Trump: Illegal Immigrants Get Better Care Than Veterans

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told a group of bikers that undocumented immigrants are cared for better in the U.S. than military veterans, but did not offer proof for the claim.

“In many cases, illegal immigrants are taken much better care of by this country than our veterans,” Trump told thousands of bikers gathered to honor prisoners of war and MIA service members at the annual Rolling Thunder rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on May 29, according to Yahoo. “We’re not going to allow that to happen any longer.”

“We’re gonna rebuild our military,” he continued. “And we’re gonna take care of our veterans. Our veterans have been treated so badly in this country.”

Trump’s claim that undocumented immigrants are “cared for better” than veterans was not backed by evidence.

It’s also unlikely, given the fact that the Veterans Affairs healthcare bill costs $65 billion per year, according to the VA, while undocumented immigrant healthcare is estimated to cost about $4.3 billion per year, according to a 2010 Memorandum by the Center for Immigration Studies, a self-proclaimed “independent, non-partisan” research organization.

Nonetheless, the VA has been plagued with complaints about long wait times, a serious problem Trump addressed directly in his speech in the District of Columbia.

“Thousands of people are dying … our vets, our most cherished people,” Trump told told the crowd, according to the New York Post. “Thousands of people are dying waiting in line to see a doctor. That is not going to happen anymore.”

Despite making veterans’ issues a pivotal part of his campaign, Trump has been criticized as insensitive to veterans by both political parties for his previous statements about Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who spent five years in a Vietnamese prison camp during the Vietnam War.

After Trump suggested McCain is only considered to be a war hero because he was captured, many called on him for an apology.

But Trump’s comments didn’t bother Rolling Thunder National spokesperson Nancy Regg, who told the New York Post that Trump’s comments were “great” and that there was no need to apologize to McCain.

“We feel the same way about McCain,” she said. “We will respect him as a POW. We will respect him as someone who fought in Vietnam. But when he got into office, he didn’t help the veterans.”

Sources: New York Post, Yahoo, Veterans Affairs, Center for Immigration Studies / Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr