The White House defended the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for migrants through the Border Patrol as the uninsured lose access to free tests and treatment amid a funding shortfall.
The administration’s efforts to vaccinate migrants “in our care and custody has been ongoing for months,” according to White House communications director Kate Bedingfield. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been offering COVID-19 shots to migrants since the summer of 2021, she told reporters during her first White House press briefing Tuesday.
BIDEN BILLIONAIRE TAX FACES OBSTACLES IN CONGRESS AHEAD OF MIDTERM ELECTIONS
“We’re always assessing the situation and addressing protocols based on changing CDC guidance,” she said of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But in order to ensure the safety of border communities and their workforce and the migrants themselves, DHS is now requiring age-appropriate vaccinations for noncitizens who were taken into Border Patrol custody.”
Bedingfield insisted the DHS rule was consistent with overall CDC guidance for people entering the United States, be it by air or land.
“We know that vaccinating people is the best way to protect from the virus and to protect against the spread of the virus,” she said.
Bedingfield also repeated that President Joe Biden has secured enough COVID-19 shots for anyone who wishes to become vaccinated against the virus.
Until now, migrants who illegally cross the border and are taken into custody by the Border Patrol are not vaccinated or tested before being released. Oftentimes, the Border Patrol releases migrants from its custody to a local nonprofit organization that will then administer COVID-19 tests.
For almost two years, noncitizens traveling for pleasure and not essential reasons were barred from entering the country from Canada or Mexico. The Biden administration eased the policy and mandated that all noncitizens legally entering be vaccinated.
Despite the lack of testing and vaccines, the Biden administration has been aware for months that people coming over the border have the virus. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said upward of 20% of those released had the omicron variant of the virus.
In each month of the past year, U.S. border officials have logged between 150,000 and 215,000 encounters of migrants attempting to enter the country without permission, an indication of how many sick migrants have been released.
Access for the uninsured to free COVID-19 testing and treatment started being cut this week as funding runs out for specific programs. The White House has asked Congress for $22.5 billion in immediate emergency funds.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Our concern right now is that we are going to run out of money to provide the types of vaccines, boosters, treatments to the immunocompromised and others free of charge that will help continue to battle increasing — you know, the increase or the upflow or the, you know, increase of — of COVID in the future,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this month.
