Mexican migration officials reportedly closed a border camp for Central American migrants on Sunday – sending most of the 800 residents to the U.S., despite COVID-19 infection status – as a result of President Biden’s Remaining of former President Donald Trump’s policy Mexico “has ended. .
Many of the asylum seekers reached near Brownsville, Texas, where local officials said Monday that there are a growing number of infected migrants and that nothing is being done to enforce quarantines.
The newly released migrants were not all counted among the latest COVID-19 positive results, but may be contributing to the growing figure.
As of Saturday, 185 of 1,553 migrants tested at the central bus station in Brownsville since Jan. 26 tested positive for the virus, city spokeswoman Felipe Romero told Fox News.
The camp in Matamoros, Mexico, has closed following the end of Trump’s Stay in Mexico “policy for Central Americans – including about 71,000 Central American asylum seekers awaiting verdict in northern Mexico.
Republicans say Biden has sparked a crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border by sending a message that new migrants will be welcomed into the country – despite the White House saying migrants should wait to arrive later due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday it is not the federal government’s job to test migrants on COVID-19 before they are released. She said it is the responsibility of state and local governments, and that in some cases non-profit enterprises have ‘hotel reserves’ to help house COVID-19 positive people.
“When migrants are placed in alternatives to detention, they must do COVID-19 testing – our policy is that COVID-19 testing is done at state and local level and with the help of NGOs and local governments,” Psaki said. .
“And it’s definitely something that according to our policy is that it has to be settled before they are first moved to stay with family members or others, and they may know that their cases are being judged.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week accused Biden of “importing” COVID-19 by releasing migrants. The governor tweeted: “The Biden administration recklessly releases hundreds of illegal immigrants who have COVID in Texas communities. The Biden admin. must IMMEDIATELY end this calloused act that exposes Texans and Americans to COVID. ”
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Some asylum seekers in the US are allowed work permits as their claims are processed.
Opponents of the policy say northern Mexico could be just as dangerous as the crime-ridden Central American countries fleeing the applicants.
Migrants who were once detained in border camps in Mexico while being treated in the U.S. courts for entry are no longer detained as part of the Biden government to bring the policy back.
“The President of the United States, Biden, is helping the people because they need it, you know,” said Mario, a Honduran migrant who spent eight months in a camp with his family and is still awaiting access to the United States. , to Fox News.
The White House on Monday acknowledged that it was not doing enough to discourage people from seeking illegal access to the United States.
Psaki acknowledged the failures after being pressured about the administration’s handling of the situation.
‘I would say it’s clear that we need to work harder to get the message across and to be very clear. This is not the time to come, ‘she said before reiterating Biden’s statement that’ the majority of people come to the border to be turned away. ”
‘Yes, we have changed the policy of the last government as it concerns unaccompanied children, but the majority of families, adults, the vast majority are turned away at the border. And it’s a message that we need to keep clearly looking for ways and means to get out, you know, more and more to the region, ‘she continued.
Her comments follow the revelation that the Department of Homeland Security under Biden will convert two detention centers for immigrant families in South Texas in Ellis Island-style for rapid processing, and has already emptied a facility in Pennsylvania.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement wrote in a court report last Friday that while families are still being held in Karnes City and Dilley, adults and children will be released within 72 hours.