As the humanitarian crisis along the southern border grows, disturbing data has been released concerning COVID rates among migrants.
Dr. Ivan Melendez, the health authority in Hidalgo County, Texas said “The reality of it is you cannot have an influx of thousands of people in your community during a pandemic.”
Democrat U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar from Laredo, Texas, criticized the Biden administration for rolling back Trump-era immigration policies.
“Once you’re the president, you own the failure or you own the success,” he said.
His comments come as the Biden administration illegally, media outlets say, is prohibiting reporters from investigating the crowded conditions in which illegal migrants are now living in holding camps set up by the administration.
READ: Democrats, media point finger at Biden for border crisis
Now, the National Sheriffs Association is calling on the Biden administration to reverse its course and reinstate security procedures used under the Trump administration. The border must be secured to protect the health of Americans the group says.
The association is on the front lines as over 100,000 illegal entries are now happening every four weeks.
Currently, illegal migrants, having gained entry to the U.S. are being screened and then released into communities across the nation. The action, say many, is endangering the health of millions because of the high infection rate among migrants. In an internal CDC memo leaked to CNN, officials said that “facilities should plan for and expect to have COVID-19 cases.”
According to the association, 50 percent of illegal migrants are testing positive for COVID.
In a draft border security resolution that will be voted on at a June meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, the sheriffs state, “In any other construct, infection rates that high would be cause for alarm by public health officials. Yet, we are currently engaging in policies that have potentially opened, rather than restricted, undocumented traffic into the U.S.”
The resolution goes on to say, “It is the position of the National Sheriffs Association that all efforts be made by the federal government to secure our nation’s border to prevent harm to our nation and to her citizens.”
The Sheriffs warn that it is threatening American healthcare systems.
“We are already seeing strains to the public health system of border communities. The suspension of deportations has led to the release of undocumented persons into border communities. We then have an affirmative responsibility to provide medical care for them if they are infected with COVID,” the statement reads. “This at a time when our communities are already grappling with this public health emergency and desperately trying to roll out the vaccines. We now face a serious potential public health crisis along the border.”
“We do not know who is crossing,” the document emphasized. “One lone wolf foreign terrorist is a significant threat due to the changing nature of the terror threat we now face. We have seen ample evidence of this abroad with a lone terrorist using vehicles or crude weapons to inflict injury, death, and fear. There is a clear national security nexus to securing our international border.”
The number of migrants with Covid is expected to skyrocket as warmer spring weather arrives and hundreds of thousands currently moving north from Central America arrive.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice
