Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is demanding that President Joe Biden’s top agencies disclose how much taxpayer money has been siphoned from American veterans to illegal aliens who have recently arrived in the United States.
For years now, Biden’s top agencies have been accused of diverting Veterans Affairs (VA) services from veterans to provide healthcare services to recently arrived illegal aliens.
In a letter sent to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, Blackburn asked the agency to disclose the amount of taxpayer dollars that have been diverted from veterans to shore up resources for illegal aliens at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“How much funding has the VA allocated specifically for the medical care or veterans’ benefits (including claims processing) for illegal immigrants, including but not limited to those in ICE detention facilities or those who were deported?” Blackburn writes.
Blackburn noted reports that suggested in Fiscal Year 2022, taxpayers paid nearly $95 million in medical expenses for illegal aliens in federal custody that “should have been used to support American veterans who bravely served this nation,” Blackburn asserts:
Additionally, in Fiscal Year 2021, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) healthcare arm budgeted more than $74 million for the VA’s contractor to assist with outside referrals and medical claims processing. [Emphasis added]
Yet at the same time, veterans and their families are rewarded for their sacrifice with months- and years-long waiting times for their claims to be processed. Currently, 1,048,765 veterans are waiting for staff to process their claims. The VA claims that the average wait time for a claim to be processed is about five months; yet the agency’s own data shows that its backlog has increased and is expected to grow this year. [Emphasis added]
The VA was created to support those who have served and protected this nation, and now senior VA officials have seemingly placed these veterans on a tier below the flood of illegal immigrants that are crossing our porous border. Since President Biden took office, more than 8.5 million illegal immigrants, including 1.7 million known “gotaways” have entered our country. Hundreds of individuals on the terror watchlist have been caught at our border, including 30 since the start of Fiscal Year 2024. This problem will continue to grow as Secretary Mayorkas continues to turn a willfully blind eye towards the crisis at our southern border. [Emphasis added]
It is unacceptable to see the VA redirect its resources away from those who defended this country in favor of those who flout its laws without remorse. As such, I ask that the VA immediately stop allocating its resources to the care and claims of illegal immigrants. [Emphasis added]
Blackburn similarly wants to know if VA officials “received a specific directive from the Biden administration to provide medical care or veterans’ benefits to illegal immigrants” as well as what federal laws and regulations allow for such a transfer of services from veterans to illegal aliens.
Last month, Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced the “No VA Resources for Illegal Aliens Act” to block the VA from using its resources to provide healthcare services to illegal aliens.
Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI), Scott Franklin (R-FL), and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) are co-sponsoring the bill in the House, while Blackburn (R-TN) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) are cosponsoring the bill in the Senate.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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