America’s sovereignty is under attack and so are the brave men and women who served our country. The U.S.-Mexico Border is facing an overwhelming surge in illegal crossings, where in roughly 18 months, more than three million immigrants have illegally entered the United States.
Now, the Biden administration wants to divert resources away from the Department of Veterans Affairs to care for the very same illegals that have poured into our country.
FLORIDA AG RELEASES INTERNAL DHS DOCUMENT SHE SAYS CONTRADICTS MAYORKAS TESTIMONY ON BORDER CRISIS
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies during an April 2022 House hearing (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Last week, during testimony before the House Appropriations Committee, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed that DHS is considering a move to divert taxpayer funded health care providers from the VA to care for illegal immigrants along our southern border.
With its disastrous open-border policies, the Biden administration has made clear that cartels, smugglers, and illegal migrants are welcome to break our laws and sneak into our country. To further aid these criminal groups, President Joe Biden and his radical allies in Congress are prepared to take resources from our veterans and redistribute them to those migrants.
The priorities of the Biden administration are a shocking rebuke of America’s veterans. Diverting VA staff aimed at helping veterans to illegal migrants at our southern border is a slap in the face to our nation’s finest. As an Army Combat Veteran and West Point Graduate, I had the honor of serving with 14 classmates who lost their lives in the global war on terror, with four more lives lost to suicide since I left the Army.
Even our troops who come home with minimal physical damage can still suffer from the mental trauma brought on by serving in a war zone.
According to the USO in 2021, research found that 30,177 active duty personnel and veterans who served in the military after 9/11 have died by suicide – compared to the 7,057 service members killed in combat in those same 20 years. That is, military suicide rates are four times higher than deaths that occurred during military operations.
We have a veteran suicide crisis on our hands and Biden’s DHS is considering diverting healthcare resources away from Veterans Affairs. This is abhorrent, un-American, and completely unacceptable. Americans should always receive priority, and our veterans should be the first in line for healthcare and other resources they may need.
For the record, the crisis at our southern border is a self-inflicted humanitarian disaster brought on by Biden and the Democrats. First Biden eliminated President Trump’s remain in Mexico policy, then he stopped the border wall construction, now he wants to repeal Title 42.
There is bipartisan agreement from both Republicans and Democrats that repealing Title 42 would be a disaster for our country. Even members of Biden’s own administration are calling on the President to rethink his position, including Chris Magnus, Biden’s own Customs and Border Protection Commissioner. He warned of the dire consequences that will come from eliminating it, saying, "As a result of the CDC’s termination of its Title 42 public health order, we will likely face an increase in encounters above the current high levels."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER
In an era where both sides can agree on almost nothing, many agree on Title 42 and the importance of keeping the policy in place. I hope that there is also a bipartisan agreement that redistributing resources from our veterans to illegal immigrants at our southern border would be a disaster for our country.
We cannot afford to continue down this path.
Joe Biden created this border nightmare, and this November his party will suffer the consequences for it. But the president and his administration have no right making our veterans suffer, too. The VA is an essential department for our veterans, it shouldn’t be used as a band-aid for Biden’s border crisis.
Members of Congress on both sides should denounce any suggestion or policy change that diverts resources from our veterans, this is not a partisan issue.