The Biden administration has been diverting resources from the Veterans Affairs (VA) organization to support illegal immigrants throughout the country.
Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) brought this issue to light during a Fox Digital interview, as reported on Tuesday morning. Tuberville, hailing from Alabama, has recently introduced a bill called the “No VA Resources for Illegal Aliens Act” to prevent this from happening again.
During his conversation with Fox Digital, Tuberville expressed his concern, stating, “They’ve opened up care from the doctors in these [VA] community care systems. The lines now in the VA’s are getting longer. Our funds that are supposed to go to the veterans are going to these illegal immigrants that are coming across.”
In a recent development, the VA revealed an interagency agreement with ICE’s Health Service Corps (IHSC), which has been in place since 2002. This agreement allows for reimbursements when private providers offer medical care to illegal immigrants at ICE detention centers. However, the VA’s Financial Service Center’s (FSC) resources are likely overwhelmed due to the surge in illegal immigration across the southern border.
In fiscal year 2022, which ended Sept. 30 of that year, FSC processed 161,538 such claims, with the ICE Health Services Corps (IHSC) paying out an average of $584 — a total of $94.3 million in taxpayer money, according to a July 2023 Department of Homeland Security report on “Healthcare Costs for Noncitizens in Detention.”
In the previous fiscal year, 2021, ICE’s health care arm budgeted more than $74 million for the VA’s FSC to assist with “outside referral care” and “medical claims processing,” according to a report from July 2022.
In April 2022, now impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed that his department was in talks to divert Veterans Affairs (VA) resources, doctors and nurses to help care for illegal immigrants Wednesday.
Mayorkas made the statement during testimony before the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, pressed Mayorkas to answer whether the resources would be diverted as part of the DHS plan to address an expected spike in migration. (Which subsequently came.)
Meanwhile, the pile of benefit claims by veterans and their families awaiting adjudication has grown to 417,855, according to the VA’s own website — up from around 150,000 as of late 2022. VA representatives have mentioned this backlog of medical claims, resulting in veterans receiving incorrect bills and dissatisfied community care providers not being paid in a timely manner.
Veterans have been reporting longer lines and issues with service.
Lawmakers who are doing something
Senator Tuberville expressed his disappointment over the VA’s inability to serve the needs of 19 million veterans while resources are being redirected to assist illegal immigrants allowed entry into the US during the ongoing border crisis. Tuberville hopes to bring this issue to the Senate floor for discussion.
Senator Marsha Blackburn is pressing President Joe Biden’s administration to disclose the amount of taxpayer money diverted from veterans to provide healthcare services to recently arrived illegal aliens.
In the House, Reps. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., and Jennifer Kiggans, R-Va., of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs questioned whether the VA’s financial agreement with ICE is exacerbating health care shortages for veterans. Rosendale said he wants to ensure immigrants are “not being prioritized” over veterans by medical providers in their local communities.
“This arrangement could result in illegal immigrants receiving medical treatment before veterans do and quite frankly, to this committee, that’s completely unacceptable,” Rosendale said.
Terry Riffel, the VA deputy assistant secretary, responded: “I don’t know if that’s possible. We would have to confirm that.”
Washington state redirecting COVID money
Federal COVID funds were used in Washington state to give $1,000 checks to illegal immigrants who were ineligible to receive federal economic impact payments during the pandemic due to their immigration status.
A report, by the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), points to money administered by the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF), which was created by the American Rescue Plan Act and was intended to help state and local governments with their response and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Washington state received $4.4 billion in funding overall from that program.
Virginia expands health insurance
Virginia Democrats are pushing to expand state-funded health insurance to illegal immigrant children with a critical committee vote scheduled for Thursday.
The Senate bill, named the “Cover All Kids” Act by proponents, seeks to provide illegal immigrant children access to a “state-funded comprehensive health care coverage” program with eligibility requirements similar to the state’s Medicaid program.
The bill specifically targets individuals in the commonwealth under 19 years of age who are not covered by a group health plan or insurance coverage. It includes the language, “but for their immigration status would be eligible for medical assistance services,” which would expand access to illegal immigrant children.