[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 187 (Wednesday, November 15, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H9268-H9269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           DEPORTED VETERANS

  (Mr. VARGAS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of veterans of the 
United States Armed Forces who have been unceremoniously deported.
  In the 1990s, the immigration law changes eliminated judicial 
discretion and reclassified many low-level, nonviolent offenses as 
aggravated felonies mandating deportation. As a result, the United 
States has banished an unknown number of veterans. In many cases, these 
were minor offenses committed by veterans who succumbed to the 
difficulties of readjusting to civilian life.
  Many are combat veterans who sustained physical wounds and emotional 
trauma in conflicts going back to the war in Vietnam. This banishment 
effectively denies these men access to often critically needed medical 
care.
  Regardless of immigration status, all U.S. military veterans are 
entitled to treatment at the Department of Veterans Affairs medical 
facilities, yet very few of these deported veterans are granted the 
necessary waivers to access the care either in the States or abroad.
  In fact, most of these veterans, the only way they are going to 
return is in a box, dead, because they do have the right to be buried 
in a veterans' cemetery. Let's do the right thing and bring these 
veterans home so they can get the care they need.

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