarm in a letter to the Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Homeland Security (DHS), following a report from the Guardian that revealed the VA was gathering data on its “non-citizen” workforce.

The VA told the Guardian some of the information gathered could be shared with other agencies for immigration enforcement purposes.

“The request for non-citizen data,” Schiff said in a letter sent Wednesday, “can be viewed only as a thinly veiled effort to instill fear within the VA community, which will likely be used to conduct immigration enforcement efforts.

“These intimidation tactics waste critical time and resources for VA personnel that are already stretched thin,” he added.

The Guardian reported last December on the VA’s plans, citing a leaked memo that outlined a massive data-gathering operation of of all non-citizens who are “employed or affiliated with” the agency, which employs 450,000 people and enjoys affiliations with most major medical schools.

Veteran advocates and members of Congress say the sweeping language would likely also include people who work at VA contractors, medical students and even volunteers.

According to the memo, the report was to to be presented to Douglas Collins, VA secretary, on 30 December. The current status of the report is unclear, according to congressional sources familiar with the VA’s internal operations.

Schiff’s letter marks the second time lawmakers have decried the effort and pressed Collins for answers. In December, more than 50 members of the US House and Senate, led by Illinois Democrat Delia Ramirez, sent the secretary a detailed inquiry agency, asking to review “data, records, documents, reports, memoranda, correspondence, audio recordings” and other records, including those which show any VA collaboration with ICE

On 13 January, Collins responded with a short letter that defended the administration’s actions, but left most of their questions unanswered.

“The workforce review at issue is not new, not extraordinary, and not ideological,” Collins wrote. “This effort does not alter Veterans’ eligibility for care or benefits, nor does it divert resources from patient care. It is a compliance exercise.”

A spokesperson for Schiff said he followed up in part because the “the VA’s nonresponse failed to answer why the agency is targeting employees and those affiliated with VA care who have already been vetted”.

Despite the VA’s repeated insistence that their “workforce review” is a standard practice, the VA has not specified why it is only focusing on non-citizens for its internal report, nor whether they will also be reviewing citizens in the VA workforce.

For the past few years, the VA has already struggled with staffing problems – with longstanding problems worsening in Trump’s second term. In August, the Guardian reported the VA had lost thousands of “core” medical staff – including doctors, nurses and psychologists – since the beginning of the year. That same month, the VA’s inspector general found “severe” staffing shortages at all of the agency’s 170 medical centers.

The VA is the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system, serving 9 million veterans annually.

Since the Guardian’s first report, the VA has vehemently defended its practice.

“This is such a nothing story, but it’s what the ‘outrage left’ wants to talk about when it comes to this administration,” said Collins in an appearance on Fox News in December, in response to the Guardian’s story. Collins further justified the practice, saying it 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”.

Schiff outlined the existing background and vetting process required for VA employees, regardless of immigration status.

“This process occurs regardless of an individual’s citizenship or immigration status, ensuring that those who are currently employed by or ‘affiliates’ with VA, are law-abiding individuals,” said Schiff.