Trump Fired Park Rangers — But Not the Ones Who Tend to the White House

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This story was originally published in Public Domain.

As the Trump administration fired hundreds of probationary Park Service employees in February, it spared a special subset from the purge — it exempted from the mass firings National Park Service staffers that help manage the White House and President’s Park.

Records viewed by Public Domain show that at least three NPS probationary employees at the White House, including park guides, received exemptions from the mass firings specifically on the grounds that they worked at the White House. The records were corroborated by an Interior Department source familiar with the matter, but who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.

The National Park Service maintains the White House property and President’s Park. The NPS workforce there includes gardeners, guides, painters, and maintenance staff. The Park Service, in a statement, said it does not comment on personnel matters. It did note, however, that NPS employees at the White House have security clearances.

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In mid-February, in what has come to be known as the Valentine’s Day massacre, the Trump administration eliminated roughly 1,000 NPS probationary employees across the country. These employees served as rangers, guides, visitor center staffers, scientists, and more. The firings spanned the nation, from Valley Forge in Pennsylvania to California’s Yosemite. Particularly hit hard were places like Everglades National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park, all supremely popular destinations that reportedly lost a dozen or more employees each. These firings were part of the broader effort, driven by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, to decimate staffing at federal agencies in all parts of government.

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But while the general American public was witnessing the sudden loss of large numbers of staff members at their favorite Park Service locations, the president and his visitors were spared the same experience at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The directive to exempt the NPS probationary staff at the White House came down to NPS from higher up in the Interior Department, according to the source.

The DOGE-driven mass firings may have been illegal. A federal judge in Northern California last Thursday ordered the Trump administration to immediately reinstate thousands of probationary employees across government, calling the administration’s justification for the terminations a “sham.” The Trump administration is appealing the order.

“It is a sad, sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” wrote U.S. District Judge William Alsup of Trump’s actions. “That should not have been done in our country.” Among those to be reinstated are Park Service probationary staff.