A group of Republican lawmakers slammed President Joe Biden for the ‘deeply troubling’ possibility Veteran Affairs (VA) doctors would be sent to the border to help with the expected surge in migrants after Title 42 ends.
More than 50 House of Representative members have pressed Customs and Border Protection after it was announced that Veterans Affairs (VA) medical personnel could be sent to the border to deal with the expected surge in migration in late May.
Come May 23, President Joe Biden will end Title 42, which allowed the deportation of most immigrants entering the US. Fears are growing that migrants will flood the border to seek refuge in the US without fear of being expelled from the border.
After the announcement earlier this month, it was reported that Border Patrol was considering using VA personnel to help take care of migrants, Fox News reported.
Now, several representatives have sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas about the ‘mishandling’ of the border and called the possible usage of VA personnel at the border ‘deeply troubling’ as it is already hard for veterans to see doctors.
‘Moving VA medical staff away from our veteran’s healthcare needs to examine illegal immigrants is a recipe for disaster,’ the letter, written by Georgia Representative Jody Hice, said. ‘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.
Republicans are slammed President Joe Biden over a rumor that he will sent VA doctors to the border
More than 50 Republican Representatives signed a letter demanding to know if the Biden Administration was planning on seeing VA personnel to the border to help with the expected surge in migrants come the end of May when Title 42 ends. They called the rumor ‘deeply troubling’ as it is hard enough for veterans to get access to doctors
‘Biden’s failed open border policies are no excuse to funnel resources away from our veterans. Our men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our liberties and our country’s sovereignty deserve the best resources for their health care needs.
‘The Biden Administration must provide the American people answers. Even the thought of abandoning our veterans’ care for the needs of illegal aliens is disgraceful.’
A border patrol source told Fox News that the usage of VA personnel ‘is not off the table,’ but said if the arrangement were to happen it would more than likely be a part of a ‘voluntary force’ of federal agencies helping with the border.
The source also said it didn’t know of any talks happening concerning the topic, but said they couldn’t rule it out completely.
Various federal agencies responding to the expected increase was reflected in a March 30 press release, where Homeland Security said it would ‘acquire and deploy resources to address increased volume’ to ‘manage migration and address root causes.’ It also said it was ‘ready to surge personnel and resources to the Southwest Border.’
‘DHS has moved officers, agents, and DHS Volunteer Force personnel to rapidly decompress points along the border and more efficiently process migrants,’ the press release said.
However, the VA is not a part of the Department of Homeland Security and the veterans resource was never specifically stated in the press release.
The letter also cited the Border Patrol indicated a ‘surge’ in crossings would be ‘imminent,’ which could lead to see up to 18,000 immigrants per day or around 540,000 per month. The 54 Republicans cited that this would be a record number since 2000, which saw 220,000.
Title 42, which allowed the government to deport immigrants back to their home country due to health concerns, will end on May 23. Fears are going that migrants to flock to the border to gain access to the US (pictured: migrants camping out along the US-Mexico border in April)
Late last year, 14,000 mainly Haitian migrants traveled to the Texas border (pictured), causing Republicans to rip into the president for not being able to control the border
The group also requested official documents sent between Homeland Security, the VA’s Office, and the White House that pertains to the southern border and gave Mayorkas until April 27 for response.
Late last year, the Biden Administration had to deal with a huge surge in mainly Haitian immigrants who make the trek to the Texas border, causing Border Patrol to remove 14,800 migrants from underneath Texas bridge in September.
The agency shut down a migrant camp and began bussing and flying the hopeful immigrants back toward Haiti.
Republicans hit out at the Biden Administration then too, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
In a statement at the time, he said: ‘Six hours after US Customs and Border Protection requested help from Texas to close ports of entry and secure the border, the Biden Administration has now flip-flopped to a different strategy that abandons border security and instead makes it easier for people to cross illegally and for cartels to exploit the border.
‘The Biden Administration is in complete disarray and is handling the border crisis as badly as the evacuation from Afghanistan.’
Days later, thousands of immigrants were released into the US to appear in immigration court. Then, there were still almost 9,000 migrants camping at the border.