Bill aims to repatriate deported veterans

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco (1.5 minute read) 

This is something that deserves strong backing – my thanks to Taquista Antonio Garza for bringing this to my attention and to Taquista Jose Borjon for putting his work behind it.

The Rio Grande Valley Monitor reports:

“Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (D-McAllen) recently submitted language for a bill that would help thousands of veterans who have been banished from their homes and stripped of their benefits after being deported.

Read more stories about deported veterans in NewsTaco. >>

“His Chief of Staff Jose Borjon said Wednesday that the bill was being drafted by the House Legislative Council, and that Gonzalez has been looking across the aisle for someone to help him sponsor the new legislation.”

You’d think, you’d hope, that this would have bipartisan support.

It’s a complicated issue

Here’s an example:

“In December 2015, 41-year-old veteran from Pharr and Purple Heart recipient, Spc. Gerardo Armijo, received a deportation order and turned himself in to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“Armijo, a permanent U.S. resident, who was carried across the Rio Grande by his mother when he was just 8-months-old, served two tours in Iraq but after being honorably discharged with a severe back injury he returned to his childhood home where he began dealing with post traumatic stress disorder. His attorney Carlos Garcia, who took the case pro-bono, said Armijo was dealing with worsening PTSD and despite receiving some treatment, would occasionally use illicit drugs to deal with his mental health issues.”

Because of his arrests Armijo may be deported

The federal government estimates that “anywhere from several hundred to as many as 3,000 men and women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces have been deported since 2007.”

You can help by calling your congressperson and urging her/him to support Gonzalez’s bill once it becomes formalized.