VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of veterans of the
United States Armed Forces who have been unceremoniously deported. In the 1990s, the immigration law changes eliminated judicial
discretion and reclassified many low-level, nonviolent offenses as
aggravated felonies mandating deportation. As a result, the United
States has banished an unknown number of veterans. In many cases, these
were minor offenses committed by veterans who succumbed to the
difficulties of readjusting to civilian life. Many are combat veterans who sustained physical wounds and emotional
trauma in conflicts going back to the war in Vietnam. This banishment
effectively denies these men access to often critically needed medical
care. Regardless of immigration status, all U.S. military veterans are
entitled to treatment at the Department of Veterans Affairs medical
facilities, yet very few of these deported veterans are granted the
necessary waivers to access the care either in the States or abroad. In fact, most of these veterans, the only way they are going to
return is in a box, dead, because they do have the right to be buried
in a veterans' cemetery. Let's do the right thing and bring these
veterans home so they can get the care they need.
Keywords matched
deported immigration deportation