McSally tours veterans' home with Ducey, comments on ICE oversight role

PHOENIX — U.S. Sen. Martha McSally said Monday that immigration officials need to examine situations before veterans who are in this country illegally are deported.

“We want to give honor where it is due to all of our veterans,” said McSally, a Tucson Republican, after touring the state Veteran Home. “Each case needs to be taken a look at based on what the circumstances are with that case.”

That is supposed to be what happens now. But a report earlier this year by the federal General Accounting Office concluded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has no idea how many veterans it deported during the past five years.

Potentially more significant, the report said ICE does not follow its own policies, which are supposed to help decide when a veteran should be allowed to stay. It also said ICE does not have a policy to identify and document all military veterans it encounters. And when agents learn they are dealing with a vet, the agency does not maintain complete electronic data.

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The report said ICE targeted at least 250 veterans who are immigrants, deporting at least 84 of them between 2013 and 2016. But it said the numbers could be higher because the agency does not consistently ask those they encounter about their military service.

“Therefore ICE does not have reasonable assurance that it is consistently implementing its policies for handling veterans’ cases,” the report said.

McSally, questioned about that report Monday, did not dispute the findings.

“In our oversight role, we need to make sure it does happen,” she said.