As President Donald Trump’s sweeping efforts to overhaul the federal workforce ripple through Maryland, one group stands to feel a heavy impact: the state’s veterans.

The federal government is the nation’s largest single employer of veterans. Unions representing federal workers warn that thousands of veterans could lose their jobs and future career opportunities amid the Trump administration’s workforce purge, much of which is being reviewed by courts. Veterans also are bracing for cuts to agencies that provide them with critical services and benefits.

More than 23,000 federal workers in Maryland are veterans, accounting for roughly 16% of the state’s federal workforce, according to the most recent available data by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Many work for agencies that have fired staff or plan to do so. Around 3,600 veterans work in Maryland for the Department of Defense, while another 1,400 work for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employ hundreds more, the data shows.

Army veteran Jonathan Hairston lost his job as an artificial intelligence specialist at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in February. Standing beside Maryland Gov. Wes Moore at a press conference in Annapolis last week, Hairston said the explanation for his termination was vague and riddled with inaccuracies.

“This process has been cruel, and it’s been heartless,” Hairston said.

Morgan State University in Baltimore held its annual veterans hiring fair Tuesday. Organizers said federal layoffs and agency hiring freezes prompted them to scale back this year’s event.

The fair usually includes about two dozen federal employers, many eager to hire veterans because of their technical skills and their commitment to service, said Shirleene Prioleau of the school’s Veterans Engagement Services office.

This year, only the FBI was present.

Dozens of nonprofits, businesses, law enforcement agencies and representatives from state and local government also participated.

“I do hope that the event, in some way, can help some of those individuals who are struggling right now to at least see light at the end of the tunnel,” Prioleau said.

Among dozens of attendees was Jomo McReynolds. The 33-year-old Army veteran aspires to help fellow service members by one day working for the VA, but said it seems “hopeless” to apply for a federal job right now.

Instead, he discussed career opportunities with a corrections department, community college and IT security firm.

Federal agencies have been required by law since 1944 to afford veterans preference in hiring. McReynolds said the lack of current opportunities for veterans to enter the federal workforce has felt like a broken promise for his service.

“It’s like, what did the sacrifice go to?” McReynolds said.

Veterans have been grappling with more than losses of jobs and opportunities.

In February, the Department of Veterans Affairs dismissed roughly 2,400 “non-mission-critical” employees, a decision that critics warn could deepen staffing shortages and further strain a system responsible for delivering health care and benefits to millions of veterans.

“Veteran care, benefits and beneficiaries will not be affected by VA’s personnel moves, which will allow us to redirect $180 million per year back toward health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries,” a VA spokesperson said in a statement.

On Wednesday the Associated Press reported that VA plans to cut 80,000 jobs, with an aim to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000.

The VA has more than 5,800 employees in Maryland, according to federal data.

Entitlement programs that many veterans and their families rely upon, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, could also be on the chopping block, as congressional Republicans look to pass a spending bill that makes trillions in tax cuts. The agencies have already slashed staff as part of Trump’s efforts to downsize the government.

Trump has promised not to cut Social Security or Medicare payments. On social media, Elon Musk, who leads Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, claimed those programs are rife with fraud.

Baltimore County Councilman Pat Young, who served in the Iraq War, said veterans have expressed concerns about losing or experiencing interruptions in benefits that “they’ve earned through their service.”

In response, the county plans to host three resource fairs at American Legion sites to connect affected veterans with services from nonprofits and local government agencies.

“There are absolutely vets in Baltimore County that have been affected by these cuts, and we want to make sure that they know that we have resources available to try and at least lighten the load,” Young said.

Veterans have also been accessing virtual workshops and other resources the state has made available for displaced federal workers, a spokesperson from the Maryland Department of Labor said.

At last week’s press conference, Moore echoed the need for support, urging state agencies, as well as the nonprofit and private sectors, to ramp up their efforts to hire former federal workers.

A former U.S. Army captain, Moore noted the firings, along with policies that cut entitlements, would have an outsized impact on veterans. The Trump administration, Moore said, was waging an “assault on the military.”