The Trump administration has used an obscure public health law during the coronavirus outbreak to justify one of its most aggressive border crackdowns: immediately returning migrants to Mexico without giving them a chance to seek asylum.
FILE - In this Thursday, March 14, 2019, file photo, a Border Patrol agent talks with a group suspected of having entered the U.S. illegally near McAllen, Texas. The Trump administration has quietly shut down the nation's asylum system for the first time in decades amid coronavirus concerns, largely because holding people in custody is considered too dangerous.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Thursday that nearly 10,000 Mexicans and Central Americans have been “expelled” to Mexico since the rules took effect March 21. Mark Morgan, the agency’s acting commissioner, said the changes were “not about immigration.” The administration tapped a law allowing the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ban foreigners if their entry would create “a serious danger” to the spread of communicable disease. The U.S. has the most confirmed cases in the world by far. CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield issued a 30-day order and said he may extend it.
“If someone is deemed to have the appropriate level of fear, those will be processed on a case-by-case basis,” Morgan, the CBP acting chief, said Thursday.offers some detail on exemptions: An agent who determines that a migrant claims a “reasonably believable” fear of being tortured can be referred for additional screening under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, a lesser form of asylum that’s harder to qualify for.
“A public health crisis does not give the Executive Branch a free pass to violate constitutional rights, nor does it give the Executive Branch permission to operate outside of the law,” they wrote Tuesday.
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