Joni Ernst blasts Biden administration for ‘failing’ border policies following Army-Navy hotel cancellations

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) blasted the Biden administration for its “failing” border policies and “directly harming military families” after veterans traveling for the Army-Navy football game found their hotel reservations canceled due to an influx of immigrants.

One travel agent said at least 70 of his reservations were canceled in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where the football game is being held. The cancellations are legal under Massachusetts’s right-to-shelter law, which has allowed hundreds of families to be put up in hotels — most of them immigrants.

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The U.S. Military Academy will take on the U.S. Naval Academy on Dec. 9 at Gillette Stadium. The game usually draws fans, many of them servicemen, servicewomen, and veterans, from across the country. However, due to the cancellations and the state’s right-to-shelter law, many who wish to attend the game are facing extreme difficulty finding a place to stay or have to skip the game altogether.

Ernst, an Army veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is blaming President Joe Biden and the crisis at the southern border for these cancellations during a time when tens of thousands of Army and Navy veterans are expected to arrive in the greater Boston area.

“It’s clear: these cancellations are due to your administration’s decision to ship illegal immigrants across the country to sanctuary cities at taxpayers’ expense,” Ernst wrote in a letter sent to Biden on Monday.

“It is flatly unacceptable for our veterans and military families to be displaced because of your administration’s failure to secure our southern border,” she continued. “Military families who have scrimped and saved to be able to afford a trip to the Army-Navy game should not have to compete with illegal immigrants for hotel room space.”

The Iowa Republican pointed to a letter sent in August from Gov. Maura Healey (D-MA) to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas declaring a state of emergency over the immigrant surge. The governor said the demand for housing in Massachusetts had increased from 25 families in March 2022 to over 100 per day as of July 2023.

“The Army-Navy Game is not a trivial thing,” Ernst said. “It fosters esprit de corps between American military families, potential future servicemembers, and the Armed Forces.”

Ernst, who served in the Army for over 23 years, said the game also serves as a recruiting event for military families to get their children interested in a career in the armed services. She said that due to the millions of immigrants entering the United States illegally, “veterans and future servicemembers and their families will be unable to attend” the game.

The senator added that these problems occurring in several other cities will “continue to persist until you finally take your obligation to secure our border seriously.”

Healey activated up to 250 members of the Massachusetts National Guard on Aug. 31 to assist at shelters and hotels as the state struggles with a flood of immigrants. The Massachusetts governor said she was concerned about the hotel cancellations when it was first reported.

Ernst’s letter knocking Biden for depriving military families of the chance to recruit comes during a time when the military is faced with the “worst recruiting crisis in decades,” according to the senator. Of the five military branches, only the Marine Corps and the Space Force met their active-duty enlisted recruiting goals for fiscal 2023, according to Military.com.

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“President Biden has made his priorities clear by allowing cities to be overrun by illegal immigrants to such an extent that it is keeping military families and veterans from attending the Army-Navy game,” Ernst said in an exclusive statement to the Washington Examiner. “America’s Game is one I look forward to every year to cheer on the Army and enjoy the full spirit of our armed forces. At a time when military recruiting is at a crisis level, Biden is missing a key opportunity to attract future servicemembers. He must secure the border now.”

The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House for comment.