Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted Friday that President Joe Biden’s immigration policies are the “biggest super spreader” of COVID-19.
Graham sent a tweet directed at Dr. Anthony Fauci saying that he needs to visit the southern border to see that the current migrant crisis is one of the largest sources for the spread of COVID-19. The South Carolina Republican said that 10% of migrants held in U.S. detention facilities test positive for coronavirus.
“You [Dr. Fauci] need to go to the southern border and witness in person the biggest super spreader event in the nation-president Joe Biden’s immigration policies,” Graham tweeted. “Thousands of migrants from Central America are coming into the country with a 10% COVID-positive rate.”
Robert Fenton, acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told lawmakers on March 16 that less than 6% of migrants at the southern border test positive for COVID-19, according to CBS News. The Scientific American reported in February that 10% of migrant detainees tested positive for coronavirus, which is 17% higher than the overall U.S. population.
Graham criticized the conditions at the detention facilities and said that migrants with the virus are released in Texas. (Related: Nearly Half Of ICE Detainee Deaths Were Due To COVID-19)
“Migrants in these facilities are intermingled and on top of each other. After being arounds COVID-positives, they are dumped off in Texas and taken to other parts of the country furthering the spread,” he tweeted.
Thousands of migrants from Central America are coming into the country with a 10% COVID-positive rate.
They have 900 people staying in a room built for 80 – overcrowded by more 1,000%!
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 2, 2021
Graham said Fauci should be concerned about the conditions in detention facilities and that the Biden administration’s current immigration policies must be changed in order to contain the spread of COVID-19 at the southern border.
“If you are worried about the spread of COVID, you should be gravely concerned about what is happening at the border,” he said. “There is no end in sight on this super-spreader event until these policies are changed.”
If you are worried about the spread of COVID, you should be gravely concerned about what is happening at our southern border.
There is no end in sight on this super-spreader event until these policies are changed.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 2, 2021
The coronavirus case rate at the southern border is lower than the overall positivity rate of Texas, Fenton told lawmakers, according to CBS News. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement requires detained unaccompanied minors to test negative twice before being released into the U.S.
A facility in Donna, Texas, housing unaccompanied minors is currently at 1700% capacity, according to Fox News. Republican Reps. Brian Babin and Ronny Jackson of Texas recently took photos of the facility, showing more than 500 minors crowded together in “pods” that are designed to hold a maximum of 32 people.
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