ICE should cease utilizing the parking lot at Hines VA Hospital, demands Senator Tammy Duckworth in correspondence to the Secretary.
In a recent development, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth has written a letter to Secretary Doug Collins of the Veterans Affairs, expressing her opposition to the use of Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital property for immigration enforcement.
Senator Duckworth, a double amputee who lost her legs in combat while serving in the Army in Iraq, argued that allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to stage its civil immigration enforcement operations on Hines property is a betrayal of the duty to put the best interests of Veteran patients first.
The limitations of the hospital's parking lot have long been a concern, forcing veterans to miss appointments and making visiting the hospital a stressful and unpleasant event. The presence of ICE on hospital property, according to protest organizers, further threatens the safety of veterans and impedes on their ability to get the health care they need.
Senator Duckworth described ICE as 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. She criticized the Trump administration for deporting veterans at an unprecedented rate.
The hospital has been ordered to provide parking spaces for ICE agents for a staging area during the Trump administration's 'Operation Midway Blitz' immigration crackdown in the Chicago area. Approximately a dozen parking spaces are being used by ICE at the hospital.
Protest organizers stated that military veterans come from all communities, including immigrant ones. They asserted that the presence of ICE on hospital property adversely impacts the delivery of care for the hospital's patients.
Senator Duckworth demanded swift, decisive action to remove ICE from Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital property. The letter also expressed concerns about the impact on the hospital's already strained parking facilities. As of now, the current head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs has not been explicitly mentioned in the search results regarding this matter.
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