From PolitiFact Texas:
Abbott exaggerates COVID-19’s concerns about migrants entering the US
One day after Governor Greg Abbott announced that he would lift the mandate for the entire mask and open all businesses to 100%, the governor turned his attention to the coronavirus that is spreading along the Texas-Mexico border.
“The Biden administration is recklessly releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants who have COVID in Texas communities,” the governor said in a March 3 tweet. ‘The Biden admin. must IMMEDIATELY end this calloused act that exposes Texans and Americans to COVID. ”
According to an NBC News article from March 2, 108 asylum seekers in Brownsville tested positive for COVID-19 by testing quickly while waiting for buses to other U.S. cities. The city of Brownsville is conducting these tests on migrants after they were released by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. On March 2, the 108 positive cases represent about 6% of all tests administered to the city since the city began testing on January 25th. Although the city can refer infected migrants to non-governmental organizations for quarantine, it has the authority to prevent people from traveling through the country.
The NBC News article was picked up the next day by Fox News and the New York Post and cited Abbott’s tweet on March 3 about COVID-positive migrants endangering Texas communities.
Abbott continued this attack in the days that followed, first during a TV interview with KPRC-TV in Houston, then in an interview with CNBC, and again in another tweet in which he said the state denies the federal government’s request for assistance with the investigation, testing and quarantine of migrants.
“The unscrupulous act of the Biden administration to release COVID-positive illegal immigrants into our state is endangering the lives of Texans and Americans,” he tweeted. “Border security is strictly federal responsibility.”
At a Tuesday news conference at the border, Abbott urged the Biden government to increase U.S. immigration and customs enforcement funding, which is responsible for testing and detaining anyone who crosses the border.
A negative coronavirus test is required by the federal government before they have access to the US. While U.S. customs and border protection investigations are being conducted, “COVID-19 cases are suspected to be referred to local health systems for appropriate testing, diagnosis and treatment,” the agency said in a statement.
Felipe Romero, a spokesman for the city of Brownsville, confirmed that the city was quickly testing every person who dropped off Border Patrol at the city’s bus terminal. The 108 positive cases reported by NBC News on March 2 rose to 204 on Tuesday, or about 12% of the total tested.
Romero said there are two categories of migrants released to the city’s bus terminal: asylum seekers entering after the revocation of the Trump administration’s Remain policy in Mexico, and those arrested at the border and allowed in to stay the country. pending hearings on immigration, a policy that critics derogatoryly describe as ‘capture and release’.
Let’s look at each category to determine the accuracy of Abbott’s tweet …
Read the full story and see how Abbott’s claim to PolitiFact is judged.