BUENA PARK, Calif. — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with veterans in Orange County on Wednesday in Buena Park to find out how they’re holding up under the Trump presidency.
With service members being swept up in immigration raids, the developing war in Iran, and thousands of positions being eliminated at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Jeffries scolded the Trump administration.
“Shame on the administration for engaging in that type of egregious behavior, while at the same time pretending as though they are standing up to cherish our Veterans,” said Jeffries.
In February of this year, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins spoke to Spectrum News about the state of the department.
(Spectrum News/Cody Taylor)
Collins explained that after a year of assessment, they’re making changes to streamline the department and improve the lives of veterans
“Reassessing our hospital system to make sure that it is aligned to take care of veterans in the proper way, instead of it being in the 170 plus hospitals operating independently, we are making sure that the VA is a part of a singular organization,” said Collins.
Shadic Anderson served as an infantryman in the Marine Corps for eight years and helps to run VFW Post 7243 in Hawaiian Gardens. He noted that many veterans have trouble transitioning back to civilian life after their service.
The mental health resources offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs have helped him and others like him — but under the Trump administration, he said those resources have been deteriorating.
In 2024, Anderson lost access to his mental health services.
“It took me about nine months in order for me to get reconnected with a mental health provider,” he said. “It was a lot of calling — a lot of, ‘We don’t necessarily have the providers at the time.'”