Duckworth, Blumenthal Demand Investigation into Trump’s Misuse of VA Resources to Help Execute His Extreme Deportation Campaign
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Combat Veteran and U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC) member Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with SVAC Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), today demanded an independent investigation into the Trump Administration’s decision to divert personnel, equipment and financial resources away from serving our nation’s Veterans and toward developing a database to track non-U.S. citizen employees as part of Donald Trump’s inhumane mass deportation campaign. After Donald Trump fired 30,000 VA employees and jeopardized timely VA care for our Veterans earlier this year, Duckworth’s letter underscores that aiding immigration enforcement does not support or advance the VA’s sacred mission of caring for our Veterans and their families and only further demoralizes the dedicated VA workforce.
“Beyond cutting 30,000 Federal employees from the workforce this year, VA leadership is hindering Veterans’ prompt access to exemplary healthcare, and their swift delivery of benefits, by pursuing policy functions and using valuable resources irrelevant to its statutory responsibilities,” wrote Duckworth. “These actions are indicative of potential fraud, waste and misuse of Congressionally appropriated funds at VA. Furthermore, they also suggest possible gross mismanagement that undermines VA’s mission.”
Demanding an independent investigation into this latest attempt by the Trump Administration to undermine the mission of the VA, Duckworth wrote: “…we request VA OIG conduct an independent investigation to include findings, if warranted, on the database’s adverse impact on delivering and managing healthcare and benefits and whether such activities are consistent with congressional intent for VA’s congressionally appropriated resources.”
Duckworth has been a fierce leader and advocate for improving our Veterans’ and servicemembers’ access to care amid Trump’s ongoing attacks on the VA. In October, she defended disabled Veterans as Senate Republicans shamefully promoted Trump’s dangerous efforts to cut even more of their benefits. In September, she reintroduced legislation that would improve Veterans’ access to contraception and increase efficiency and cost-effectiveness for contraceptive products at the VA. A few weeks prior, Duckworth sent a letter to VA Secretary Collins demanding he block ICE from stealing VA resources at Hines VA Hospital in Chicago.
Duckworth also joined U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in reintroducing legislation to help make it easier for our Veterans who struggle with infertility to build their families. After the first VA purge laid off workers with the Veterans Crisis Line—including several Veterans—Duckworth successfully pushed the Trump Administration to reinstate these devoted public servants that work to support our Veterans in their darkest moments. In the aftermath, she introduced the Protect Veteran Jobs Act with U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) to reinstate the thousands of Veterans who were fired in Trump’s mass layoffs—an effort Republicans shamefully blocked in March.
Full text of the letter is available below and on the Senator’s website:
Dear Inspector General Mason:
We write to request that you initiate an independent investigation into the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA’s) diversion of personnel, equipment and financial resources to develop a database on non-U.S. citizen employees. This non-mission critical activity, regardless of VA’s stated pretext for initiating it, appears to represent VA wasting time, attention and congressionally appropriated funds on activities that support already well-funded Federal agencies’ civil immigration enforcement operations, while doing nothing to improve patient care or benefits administration.
VA’s sacred mission is to care for those who have served our country and their families, caregivers and survivors. Beyond cutting 30,000 Federal employees from the workforce this year, VA leadership is hindering Veterans’ prompt access to exemplary healthcare, and their swift delivery of benefits, by pursuing policy functions and using valuable resources irrelevant to its statutory responsibilities. These actions are indicative of potential fraud, waste and misuse of Congressionally appropriated funds at VA. Furthermore, they also suggest possible gross mismanagement that undermines VA’s mission. Recent reporting and commentary from VA officials validate and escalate our concerns that these immigration enforcement efforts risk the timely delivery of care and benefits to Veterans.
To better understand these recent actions at VA, we request VA OIG conduct an independent investigation to include findings, if warranted, on the database’s adverse impact on delivering and managing healthcare and benefits and whether such activities are consistent with congressional intent for VA’s congressionally appropriated resources. We also request that your investigation recommends corrective actions, as necessary, including policy reforms, disciplinary matters and referrals to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.
We respectfully request that your office prioritize this investigation and provide our offices with routine updates, including preliminary findings or recommendations. Thank you for attention to this urgent matter.
Sincerely,
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