U.S. Veteran Ask Senator Bennet To Help Stop Deporting Veterans

Stop deporting U.S. veterans
Bring Deported Veterans Home

Manuel and Valente Valenzuela fought in Viet Nam.  Years later, after applying to renew their driver's licenses, little could they know they would have to fight the very country for which they offered their lives to during the Viet Nam war.

The Valenzeula Brothers ask the White House to issue an executive order to halt the deportation of veterans and to bring deported veterans home.

Both brothers put their lives on the line in active duty.  Valente arrived in 'Nam just after the Tet Offensive.  His brother came later. Valente was recruited by a special services division.  He says he cannot talk about what he was required to do, even to this date.  However, the activities give him nightmares.

Manuel was part of a team that rescued soldiers in trouble.  Both he and Valente got into the thick of fighting in support of an unpopular war.  

When they returned to the U.S. they had human waste tossed on them.  There was no respect for the sacrifice soldiers had been making.  After living in the U.S. nearly all of their lives, they each went to the Driver's License bureau to renew their licenses.  It was post 911, and the country had changed.

Manuel hid his notice of removal for fear it would devastate his brother and closest friend, Valente.  Little did Manuel know, Valente had also hid his notice of removal.  Soon, the secret was out and both Valenzuela brothers were in a fight for their right to stay in the country for which they fought.

The brothers want the President to issue an executive order halting the deportation of veterans and to bring those veterans who have been deported, home.

Breaking - Obama Requests Emergency Stay For DAPA, DACA

pulsoslp.com

The Department of Justice will ask for an emergency stay to halt the injunction issued by a Texas judge against the Obama immigration order called Deferred Action For Parental Accountability, or DAPA, and an expanded form of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, called "expanded DACA".

White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, says the stay will be applied for no later than Monday.  The stay is likely in addition to the appeal of the injunction issued by Texas judge, Andrew Hanen.

Applying for a stay of an injunction, which is a request to halt the temporary halting, of the Obama order, is risky.  If the stay is not granted, then the failure to get a stay of the Texas injunction could set the tone for the appeal to the Hanen decision as well as to opposition to the lawsuit which gave rise to the decision.

Obstacles to getting the stay are the Conservative nature of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as the fact a stay is usually only applicable to maintaining the status quo pending litigation.  The Hanen decision maintains the status quo, and a stay of the injunction would actually allow for substantial changes to the status quo.  Finally, the movement for immigration reform will gain nothing if the 5th Circuit agrees with the Hanen decision that undocumented immigrants, which conservative media incorrectly categorize as "illegal immigrants", don't deserve protection.

The Hanen decision painted the Obama executive order as a states rights versus federal rights issue.  Hanen said the federal government was abdicating it's responsibilities to enforce immigration laws set by Congress and granting immigrants a certain entitlement or right to be in the U.S. for at least a 3 year period.  Hanen found the state of Texas had standing to sue because Texas citizens would be forced to pay for the cost of granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants who took advantage of the law.  Texas citizens would be irreparably harmed because of the cost of granting driver's licenses and because it would be very difficult to recall those licenses once they were granted, or "unscramble the egg".  Further, harm to undocumented people was not a concern in an administrative law decision because they were "illegal", said Hanen.

Other states willingly grant licenses to undocumented people, including Washington State, New Mexico and Colorado.  The state of Colorado is sitting on over $100,000 in excess immigrant license fees which state Republicans refuse to release for the license program.  In short, some states have made significant profits by issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants.

Not applying for the stay is just as risky.  If a stay is not issued, few immigrants will be able to apply for the program even if the Hanen decision is eventually overturned before President Obama leaves office.  If the DAPA and expanded DACA process continues, those who are approved would have at least a three year respite before having to face immigration consequences.  The longer it takes for the process to begin, the less time authorities will have to approve applications.

Neither conservatives nor liberals are talking about what could happen to people who apply for DACA, expanded DACA and DAPA applicants if a conservative candidate wins the White House in the next election cycle.  President Obama immediately cancelled multiple executive orders made by the Bush Administration shortly after Obama took office.  It is not unrealistic to expect the next president to take the same action, though a conservative candidate would encounter significant wrath from pro-immigration groups.  If the immigration orders are rescinded, then immigrants who apply for the order would likely be able to continue to live in the U.S. until their stay of deportation ran out, at which point they would find themselves well identified and in the deportation system unless they could find another basis to make a claim to remain in the U.S.

The best solution for immigrants is comprehensive immigration reform.  Senator Michael Bennet, (D-Colo) called for the House to pass the reform bill the senate sent to it and for the nation to look for long term solutions to the immigration problem in the U.S.

Because no other form of relief is available to the majority of the nation's undocumented immigrants, the majority of Latino advocacy groups support the executive order for DAPA and DACA.

Bennet, Part Of Bi-Partisan Senators Advocating Private Sector Fix To Problems At VA

In letter to President Obama, Senators urge top-level private sector review of VA systems

Washington, DC – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet joined a bipartisan group of nine U.S. Senators to call on the Administration to accept private sector assistance in fixing the broken Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) scheduling system.  In a letter sent today, Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Burr (R-NC), Al Franken (D-MN), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), urged the VA to follow the example of the Army, which in 2010 allowed a consortium of leading technology companies to provide expertise in designing a corrective plan, at no cost to the taxpayers, to fix widespread data management issues uncovered at the Army’s Arlington National Cemetery.

“Because of the immediacy of the many challenges at the VA, we urge you to work with us to implement a similar cost-effective, private sector initiative so we can begin restoring the trust of our veterans and the American public in the ability of the VA to meet the commitments our nation has made to our veterans.  Our military men and women, their families, and our veterans deserve nothing less.”

“Engaging the tech sector and the best minds from leading American IT firms produced a comprehensive business plan to help the Army modernize its workflow procedures and upgrade the data management systems at Arlington.  That effort, conducted at no cost to the taxpayers, represented the very best traditions of corporate citizenship,” the senators wrote.

Full text of the letter is below, and a PDF of the signed letter can be accessed here.

June 5, 2014

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. President:

Like most Americans, we are outraged at the documented misconduct at the U.S. Veterans Health Administration that has caused our military veterans to face long waits when seeking the medical care they have earned.  That some veterans actually have died while waiting for needed care adds urgency to our efforts to act immediately.  While last week’s preliminary Inspector General’s (IG) report indicated this is a systemic problem that dates back many years, it is our responsibility to take swift, decisive action now.

The IG report details widespread information technology challenges that enabled many of the unacceptable and inappropriate use of scheduling gimmicks and outright fabrication of performance metrics at the VA.  We should be able to move quickly to begin restoring confidence in the VA by addressing these technology and data management problems in the current scheduling system.

This is a crisis that requires immediate action, and we recommend enlisting the expertise of the private sector to provide an assessment and recommendations for improvements to the current IT and workflow challenges at VA.  By calling on our best minds across the private sector in a pro bono demonstration of solid corporate citizenship, we could create a blueprint for achievable action the VA should undertake within 60-to-90 days.  Our veterans deserve this quick action on these urgent issues. 

We already have an effective template that sorts through most of the legal and process issues to allow this type of private-sector assistance.  For example, a 2010 Inspector General’s investigation revealed widespread mismanagement at the U.S. Army’s Arlington National Cemetery, including misplaced and mishandled remains of our war-fighters.  The IG report also revealed that Cemetery managers continued to rely upon decades of vulnerable, hand-written paper files in managing burial records.  A consortium of technology companies operating under the auspices of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) jumped in quickly to provide their services and expertise at no cost to the taxpayer.  This task force ultimately worked with the Army to create a legal framework that enabled the Army and Arlington National Cemetery to accept their pro bono help.

Engaging the tech sector and the best minds from leading American IT firms produced a comprehensive business plan to help the Army modernize its workflow procedures and upgrade the data management systems at Arlington.  That effort, conducted at no cost to the taxpayers, represented the very best traditions of corporate citizenship.

We are confident that private sector expertise from across the country could be assembled to provide a similar pro-bono service to help fix the challenges at the VA, and we stand ready to assist the Administration in moving quickly to help empanel this group. 

Not every problem requires a government solution.  Because of the immediacy of the many challenges at the VA, we urge you to work with us to implement this cost-effective, private sector initiative so we can begin restoring the trust of our veterans and the American public in the ability of the VA to meet the commitments our nation has made to our veterans.  Our military men and women, their families, and our veterans deserve nothing less.

End

Senator Bennet has also been instrumental in passing immigration reform which remains stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives.  In the case of immigration reform, it will take not just governmental solutions to fix the problem, but more, governmental solutions at the federal instead of state level.  The State of Arizona provided it's own fix to the problem with disastrous consequences, costing the state billions of dollars in lost business.  There is a place for public-private partnerships in which the private sector aids government, as well as the role of purely governmental solutions.  Each has a place as America grows.