The Biden administration is expanding efforts to vaccinate migrants in U.S. custody against coronavirus as border authorities prepare for possible policy changes that could increase the number of people they have to prosecute, according to a notification shared with Congress and obtained by CBS News.
U.S. agents will begin offering COVID-19 vaccines to migrants in the custody of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) who are being processed under routine immigration procedures and unable to show evidence of vaccination, according to the 25 March.
The vaccination program, which was due to begin on Monday, will not apply to those prosecuted for deportation under a pandemic-era emergency policy known as Title 42 which is currently below legal control.
Vaccination efforts will begin at 11 locations along the southern border, before expanding to an additional 16 locations on April 8, according to congressional notification that officials expect to distribute 2,700 vaccines a day during the first phase.
After expanding to Phase 2, which will begin on April 18, officials expect to be able to vaccinate up to 6,000 migrants a day by the end of May, the notification says. Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and CBP did not respond to requests for comment on the vaccination effort.
Prior to Monday’s announcement, the United States had only offered the COVID-19 vaccine to immigrants in long-term detention centers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, migrant children in the federal foster care system, and less than 2,000. asylum seekers enrolled in a program that forces them to wait for their court hearings in Mexico.
The Biden administration has been considering offering COVID-19 vaccines to migrants along the southern border at least since the early summer of 2021, when officials proposed vaccinating all adult family members as a vaccine. way to reduce title 42 for this population, he reported. an internal DHS plan obtained by CBS News.
But the plan was rejected by top White House officials, including domestic policy adviser Susan Rice, who feared that the liquidation of Title 42 would increase political pressure on the administration amid a record number of arrivals. the border and would encourage more migrants to travel north, according to multiple people familiar with the subject.
At the time, officials said offering vaccines to migrants could be “an attraction for crossing the border without permission,” according to an internal DHS document.
The change in vaccination policy comes as U.S. border officials await an imminent announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as to whether the agency will continue, amend, or terminate the Title 42 expulsion policy. it was first enacted by the Trump administration in March. 2020.
Title 42 has allowed U.S. border guards to quickly deport migrants to Mexico or their home countries, ignoring immigration laws that require officials to interview asylum seekers seeking U.S. humanitarian protection. to determine if they have valid claims.
U.S. officials have carried out 1.7 million evictions under Title 42, more than 70 percent of them under President Biden, CBP figures show. However, the Biden administration is not expelling unaccompanied children and has faced a record number of migrant arrivals last year.
The Biden administration has said that Title 42 is needed to prevent migrants from piling up short-term border facilities where the coronavirus could spread rapidly. But a ruling earlier this month could force the administration to change or end the policy.
If maintained, a Washington, DC federal appeals court order will require border officials next month to interview migrant families traveling with children before deporting them to make sure they do not flee persecution or torture, or stop prosecuting this population under Title 42. as was the plan last summer.
The CDC said earlier this month that its director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, will decide on Wednesday, March 30, whether officials should continue to deport migrant families and adults under Title 42.
In response to a ruling by a Texas federal judge banning the administration from continuing to exempt unaccompanied minors from expulsion from the border, Walensky issued an order revoking his Title 42 directives regarding these children.
By his order, Walensky quoted improving pandemic conditions, increasing vaccination rates in the U.S. and migrants’ home countries, and the availability of other mitigation protocols. He said migrant children should not be deported because they are offered COVID-19 tests and vaccinations while in the U.S. foster care system.
- In:
- immigration
- US Immigration and Customs Service
- Covid-19 vaccine
- COVID-19[feminine[feminine
- Mexico-United States border
- US Customs and Border Protection
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