Photos: Facebook
The U.S. Government is accused of keeping earned benefits from thousands of War Veterans that have been deported for minor crimes.
By H. Nelson Goodson
October 27, 2012
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Veterans that have been deported to Mexico are planning to file for benefits that were unjustly taken away when they were removed from the country. Most War Veterans (non-citizens) lost all their benefits allowed under federal law after they were deported to their native countries and left with no means of support or medical benefits for medical issues sustained while in the military service, despite serving multiple combat duty tours. For these deported Veterans, they would have to apply for Veteran benefits from abroad.
The U.S. Government, including the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) would have to set appointments for Veterans to present their need, but deported Veterans are banned from ever returning to the U.S. They would face long federal prison sentences, if they illegally reenter the U.S. to claim benefits. An integral issue of securing an appointment to certified such benefit requests by deported Veterans that the VA would have to overcome or go through a U.S. Consulate in Mexico.
A group of U.S. deported War Veterans now living in El Rasarito Beach, a suburb of Tijuana, Baja California will soon apply for certain Veteran benefits they rightfully earned.
Deported Army Veteran Hector Barajas, 35, posted in his Facebook account that he and other deported Veterans who recently opened a U.S. Deported Veteran Support House (Safehouse) in El Rasarito will turn in their requests for Veteran benefits with the VA. The outcome and response by the VA to Barajas and other deported Veterans would certainly set precedent, since thousands of War Veterans have been previously been deported.
In 2011, ICE figures showed that at least 3,000 War Veterans were facing deportation proceedings for minor to serious crimes.
The El Rosarito safehouse is the first of its kind in Mexico and is operating with a limited budget. Most food donations for the safehouse are provided by family members and limited monetary funds are sent through a PayPal account (banishedveteran@yahoo.com). The safehouse offers support and other necessary help for deported Veterans facing removal trauma once they are removed from the U.S.A. by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Those Veterans seeking support at the safehouse will be able to get spiritual advice, shelter, food, assistance in getting a local Mexican ID. They will also have access to a phone and Internet, according to Barajas. But the safehouse was recently left in the dark when a Mexican utility company shut off their electricity (including water and Internet) due to an outstanding bill. Barajas posted on Facebook that someone had offered to pay the light bill, but couldn't confirm, if it was actually paid.
Veteran health care, patient care, disabilities, federal benefits and etc. were awarded to Veterans by the U.S. Congress and are not automatically taken away when they are deported.
For example, one of those benefits is U.S. recognition upon death, a deported Veteran can return as an American and is buried with full military honors. The U.S. Government provides the bannished Veteran a plot and a marker.
Hector Barajas can be contacted at banishedveteran@yahoo.com or at U.S. area code 626-569-5491 for more information about the safehouse.
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