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American Legion Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Foster to DHS: No amnesty for illegals American Legion Commander says the backlog of VA claims should come before the concerns of those who violated the law to enter the United States.

WASHINGTON (Aug. 19, 2011) -- The American Legion adamantly opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants, and National Commander Jimmie L. Foster is deeply concerned about reports suggesting the Department of Homeland Security is considering a leniency policy that would forgive foreign law-breakers on a “case-by-case basis.” “Not only does this constitute an amnesty not authorized by the U.S. Congress, but it represents a horrible misuse of government assets,” Foster said. “Reports suggest ‘prosecutorial discretion’ for certain violators, meaning the law won’t be applied evenly, if at all. That does neither the illegal immigrant nor our nation any good.” The American Legion has repeatedly spoken out against any amnesties for illegal aliens. Across the country, dozens of American Legion posts conduct citizenship and naturalization programs for legal immigrants. But for those who enter the nation illegally, tap into public services funded by U.S. taxpayers and provide under-the-table labor, the Legion opposes amnesty, no matter what it is called. “Legalization, regularization, guest-worker program, earned-status adjustment – these are all just euphemisms for amnesty,” Foster said. A recent New York Times article stated that “Cecilia Muńoz, a White House official who helped develop the new policy, said officials would suspend deportation proceedings in low-priority cases that, for example, involve ‘military veterans and the spouses of active-duty military personnel.’” Anyone who joins the U.S. Armed Forces must already be in the United States legally. Section 328 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act specifically allows for naturalization of all foreign-born active-duty personnel, and those who are honorably discharged after service of at least one year. Ceremonies are often conducted to recognize military service as a route to legal U.S. citizenship. One such naturalization ceremony took place last Presidents Day in Baghdad when 53 foreign-born soldiers became U.S. citizens. Foster questioned the fiscal thinking of case-by-case handling of illegal immigration claims. “Where are we getting the resources for all this protection of illegal immigrants?” he asked. “If there is sufficient government funding currently allocated for a case-by-case analysis of those here illegally, it stands to reason some of those funds could be shifted to address the backlog of veterans claims which has been called a top priority of the past two administrations. “At a time when there are 842,687 claims pending before VA, 502,599 of which have been pending over four months, why would we dedicate federal resources to analyze the claims of people who are here illegally? Shouldn’t our men and women who risked their lives in defense of this country have priority over those who openly flouted our immigration laws? “Any such amnesty policy would send a clear message that the interests of law-breakers take precedent over those of our servicemembers,” said Foster. “Like many Americans, our veterans need jobs, health care, and other benefits they earned and deserve by serving our nation in uniform, often during times of war. I am astonished,” Foster said, “that the individual interests of illegal immigrants would ever move ahead of veterans, military personnel and their families when it comes to case-by-case analysis.” -30- Contact: Mark Seavey, 202-368-9155 or Marty Callaghan, 202-215-8644.





FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The American Legion greatly concerned about VA treatment of PTS with “useless” drug - calls for congressional hearings

WASHINGTON (Aug. 8, 2011) – The head of the nation’s largest veterans service organization says he is “greatly concerned” about the widespread use of an apparently ineffective medication by VA (Department of Veterans Affairs) doctors treating patients with post traumatic stress (PTS). “It is alarming,” said Jimmie L. Foster, national commander of The American Legion, “that fully 20 percent of the nearly 87,000 veterans VA physicians treated for PTS last year were given a medication that has proven to be pretty much useless.” According to a study conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs itself and published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Risperdal, an antipsychotic medication commonly prescribed to veterans with post traumatic stress when antidepressants have failed to help, does not alleviate the symptoms of PTS. “Not only that,” said Foster, “but Risperdal is not even approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of PTS.” Only two medications, Zoloft and Paxil, both antidepressants, are government-approved to treat PTS and neither drug, say researchers, is very effective at treating patients with a chronic form of the disorder. “I am greatly concerned that veterans suffering the ‘invisible wounds of war’ are receiving equally invisible care,” said Foster. The American Legion has been concerned about the misapplication of PTS medications for some time. Last year, the Legion appointed an ad hoc committee to investigate the efficacy of existing treatments for PTS and TBI (traumatic brain injury) and explore alternatives to improve the science. The committee comprises officers of the Legion as well as lay, professional and government consultants. It convened its third meeting during the week of August 1. The JAMA article appeared on August 3. Among the speakers at the Legion’s latest ad hoc committee meeting was Charles Hoge, M.D., who is considered to be one of the country’s leading experts on PTS and TBI. From 2002 through 2009, Dr. Hoge, a retired U.S. Army colonel, directed Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s research on the psychological and neurological consequences of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In light of the JAMA article, Dr. Hoge said he wondered if patients will continue to trust military and veteran medicine’s handling of PTS cases. He asked, “Is there a resistance and reluctance among servicemembers and veterans to receive and continue their mental health care?” Another committee consultant and longtime associate of the Legion is Dr. Jeanne Mager Stellman, Special Lecturer and Professor Emerita of Clinical Health Policy and Management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She said, “This is the second major study showing that the drug therapies given to tens of thousands of our nation’s veterans for PTS are ineffective and are associated with a range of side effects (such as weight gain). It is time to clean this mess up (and) devote attention to the problem – not wait years for studies to be done, results to be published and still not have changes made.” Commander Foster said he is urging Congress to conduct hearings on the ongoing difficulties being experienced by both the Department of Defense (DoD) and VA in the treatment of PTS as well as TBI. He is also prompting both the DoD and VA to speed up their research on the screening of PTS and TBI cases and the treatment of them. “Accelerated research, however, must be balanced with great care and absolute accuracy,” Foster concluded. -30- Media contacts: Marty Callaghan, 202-263-5758/202-215-8644;or Craig Roberts 202-263-2982; Cell 202-406-0887.

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