According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there were 57,849 homeless U.S. Veterans sleeping on the street on a single night in January 2013. They are forced to fend for themselves, sleeping in doorways, stairwells, under bridges, in parking garages, and on top of heating grates, to name a few places. They sleep in cardboard boxes, sleeping bags, and makeshift tents. Some have nothing to cover themselves with but newspaper. This statistic does not apply just to one night in January 2013. It happens EVERY night in America.

Recently in a meeting at the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama met with 20 mayors who are involved in the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness. She told a reporter from the A.P., "When a veteran comes home kissing the ground, it is unacceptable that he should ever have to sleep on it.” But she forgot one thing: there are many homeless female Veterans, too.

As our southern border is flooded with hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, our most generous government has decided to put them up at U.S. military bases, giving them shelter, food, clothing, and medical care. Fort Sill in Oklahoma, Lackland AFB in San Antonio, and Hanscom AFB in Massachusetts are some of the military bases AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS are being used for to house the stream of illegal immigrants.

As the enormous illegal immigrant population strolling over our unsecured southern border is being housed on U.S. bases around the country, OUR OWN VETERANS are sleeping on the streets. This is nothing short of a NATIONAL DISGRACE. Veterans that fought for THIS country have EARNED the right and DESERVE to be housed on our little used or abandoned military bases. Illegal immigrants have done NOTHING to deserve these accommodations. Our VETERANS have!

This petition is addressed to many Senators and House Representatives who serve on their respective Armed Services Committees, as well as their Veteran Affairs Committee. WE, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, who have signed this petition, demand that our tax dollars be used to help eliminate Veteran homelessness - OUR nation's 'humanitarian crisis' - by transforming any and all available space on our nation’s military bases to suit their immediate needs.