Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Thursday that he rejected a proposal by the Biden administration to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in partnership with Texas to test and potentially quarantine adults and children who migrate across the border – amid a controversy over the release of COVID-positive Migrants to Texas.
“Instead of doing its job, the Biden administration suggested that it did not have enough resources and, surprisingly, asked Texas to help them help with their illegal immigration program. Texas refused,” Abbott said in a statement. “We will not help a program that makes our country a magnet for illegal immigration.”
WHITE HOUSE INSISTS COVID-POSITIVE MIGRANTS ARE NOT BEING RELEASED FOR TEXAS, IN spite of ABBOTT’S COMPLAINTS
The Washington Post reported for the first time that the government wants to use FEMA in southern Texas to test and quarantine families and adults before being released to the interior of the United States.
An Abbott spokesman told Fox News that the government had proposed a partnership with Texas for testing, screening and quarantine – but that Abbott was not interested, as it was the federal government’s role to test those entering the country, and he he feared this would make Texas a “magnet” for illegal immigration, as his statement said.
108 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED BY THE BORDER PATROL IN TEXAS POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS, EMPLOYEES SAY
This came after Fox News reported on Wednesday that 108 migrants in Brownsville, Texas, tested positive for coronavirus after their arrival – some of whom had taken buses to other states.
“The Biden administration’s unfair act of releasing COVID-positive illegal immigrants in our state puts the lives of Texans and Americans at risk. Border security is strictly a federal responsibility,” Abbott said in his statement. “The federal government alone has a responsibility to test, examine and quarantine illegal immigrants who cross our border and who may have COVID.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday that the Republican governor’s claims are inaccurate.
“We deal with facts here; this is not factual,” said Psaki.
Describing how migrants are prosecuted in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Psaki defended government policies: “When migrants are placed on alternatives to detention, their COVID-19 test, our policy, is that the COVID-19 test be done at the state and local level, and with the help of NGOs and local governments, “she said.
Psaki added that “it is finished before they are even transferred to stay with family members or other people they may know while their cases are on trial.”
Psaki added that the government’s guidance for anyone, “regardless of status”, with a positive test for COVID-19 or with symptoms of COVID-19, is “to distance yourself socially, wear a mask and seek medical attention as needed.”
“But in general, our approach and policy is to work with local governments and NGOs to get tested, to make sure these migrants are tested,” continued Psaki. “And it can happen, and measures for isolation, quarantine and medical care can be taken, if necessary.”
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The controversy comes after the Biden government is facing an increase in the number of migrants at the border and has revived the practice of releasing migrants into the interior of the United States – a process known as “catch and release” and which was ended by the Trump administration.
Republicans have been questioning the Biden government about the border crisis, with House Republican Judiciary Republicans on Thursday calling for hearings about the “sharp” increase in unaccompanied children at the border and what the government is doing to address it.
Griff Jenkins and Brooke Singman of Fox News contributed to this report.