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]