This is insane if they actually do this.
On Wednesday (April 13), 54 House Republicans called out the Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) plans to shift Veteran affairs personnel to the Southern border in anticipation of a potential influx of migrants once Title 42 ends.
The group of Republican House representatives — led by Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) and including GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Reps. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz) — noted a CBP report predicting a possible surge following Title 42 ending on May 23.
“On March 29, 2022, a CBP report indicated a surge of border crossings was imminent due to the rescinding of this authority. The report presents a dire situation that may result in as many as 18,000 possible encounters per day. If this number proves accurate, this could result in over 540,000 encounters in a single month.”
House Republicans then drew attention to the CBP’s lack of “facilities or manpower” needed to manage the anticipated border crisis.
Addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the letter argued that considering shifting VA medical personnel to the border is “deeply troubling.”
In the letter, the lawmakers noted that “Moving VA medical staff away from our veteran’s healthcare needs to examine illegal immigrants is a recipe for disaster.”
According to a Fox News report, a source from CBP confirmed that discussions about using VA medical personnel to give migrants covid-19 vaccines and medical were ongoing and that using this personnel had not been ruled out yet.
Despite this, a spokesperson for the CBP said there was no evidence such conversations had taken place.
Yet, a press release sent by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 30 mentioned that DHS was “Ready to surge personnel and resources to the Southwest border,” adding in the press release that “DHS has moved officers, agents, and DHS Volunteer Force personnel to rapidly decompress points along the border and more efficiently process migrants.”
