Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order restricting the transport of migrants in the Lone Star State after news that COVID-positive illegal immigrants were being dumped in a small border community.
The Republican governor’s mandate forbids any person other than a “federal, state, or local law-enforcement official” from moving migrants. The order also directs the Texas Department of Public Safety to “stop any” car or truck in violation of the order and “reroute such a vehicle back to its point of origin or a port of entry.” DPS is further authorized to impound cars that refuse to be redirected.
“The dramatic rise in unlawful border crossings has also led to a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases among unlawful migrants who have made their way into our state, and we must do more to protect Texans from this virus and reduce the burden on our communities,” Abbott said in a statement. “This Executive Order will reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure in our communities.”
POLICE DEPARTMENT SAYS BORDER PATROL DUMPING CORONAVIRUS-POSITIVE MIGRANTS IN TEXAS TOWN
On Monday, the La Joya Police Department said it encountered a family “coughing and sneezing” at a Whataburger restaurant. Law enforcement later heard Border Patrol nabbed the group of people and subsequently released them to the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley once they tested positive for COVID-19.
Upon further inspection, officers located between 20-30 migrants at the Texas Inn, and the department said a similar practice occurred in McAllen, Texas. Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley rented out the entire hotel to house the illegal immigrants who were detained by Border Patrol, hotel management told officers.
“We want to inform the public about the current situation we have encountered and ask that the citizens of La Joya to exercise social distancing measures and that they please use face masks in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 or its variants,” the department said.
Abbott cited the La Joya situation as one of his many reasons for the order. Another, he said, was President Joe Biden’s “failure” to stop the rise in attempted illegal crossings at the southern border.
On Wednesday, Arthur Pearlstein and Lauren Reinhold — federal officials identified as two “volunteer detailees at the Fort Bliss Emergency Intake Site” located in El Paso, Texas, between April and June — said they witnessed a rampant coronavirus outbreak among unaccompanied migrant children housed in at least 10 aircraft hangar-sized tents, which contained between 500 and 1,000 minors, according to a complaint disclosed by the Government Accountability Project.
The site is operated by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the HHS Department, charged with the care of migrant children awaiting immigration proceedings.
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“COVID was widespread among children and eventually spread to many employees,” the report said. “Hundreds of children contracted COVID in the overcrowded conditions. Adequate masks were not consistently provided to children, nor was their use consistently enforced. Every effort was made to downplay the degree of COVID infection at the site, and the size of the outbreak was deliberately kept under wraps.”
The two whistleblowers said they were told by the Health and Human Services Department to “make everything sound positive” and to “play down anything negative” to the media regarding the situation. The Washington Examiner reached out to HHS for comment.
