WHO SHOULD COME FIRST?

Veterans or Illegals?

The Current Situation for Veterans

Most people are unaware of this, but our veterans come home from service with a lot of challenges.  Increasing numbers of vets are committing suicide, many of whom are younger service members.  Older data shows “The average number of suicides per day among U.S. adults rose 55.0%, from 81.0 in 2001 to 125.6 in 2019. Across the same 18-year period, the average number of Veteran suicides per day rose 4.5%, from 16.4 in 2001 to 17.2 in 2019.”

In addition, many veterans end up homeless, approximately eight out of 1000.  Additionally, more than one million veterans are at risk of becoming homeless.  Many suffer from service-connected mental illness or substance abuse problems.

Additionally, getting access to VA care can be difficult, as you have to prove that you have a service-related injury.  Remember Agent Orange.  It took years for the government to acknowledge the damage caused by it. In the meantime, vets did not get access to care for issues relating the Agent Orange exposure.  Currently, vets trying to get help from problems relating to exposure to burn pits during more recent wars have been stymied in getting help.  In most cases, the VA wants studies to prove causation, and these can take years. 

To try to fix the situation, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee approved legislation that would improve VA access for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances.  However, as Senator Marco Rubio, R-FL, points out, veterans still have to prove causation.  He and Senator Gillibrand, D-NY, seek to pass a bill that would presume that someone getting a diagnosis from 20 categories after service would be presumed to have a service-connected disease.

Our service members aren’t paid all that well and their families often struggle during their service.  After they finish serving, finding jobs and figuring out ways to make it in the non-military world can be very tough.  As an ETS-Sponsor, I have been trained to help smooth re-entry, but it’s a new program.

It's just not enough, especially considering how we treat people who break our laws.

The Current Situation for Illegals

We appear to be rolling out the welcome wagon for the hordes of uninvited “guests” storming our borders.  With all of the protections Trump put in place rolled back by Biden, many from Mexico and Central America believe they are entitled to this welcome, a set of entitlements far more generous than we offer to our veterans.

Housing, food and health care are freely offered, but no care is taken to determine if they have been vaccinated or currently have Covid.  All the while, our military is being treated badly if they refuse the vaccine.  Given that vaccines don’t protect you from Omicron, nor prevent you from passing it on, the rules are stupid, but illegals were allowed in even while we had to deal with variants the vaccine did protect us from. 

Secret night flights take illegals to places they want to go, with no proof that there is a family member willing to take them in.  Taxpayers are funding all of this, even as many seem to be unaware of the costs.  Children (defined as anyone younger than 19) are sent over in droves and our government seems to believe they deserve special treatment.  This only makes more parents ready to send them here.

The attractive nuisance of taxpayer largess is bringing in more people every day, most of whom don’t speak the language and have no skills to offer.  We’ll probably be forced to support them for years.  At the same time, we stint veterans who have served and sacrificed. Many say this makes them feel like second-class citizens. Their families suffer as well. Some people joke that they are going to relinquish their citizenship since they can get more if they are here illegally.  Anyone see a problem here?

The Right Answer

If you come here illegally, no matter your age, you should be told you get nothing.  We’ll boot you out if we feel like it and we won’t provide any services.  I’d prefer we also eliminate birth right citizenship, as law breakers shouldn’t get any benefits.  Establish a guest worker program, but otherwise, don’t make it better for people to break our laws than for them to stay where they are.

Take the vast sums of money wasted on these people and do right by our veterans.  They’ve earned it.  Their blood is why we enjoy the safety, prosperity and health of our nation.