Duckworth Demands Sec. Collins Protect Veterans & Veteran Care by Blocking ICE From Stealing VA Resources as It Invades American Cities

Duckworth Demands Sec. Collins Protect Veterans & Veteran Care by Blocking ICE From Stealing VA Resources as It Invades American Cities

Senator's demand follows reports of ICE occupying Hines VA property to support its invasion of Chicago

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) is demanding that U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins block his agency's plans to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to use part of Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital in Chicago's property as the agency carries out Trump's extreme immigration plans, which would jeopardize our Veterans' access to the timely, high-quality care they earned through their service. In her letter to Secretary Collins, Duckworth detailed how redirecting VA resources away from the Department's sacred mission of providing our heroes with the best care possible and toward the Trump Administration's politically motivated invasion of the Chicagoland area would be disastrous for the thousands of Veterans who rely on Hines for their health care.

"As a Hines patient myself, I have experienced the consequences of the limitations of the Hines VA Hospital parking lot, which has long lacked capacity to handle the daily volume of patients, family members and caregivers," wrote Duckworth. "Hines should never give away valuable parking spaces to a non-VA agency. Yet, it adds injury to insult when VA surrenders resources in support of reckless, paramilitary activities that do nothing to enhance Veteran care-and even worse, are actively harming Veterans and U.S. servicemembers by rounding up these patriotic Americans, along with their family members, and deporting them with little or no due process out of the country they were willing to risk their lives to defend."

Duckworth also warned that any obstruction to services at Hines could later be used by the Trump Administration to justify privatizing the VA, which would be devastating for our nation's heroes.

"VA funds and resources should always be devoted to strengthening VA missions," continued Duckworth. "If you fail to stop ICE's theft of VA resources, and you fail to protect Veterans who honorably served our Nation in uniform and have earned the right to live in the country they were willing to give their lives to defend, you will validate the Veteran community's worst suspicions about the Trump Administration. You will give weight to fears that you and President Trump are engaging in a seditious scheme to sabotage VHA's ability to carry out its mission-and willing to sacrifice Veteran care-to manufacture a crisis that justifies privatizing VA."

At every turn, Duckworth has forcefully pushed back against Donald Trump's abuse of our nation's servicemembers and his attempts to blur the lines between law enforcement and the military-from Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and most recently Chicago. Last week, Duckworth joined her colleagues in filing an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the lawsuit brought against Trump after he deployed thousands of members of the California National Guard and U.S. Marine Corps to Los Angeles without legal justification or approval from state or local officials. She also joined U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) in sending a letter to Attorney General Bondi, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Noem, Department of Defense Secretary Hegseth and FBI Director Patel requesting immediate information regarding President Trump's imminent actions to send the military and increase federal law enforcement presence in Chicago.

Recently, Duckworth-along with Durbin and U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10)-visited Naval Station Great Lakes after requesting a meeting to discuss President Trump's plans to support U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers and his threats to deploy the military to Chicago. The lawmakers were locked out of the office space that DHS has been using after requesting entry.

Duckworth has been a fierce leader and advocate for our Veterans who have been mistreated by the Trump Administration. In April, Duckworth introduced a resolution to condemn the Trump Administration's disastrous layoffs across the federal workforce and demand the immediate reinstatement of all Veteran federal employees illegally and indiscriminately fired since Trump took office-a resolution Republicans blocked.

This resolution came after Duckworth and U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) introduced their Protect Veteran Jobs Act, legislation that would reinstate the thousands of Veterans who were fired in the Trump-Musk layoffs. Duckworth and Kim subsequently introduced their legislation as an amendment, but Republicans shamefully blocked it from passing.

The full text of the letter is available on Senator Duckworth's website and below:

Dear Secretary Collins:

I write to strongly oppose your diversion of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) resources away from the sacred mission of delivering the best possible service to Veterans that receive care through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA)-our Nation's largest integrated healthcare system. I demand that you reverse your disruptive decision to force Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital to surrender parking spots to serve as a "staging area" for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

As a Hines patient myself, I have experienced the consequences of the limitations of the Hines VA Hospital parking lot, which has long lacked capacity to handle the daily volume of patients family members and caregivers. The lack of parking has forced Veterans to miss appointments and made visiting Hines a highly stressful and unpleasant event for Veterans-an adverse customer service outcome that I have experienced myself when frantically searching for a parking spot that takes far too long to emerge on the Hines campus.

Hines should never give away valuable parking spaces to a non-VA agency. Yet, it adds injury to insult when VA surrenders resources in support of reckless, paramilitary activities that do nothing to enhance Veteran care-and even worse, are actively harming Veterans and U.S. servicemembers by rounding up these patriotic Americans, along with their family members, and deporting them with little or no due process out of the country they were willing to risk their lives to defend.

It is preposterous that VA would believe allowing ICE to operate on the Hines campus will not adversely impact delivery of care for Hines' patients.

From depriving Veterans of being accompanied by family members and caregivers who reasonably fear going anywhere near ICE-given the images of an out-of-control paramilitary force that refuses to identify itself with uniforms and covers its face as it snatches Americans off the streets into unmarked vans on the basis of the perceived nationality, race and the spoken language-to the Trump administration's dishonorable distinction of deporting Veterans at an unprecedented rate; allowing ICE to stage its civil immigration enforcement operations on Hines property is a betrayal of your duty to put the best interests of Veteran patients first.

VA funds and resources should always be devoted to strengthening VA missions. That is especially true today, when Veteran demand for care is surging but VHA is still reeling from your mass terminations, chaotic re-hirings and overall traumatization of this dedicated civil service. You are weakening VA's ability to focus all attention and resources on its core mission: providing Veterans with the best care and patient experience possible.

It is not too late for you to abandon your pathetic capitulation to ICE.

However, if you fail to stop ICE's theft of VA resources, and you fail to protect Veterans who honorably served our Nation in uniform and have earned the right to live in the country they were willing to give their lives to defend, you will validate the Veteran community's worst suspicions about the Trump administration. You will give weight to fears that you and President Trump are engaging in a seditious scheme to sabotage VHA's ability to carry out its mission-and willing to sacrifice Veteran care-to manufacture a crisis that justifies privatizing VA.

In closing, I do not require a response to my letter. What I want is swift, decisive action to remove ICE from VA property and facilities; protect Veterans and their family members from deportation; and institute strong guardrails to prevent ICE, or any Federal agency, from bullying VA into surrendering resources and funds to non-Veteran missions.

Sincerely,

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