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The Trump administration's DOGE program has fired hundreds of park rangers across the United States, and that painful process has also affected staffers at the San Antonio Missions National Park.
Ranger Sanya Marin said the item in her inbox on Valentine’s Day this month turned her world upside down. "I received an email basically saying that I was terminated because I was a probationary employee,” she explained. “I started on April 7, 2024, so I was probably six, maybe seven weeks away from meeting that status before I got let go.”
A six-month internship before her full-time job means she worked at the Missions about 17 months before being let go.
Missions National Park is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, and Marin has an additional useful skill to use with foreign visitors: “I am bilingual. I was actually one of the few bilingual park guides that were there.”
Marin said her overall job performance was exemplary: “I've received nothing but positive remarks, and I was actually checked off as what's known as ‘fully successful.’ And I even received for my end of the year performance evaluation a little cash reward for some of the contributions that I made that year.”
The National Parks Service did not respond to TPR's request for comment.
“I'm not against the idea of saving money," said Joel, a husband and father of two boys who declined to give his last name. He and his family were touring Mission San Jose. "I think it would be wise to see the need and the number needed to sustain the parks, to keep the public safety up. ... depending on how many staff members are needed for that mission.”
His wife Jennifer said she loved the Missions but wished there was a human presence during her visit to give it all context. They didn't see any Rangers giving tours.
“It would be nice to have the Rangers for the education piece," she added. "We can walk around, we can look at the maps, but to have someone explain the history, I think with the lack of Ranger that you kind of miss that piece of it.”
Next to a wall at Mission San Jose was Yvonne Dilling, on her hands and knees pulling weeds.
She said she was happy to donate her time to pull out invasive weeds, but she wasn’t happy with the cuts at the National Parks Service.
“It's one of the saddest cuts that I know of," she said, "and contributing my tax dollars to our national parks, I think, is one of the best uses of our funds, and I think that the whole nation is going to suffer as a result of these senseless and irrational and unjustifiable firings or layoffs."
She said she had no problem with the concept of saving taxpayer money. She just didn’t think this approach was a smart one.
“Well, the layoffs aren't being done with a justification that is based on analysis of who are the most efficient workers and what are the greatest needs in each of these agencies," she said. "None of the firings or layoffs are being evaluated. There's not been enough time to evaluate them.”
Marin was philosophical about what's happened, and she said she didn't blame her supervisor or even the National Park Service for her termination. She blamed the man at the top.
“And who I'm talking about is this Trump administration. And the irony behind the GOP is that they are afraid of 'illegal immigrants' coming to take their jobs, right? Just for an immigrant, Elon Musk, to swoop in and take our jobs, and I have to pay the price for that,” Marin said.
