As the Delta variant drives a fresh surge of Covid-19 cases in the US, some of Joe Biden’s most high-profile and ambitious critics on the right are pushing a false narrative, to blame the president’s policies at the US-Mexico border, which allow some migrants to enter the country to apply for asylum.
Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, who has warned schools they could have their funding cut if they mandate mask-wearing, accused Biden of “helping to facilitate” the spread of the coronavirus.
And Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, who has tried to ban masks in schools and stop aid organizations transporting migrants, talked of “the importation of Covid-19” by migrants. Many hospitals in both states are overwhelmed and vaccination rates are relatively low.
The Fox News host Sean Hannity, meanwhile, decried “the biggest super-spreader event” and falsely claimed that no one migrating across the border is being tested for coronavirus.
In contrast, public health experts pin the Delta surge in the US overwhelmingly on unvaccinated US residents, not migrants, and the trickle of people without entry papers who are admitted are generally tested for Covid-19 and given hotel rooms to quarantine if they test positive.
So what’s the situation at the southern border?
What happens when migrants are stopped after crossing the US-Mexico border?
Most single adults and many families are being turned away, while unaccompanied children and some families are admitted to pursue asylum claims. The Biden administration is urging people not to come to the border, while continuing to use Title 42, a controversial public health rule adopted by Donald Trump at the start of the pandemic.
In June, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stopped single adults 117,602 times, resulting in 96,704 expulsions, or 82% of the total.
Families were stopped 55,805 times at the border in June, leading to 8,070 expulsions, or 15%. Some attempt to cross more than once, so the totals count stops, not people.
Families who are allowed to enter the US to apply for asylum are given dates for an appointment with immigration authorities or a court appearance. Then they can travel to stay with sponsors, typically US relatives or friends (whereas Trump made them wait in Mexico). Children arriving without parents are initially detained, often at length.
Are migrants who are not expelled tested for Covid-19?
Generally, yes. CBP, the federal agency that first takes migrants into custody, says they are given masks and referred to local healthcare providers for testing and treatment if they have symptoms.
Most single adults and some families are transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody, where they all take Covid-19 tests.
All new arrivals are separated from the general population for 14 days and isolated if they test positive. Unaccompanied children are also tested before they are transferred to health and human services department facilities for minors, and then are given ongoing tests.
Some migrant families are released to border communities directly from CBP facilities and the picture is less clear. Government says it works with local partners and “appropriate agencies” to test people and quarantine those infected.An editorial this week in the Houston Chronicle stated: “Migrants are not tested for the virus by authorities, and Abbott refused help from the federal government for testing in March, leaving that responsibility to non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, which have gone about it diligently. They say they test migrants as many as three times at the border before they are released for transport.”
How many migrants test positive for Covid-19?
The federal government has not disclosed this data, but in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas – the busiest stretch of the border for unlawful crossing attempts – local officials have issued data.
On 4 August, officials in McAllen, at the eastern end of the Texas-Mexico border, said that out of nearly 88,000 migrants released by CBP in the city since mid-February, about 7,000 had tested positive for Covid-19. Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley arranged hotel rooms for them to quarantine until they tested negative.
The rate of positive tests has roughly doubled in recent weeks, surpassing 16%, which county officials said was similar to the local population.
The Chronicle’s editorial board further opined that: “Even if a few managed to expose someone during that time, that is certainly less cause for alarm or blame than the estimated 116 million vaccine-eligible Americans who have refused to get their shots.”
What do public health officials say is driving the new US Covid surge?
The critical factors are people in US communities who are unvaccinated and are not following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about the highly contagious Delta variant.
Dr Ivan Melendez, from the local health authority in Hidalgo county, Texas, acknowledged that arriving migrants were “part of the problem” but he also said they did not pose any more of a danger than he does.
“I have been in seven Covid units today,” he said.
“Is it a pandemic of the migrants? No, it is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Melendez said.
The number of arriving migrants is far too small to be driving the enormous increases in cases across the US, said Dr Joseph McCormick, a professor at the University of Texas and former CDC epidemiologist, even including people who evade CBP patrols and enter the US without the authorities’ knowledge.
And the Delta variant, first identified in India, began circulating in the US before it spread to Mexico or other parts of Latin America, where most migrants arrive from, and is feeding a rise in cases in every US state.
Does the federal government plan to offer vaccines to migrants?
The Department of Homeland Security denied recent media reports that federal officials are preparing to offer vaccines to migrants after they are apprehended at the border. However, Ice has begun vaccinating immigrants held in detention and the government is now inoculating unaccompanied children 12 and older.
There have been some limited local efforts in border country to offer vaccinations to recently arrived migrants.
