Senator John Cornyn lobbied new White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday about how the Biden government will deal with the migrant caravan coming from Central America to the United States after announcing that the new president would restrict international travel for the pandemic.
The switch came after President Trump, in an executive order on Monday, said the U.S. would reverse travel restrictions imposed last year on air passengers who were recently in the UK, Europe and Brazil.
The restrictions would be lifted on January 26, the same date that a new requirement for a negative coronavirus test for air travelers to the United States would come into effect. The rationale behind lifting the previous restrictions, according to Trump’s order, was that the U.S. can expect these jurisdictions to meet the new requirement for a negative test.
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But Psaki said quickly that President-elect Biden, instead of loosening travel restrictions to foreign countries, will crack down.
“With the worsening of the pandemic and more contagious variants emerging around the world, it is not the time to lift restrictions on international travel,” she said. “Following the advice of our medical team, the government does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26. In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures in relation to international travel, in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19. “
Cornyn replied on Tuesday, “Does that include caravans from Central American migrants?”
One of the first major challenges that the Biden government will face is a huge caravan of migrants coming from Central America to the United States.
On Friday, two groups of more than 3,000 Honduran migrants each made their way to Guatemala without registering as part of a larger caravan headed for the United States, the Associated Press reported. A third group entered Guatemala on Saturday. The migrants intend to reach Mexico, which is in northern Guatemala, and eventually reach the border with the United States.
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Republicans blamed Biden’s campaign rhetoric for attracting the caravan. Biden promised a path to citizenship for 11 million people during his campaign and the organization Pueblos Sin Fronteras, on behalf of the caravan, asked the new Biden government to “honor its commitments”.
Videos show that the caravan is traveling in a tight crowd with few mask suits.
Biden’s planned candidate for secretary of homeland security, the agency that oversees border security, is Alejandro Mayorkas. At a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Mayorkas was pressured by Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, about how he would handle the caravan.
The nominated Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, takes his seat to testify during his confirmation hearing at the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (Bill Clark / Pool via AP)
“What is your intention regarding that caravan, which is reaching our border. Is it your intention to allow them to simply enter our country? Will they be stopped?” Romney asked.
“When people come to our border, we apply the laws of our country and determine whether they qualify for relief under our humanitarian laws or not,” said Mayorkas.
Romney replied that his response seemed “uncertain”.
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“I apologize if I’m not sure. If people qualify under the law to stay in the United States, then we will apply the law accordingly. If they don’t qualify to stay in the United States, they won’t,” said Mayorkas. .
Romney did not specifically pressure Mayorkas about how he would deal with the caravan’s potential coronavirus threat.
Biden’s transition team did not respond to questions from Fox News on Monday about whether it thinks Biden’s campaign rhetoric caused the caravan and whether Biden plans to allow members of the caravan to enter the U.S. Nor did he say whether those who entered the United States from the caravan would be subject to the same coronavirus protocols as air travelers.