Illegal Border Crossings Reduced by Half Due to Pandemic Measures

By Andrea Ano First Posted: Mar 25, 2020 07:00 AM EDT

U.S. Customs and Border Protection police officer talks to a driver as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues at Paso del Norte International Border bridge as taken from Ciudad Juarez,

(Photo : Reuters)

According to the information shared by one of Trump's official, the number of immigrants illegally crossing the border has been reduced to half since the strictest US-Mexico Border policy took effect.

CDC's Policy on Illegal Crossing

On Friday, CDC released a new restriction stating that anyone caught illegally crossing the border will be returned to either Mexico or Canada immediately. Mark Morgan, acting head of US Custom and Border Protection, confirms this restriction applies to all immigrants.

In an interview with Fox News, Morgan mentioned that the CBP will not take anyone in custody since they assume that anyone crossing the border illegally has no documents and thus, they will not risk exposing their personnel, other immigrants and the American people to such.

However, Mexican officials mentioned that they are only allowed to take individuals they encounter and not those who are already in CBP's custody. They later confirm that elders and minors will not be taken back but insist that they will not be accepting those who are not Mexican or Central American.

The majority of the immigrants crossing the border are from Central America. However, in January and February of this year, several Brazilians and Chinese arrived on the border. Mexican officials believed they should be transported back to their countries immediately.

CDC issued an order on Friday that restricts anyone from coming in. Migrants are kept in closed quarters, with poor staffing and less space which increases the risk of spreading COVID-19 easily.

Chad Wolf, acting Homeland Security Secretary, announced that the border is still open but exclusively for trades and tourists are requested to stay at home. He said the number of migrants crossing illegally has decreased as the supply chain continues.

Mexican Border Situation

Patrol officers in the Mexican border fear that the number of migrants stuck in their side of the border will continue to increase. Shelters on their side are already on maximum capacity and will not be able to handle additional heads at this point.

Hector Joaquin Silva, director of Senda de Reynosa shelter, said, "We have been a week without the United States asking for migrants and if they continue to not ask for people, we will be overcrowded."

Silva confirms that they are not currently accepting additional migrants and the shelters are currently under quarantine to prevent any form of infection, however, migrants continue to arrive.

Concurrently, US immigrant advocates filed a lawsuit in Washington DC asking for the immediate release of migrant families from detention centers. According to them, the detention facilities where the families are held were unable to protect the families from the coronavirus.

ICE is working on containing the spread of COVID-19 in its detention facilities. The agency has no comment on the lawsuit filed.

Suppressing immigration has been President Trump's trademark. He once tried to mitigate the asylum but the court ruled against him. A recent text from his re-election campaign says, "Pres. Trump is making your safety his #1 priority. That's why we are closing the borders to ILLEGALS."