Daines, Ernst call on Biden administration to not rely on VA to address border crisis

U.S. Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) joined nine of their Republican colleagues in urging the Biden administration to not use Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees to address the anticipated influx in illegal immigration at the southern border after the Title 42 public health order is ended.  

“We write to express disapproval of any contingency plan which uses personnel from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to deal with the inevitable escalation of the border crisis once your Administration rescinds its Title 42 Order,” the senators wrote in an April 21 letter to President Joe Biden.

The Biden Administration announced it will lift Title 42 border restrictions on May 23 that had permitted the United States to deny entry to more than one million migrants on public health grounds during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A widespread concern that the senators reiterate in their letter is that once Title 42 ends, a surge of illegal immigration will occur. The lawmakers note the United States is already experiencing a record-breaking number of border encounters, with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reporting a record more than 1.6 million border encounters in Fiscal Year 2021.

Sens. Daine, Ernst, and their colleagues said the Biden administration’s contingency plans to deal with the border crisis after Title 42 is rescinded should not rely on VA health care professionals. The VA is already experiencing staffing shortages and high workforce turnover rates, they said. 

“The VA plays an essential role in responding to a crisis when called; however, it must not be part of the response plan to a foreseeable problem when the circumstance is avoidable,” the senators wrote. “The burden of addressing this Administration’s failure to contain the crisis at the southern border should not come at the expense of veterans.”

In addition to Sens. Daines and Ernst, the letter was signed by U.S. Sens. Tom Tillis (R-NC), Richard Burr (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), among others.