Given the problems that American citizens who have risked their lives to protect their nation face on a daily basis, leftist politicians and mainstream media outlets might want to rethink their priorities.

These people continue to blame President Donald Trump and his administration for the separations of illegal immigrant children from their parents when detained. Despite these claims, the process dates back to a 2016 9th Circuit Court ruling, during the Barack Obama administration. The decision states that children cannot be held in custody alongside their parents.

And while the Left and the press continue trying to blame Trump for the plight of illegal immigrants who are flouting laws to try to enter this country, they ignore the very real suffering of our nation’s veterans.

“Where’s the outcry, the tears, the press conferences about their plight?” Laura Ingraham, host of Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” said on Monday night.

There were about 40,000 homeless veterans on any given night, according to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2016; they comprise 11 percent of the country’s homeless population, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Plus, of those 40,000, about 25,000 are able to stay in a homeless shelter — but about 15,000 of them have no shelter at all on a nightly basis, according to the Military Times.

Consider some of the reasons former military personnel wind up homeless — especially after they’ve undergone traumatic experiences. One out of every 10 veterans who served in this country’s war on terror suffers from substance abuse once back home, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs.

It’s certainly worth noting that these are not just native-born Americans, but also people who have immigrated to this country lawfully. Five percent of America’s active-duty personnel in 2008 were born in other countries, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Regardless of creed, color, religion or ethnicity, they are legal citizens of this country whose problems are being ignored.

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Over the past few days, politicians on the Left, including Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have visited some of the country’s detention centers on the U.S. southern border with Mexico, where undocumented people are kept while seeking asylum.

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“It’s pretty clear what the Left wants here,” Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro told Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle” Monday night. “For all of the talk of the delays in terms of how long kids should be in custody, unless Trump released everyone, the Left would be unhappy.”

These are the same Democrats who blocked a bill in the House that would have expanded the Veterans Choice Program. Ultimately, President Trump had to extend the act via an executive order in March.

In other words, when these Democrats had an opportunity to help American troops this year, they did not take it. Yet they’re focusing all of their energy now on people who do not live in the U.S. and have broken this country’s laws.

Certainly, there is some irony to the Left’s positions. Democrats are concerned with people who are potential threats to America’s national security; yet, at the same time, they’re not helping those who protect the country’s national security.

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Shapiro noted that in Los Angeles specifically, the Left’s favoring of illegal immigrants over its homeless population — both veteran and nonveteran — is an obvious political move.

“The cost to the state is certainly enormous,” he said. “We’re talking billions of dollars. It’s affected criminality in the city. It’s affected the budget of the city and pretty much every aspect of the city, including how it’s run. So, while Eric Garcetti is the mayor of the city and now wants to run for president on the Democratic ticket, he ignores the 55,000 homeless people in the city who could fill Dodger Stadium alone — and he wants to run for president,” added Shapiro. “Meanwhile, he’ll virtue-signal about illegal immigration because it’s a political win for him.”

As Shapiro noted, there is a cost to harboring undocumented people. Los Angeles alone issued $1.3 billion in welfare payments to illegal immigrant families from 2015 to 2016, according to Fox News.

It’s clear where the priorities are of the Left and of the media, when there are major homeless problems in urban areas primarily controlled by Democratic politicians, and their attention is still on the U.S.-Mexico border — which they’d prefer is not secured.

If they really want to help make the country a better place, they could start by helping out those whose service to this country made and still makes their existence as free American citizens possible.

Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, and other outlets.

(photo credit, homepage image: Homeless Veteran in NY, CC BY 2.0, by JMSuarez; article image: Homeless Veteran, CC BY 2.0, by Vera Yu and David Li)