- Citing fears of keeping the novel coronavirus from spreading, the US government is weighing a plan to immediately turn back all migrants who approach the US-Mexico border without documentation.
- It's unclear how the policy would work in practice - typically, Border Patrol agents intercept migrants and take them to have their asylum claims processed.
- But The New York Times reported Tuesday that agents could begin turning the asylum-seekers away and sending them back to Mexico without detaining them.
- Officials have said the new plan is necessary because the coronavirus could spread quickly through detention centers and sicken much of the Border Patrol force, which is already understaffed.
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The Trump administration is reportedly trying to turn back all migrants approaching the US-Mexico border amid the coronavirus pandemic, citing fears that they could trigger an outbreak throughout US detention facilities.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Border Patrol agents this week could begin immediately turning back anyone who tries to illegally cross the southern border without detaining them.
Details remain unclear about how the policy would work in practice, but one official told the Associated Press that Border Patrol agents might still process migrants' asylum claims without actually transporting them to US facilities.
Typically, agents are required to intercept migrants and take them to Border Patrol stations if they request asylum protection.
But under the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" policy, tens of thousands of migrants have then been forced to wait in often squalid conditions in Mexico for their asylum claims to be processed in US courts.
The vast majority of asylum-seekers are not Mexican, and instead come from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, raising questions about whether Mexico will agree to accept an even greater volume of migrants the US rejects.
If the plan goes forward, US citizens and people with the required documentation would still be allowed to cross the border
The Times, citing several Trump administration officials, reported that the official ports of entry along the US-Mexico border would still remain open to US citizens, permanent residents, and some foreign nationals who have the required documentation.
The Trump administration is implementing the new migrant restrictions out of fear that the novel coronavirus could spread like wildfire through detention centers and sicken much of the Border Patrol force, which is already chronically understaffed.
Officials say Trump has the authority to enforce the new policy under a law that says the US can deny entry if the Surgeon General believes there is a "serious danger" of spreading a communicable disease, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
The Times reported that officials have been concerned that migrants approaching the border are often already sick when they arrive in the US.
But it's unclear whether that population poses a risk for spreading the coronavirus in particular. The acting deputy Homeland Security Secretary, Ken Cuccinelli, said earlier in March that the Trump administration had not found any coronavirus cases in recent migrants.
"When do those start finding their way into the immigration flow?" he said, according to CNN. "When we observe that happening - and we have not observed that happening - that will begin to affect our calculus on the southern border and having to be more aggressive, potentially using some legal authorities that we're not engaging right now."
As of Wednesday afternoon, the US had reported more than 7,300 cases of COVID-19 and 115 deaths. Mexico has reported 93 cases and no deaths. Honduras and Guatemala have reported fewer than 10 cases, and El Salvador hasn't reported any yet.
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