Government sending mixed messages about COVID-19
It is impossible for U.S. citizens to take seriously the government’s continued warnings about COVID-19 day after day after day when the government expresses no such warnings about what’s happening at our southern border with Mexico.
The number of undocumented migrants reaching the U.S.-Mexico border recently has hit the highest level in more than 20 years. It has turned into a government-made humanitarian crisis.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokespersons reported to the BBC that it caught 180,034 migrants, mostly single adults, in May alone.
The number was up slightly from 178,854 in April and 172,000 in March.
It was the biggest monthly total since April 2000 with increasing numbers reportedly coming from outside Central America. This includes countries like Ecuador, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and even some African nations.
The number of unaccompanied children from Central America dropped to 10,765 in May, compared with 13,940 the previous month, according to CBP figures.
The CBP said that of the 180,034 people encountered in May, 112,302 individuals were expelled under a Trump-era policy known as Title 42, which was kept in place by U.S. President Joe Biden.
The border agency said the average daily number of children in its custody has plummeted to 640. However, another 16,200 migrant children are being held by the U.S. health department.
Some of these children have no relatives in the U.S., Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said recently in congressional testimony.
JooYeun Chang, a U.S. health department acting assistant secretary, said the numbers of unaccompanied migrant children since March are “simply unprecedented.’’
Across the U.S. northern border, Canada has offered to help with the crisis by taking in some Central American migrants.
Canada has pledged to resettle thousands of refugees in 2021, but it also turned away those seeking asylum during the pandemic. It remains unclear how the country will accept migrants who are currently in U.S. custody.
President Biden campaigned on the promise of a more humane immigration agenda. Since coming into office, the Democratic president has ended construction of the border wall and repealed former President Donald Trump’s “Remain In Mexico Policy,’’ which required U.S. asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their applications were processed.
Most Americans certainly welcome legal immigrants to this country, understanding full well that the American story cannot even be written without the important contributions of immigrant families from all over the world.
But what are U.S. citizens to make of the current state of affairs in this country when President Biden is talking about sending government workers door to door throughout the country checking on who’s got the COVID-19 shots and who’s not - while the number of undocumented migrants reaching the U.S.-Mexico border is at the highest level in 20 years?
With an estimated 188 million COVID-19 cases reported worldwide and an estimated 4.05 million deaths attributed to COVID-19 worldwide, so far, why is our government not stopping, testing and requiring COVID-19 vaccines for every man, woman and child seeking to enter this country from every border?
History will show that this illogical and mixed message about COVID-19 presented by our government is a major factor in further dividing us at a time when we should be working together.
