Care will remain with veterans.
A week ago, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified that he was talking with the leader of the Veterans Affairs Department about using VA medical staff to assist U.S. border officials who are encountering more people illegally crossing the border than at any point in the past two decades. President Biden’s administration is now walking back those plans after legislators raised concerns that veterans would go without care.
Representative Elise Stefanik of New York sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas urging him not to send VA staff to the border. “Moving VA medical staff away from our veterans’ healthcare needs to examine illegal immigrants is a recipe for disaster,” her letter stated. “Wait times for a veteran to see their doctor can average 22 days and reach as high as 42 days. This is unacceptable mismanagement of federal government resources by the Biden administration.”
Bills were also introduced last month in both the House and Senate to bar the government from repurposing VA staff for homeland security operations.
“Moving resources away from serving the needs of our veterans to supporting a foreseeable and avoidable crisis at our Southern border is unacceptable,” Senator John Boozman of Arkansas stated.
A handful of times during the coronavirus pandemic, the VA sent staff to vaccinate federal agents and officers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the president and his administration to implement appropriate and effective border and immigration strategies.
- That the Department of Veterans Affairs would be able to increase the effectiveness of veterans’ healthcare.
- For border agents and immigration officials dealing with the migrant crisis.
Sources: Washington Examiner, Government Executive
