By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
March 16, 2015
Washington, D.C. - The Veterans Administration (VA) today has failed thousands of U.S. deported Veterans since 1996, when former President Bill Clinton signed a bill making it easier to deport men and women who formerly served honorably in the military for minor felony crimes. Most deported U.S. Veterans under Congressional law qualified or were getting earned medical benefits, but those benefits stopped once they were deported.
Today under the Obama administration, the VA continues to illegally hold those benefits from all deported Veterans, which many suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and others who are in need of earned VA medical benefits. The VA has confirmed, that deported Veterans must apply in person in the U.S. to claim benefits, but deported Veterans can't cross into the U.S. once they are deported, if they do, they face federal prison for illegally re-entering the country.
A group of U.S. deported Veterans based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico has been vocal that the Obama administration and the VA have failed them, which some Veterans in Mexico have died in poverty and with no medical benefits. The Deported Veterans Support House (DVSH) in Tijuana headed by Héctor Barajas, a deported Veteran himself has exposed the VA for illegally holding and not granting benefits to deported Veterans. Clinton might have signed a bill to deport Veterans, but the bill does not take away those VA earned benefits from deported Veterans.
The U.S. Congress has even failed to create an investigative committee to look into the Obama's administration and the VA's failure to provide benefits to deported Veterans. The VA must be held accountable for its failure to provide the earned benefits to all those deported Veterans that were honorably discharged. They might committed a minor crime to be deported under the Clinton bill, but their conviction did not removed their service record as serving honorably in the military.
Only upon death, a deported Veteran can return to the U.S. to be buried with full military honors at a government burial plot.
Shame on the Obama administration, the VA and the U.S. Congress for the illegal sanctions against deported Veterans, lack of accountability and failure to provide the earned benefits bestowed to all Veterans who served honorably by Congress.
In memory of two members of the Deported Veterans Support House who died without VA medical benefits and in poverty in Mexico. On March 10, Gonzalo Chaidez, 64, a deported U.S. Army Veteran passed away in Tijuana. Chaidez suffered from Tuberculosis and as a deported U.S. Veteran, he was not allowed to use his earned benefits or seek treatment at any VA Hospital because he was deported.
In April 21, 2014, Hector Barrios, 70, a deported U.S. Army Sergeant Veteran died in Tijuana from a heart stroke and was a house resident at the DVSH too. Barrios attempted to collect earned VA benefits for years, but was unsuccessful and died in poverty because he couldn't return to the U.S. to apply for medical care.
Video: U.S. Veterans Honorably Discharged Dishonorably Deported Without VA Benefits: https://youtu.be/xGK48Ky6hHw
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