Last Updated on August 9, 2021
President Trump has issued a statement regarding COVID-19 spread on the southern border. NBC recently reported on a presidential briefing document that revealed nearly 20% of migrant children are testing positive for COVID-19 after crossing the border. “Just reported that over 20% of the people coming across our Southern Border have Coronavirus (sometimes referred to as the China Virus), many of them being immediately released into our communities,” said Trump. “Such a thing has never happened to any nation before. This is what a Rigged and Corrupt Presidential Election gets you!”
Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/NwZUWUOpsy
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) August 9, 2021
Trump criticized draconian measures opposed on American citizens as the virus spreads through the border with Mexico. Biden has recently stated that more COVID restrictions could be imposed on American citizens in the coming weeks. “Our ‘Government’ tells you how to mask up, use three if possible, and how to otherwise act as highly infected people pour into our country,” said Trump’s statement. The 45th President then called for border wall construction to continue. “Finish the wall in one month, stop paying contractors billions of dollars for NOT building the wall.”
The Department of Homeland Security document recommends DHS provide more medical staffing at border processing facilities, citing one facility where three EMTS were responsible for 3,000 migrants. “In the last 2-3 weeks, the percent positivity rates among all demographics has increased,” the document says. It also says that some flights scheduled to deport migrants had more than 25% COVID positivity rates before takeoff. Migrants scheduled for deportation are removed from the flight and quarantined if they test positive for the virus, according to the document.
A second DHS document said high COVID rates among migrants are “straining the capacity of the NGOs and local governments that DHS currently partners with to care for them.” That document also attributes the spike among migrants on “the highly transmissible Delta variant combined with lengthier stays in crowded facilities.”
The spiking COVID numbers on the border have triggered emergency meetings between the White House, HHS and DHS this week, according to NBC. July saw more than 210,000 migrant apprehensions, a 21-year-high.
