HOUSTON- A crowd gathered outside the main gate of the NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center to protest the mass termination of federal employees. The protest was scheduled to last through the lunch period while traffic will be the heaviest.
U.S. Rep. Al Green spoke at the event. Green is a Democrat representing Texas’ 9th district in Houston. Congressman Green was recently censured in the U.S. House of Representatives after speaking out during President Donald Trump’s joint address to congress, where he was escorted out of the House chamber by the sergeant-at-arms.
Protestors assembled at the corner of NASA Parkway and Saturn Lane to raise awareness and critique mass terminations of civil servants across the government. The event was peaceful with no signs of hostility or counter protests.
Alex, a protest organizer and union member, said the protest was scheduled to be a lunch break rally. Alex, who asked not to have his last name used, went on to explain that he believes there is a misunderstanding in the country. According to Alex, people are angry because they imagine that government workers are lazy. “The people that work here are some of the hardest working people I’ve ever met in my entire life. Every single day they go to work, doing every single thing they can for the mission.”
After several speeches by union leaders and Congressman Green, protesters lined the side of NASA Parkway to wave at cars passing and hold up signs showing their cause. Many cars honked and waved back to the protestors.
In recent weeks, President Trump has laid off thousands of federal employees, most of whom were newer employees or employees still in their first year probationary period. This project is being spearheaded by Elon Musk and the DOGE team. NASA has had an estimated 23 lay offs so far. Included in these lay offs was NASA’s chief scientist, who’s position was eliminated. There are no published numbers for how many employees have been terminated to date, but a March 15 report by NPR tens of thousands of people have already lost their civil service jobs (Federal agencies plan for mass layoffs as Trump’s workforce cuts continue, by Stephen Fowler).
“The present administration, illegally, has been firing all sorts of civil servants. They have been ignoring judge rulings for stays of those firings and we’re here to say that’s illegal and should be stopped.” said Wallis Calaway. He explained that he only heard about the protest yesterday, but he made it. Calaway wants to tell people, “The democracy is in threat. The president and his administration are not following the Constitution and are ignoring the Constitution in ways that will cause us to degrade from a democracy to a dictatorship.”
On March 13, U.S. District Judges James Bredar and William Alsup issued concurrent orders in separate lawsuits, instructing the Trump administration to reinstate all terminated federal workers and instructed the OPM that they were not authorized to terminate personnel or offer guidance on terminations. However, departments may terminate if they can demonstrate cause for termination. At the time of writing, the terminated workers have not been reinstated as the administration continues to fight the court order.
Take a look at the slideshow below then tell us what you think about the situation.
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