Governor Abbott blames immigrants for spreading COVID in a rhetoric that advocates consider xenophobic

Governor Greg Abbott continued to attack President Joe Biden on Thursday, accusing the government of “recklessly releasing hundreds” of undocumented undocumented migrants to COVID in the country after Biden condemned Abbott’s decision to reopen Texas as “Neanderthal” “.

Facing criticism for ending the Texas mask mandate, Abbott used Twitter, radio and cable news to blame immigrants for the spread of COVID-19 in the state. On CNBC News, he said the Biden administration was “importing COVID”.

“The Biden administration is recklessly releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants who have COVID in Texas communities,” said Abbott in a tweet on Thursday. “Administrator Biden. This callous act that exposes Texans and Americans to COVID must be ended IMMEDIATELY. “

Despite Abbott’s assertions on Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security is waiting for him to approve the use of funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help test released migrants for the virus, according to CNN. Abbott did not respond to the government’s funding offer until Wednesday, according to the report.

Abbott’s claim that “hundreds” of undocumented immigrants had tested positive for coronavirus was based on recent news that, since the end of January, more than 100 asylum seekers had tested positive with rapid tests immediately after being cleared by Customs and US Border Protection in Brownsville, according to Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze.

These immigrants had not been tested before their release, Brownsville city spokesman Felipe Romero said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. Romero said that immigrants are tested by the CBP only if they develop severe symptoms and should “go to the hospital”.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the policy of the federal government “is to work with local governments, to work with NGOs to ensure that these migrants are tested.”

Some non-governmental organizations and charities have reserved hotel blocks for quarantined immigrants, and “their assistance allows the federal government to work with local communities to do this,” said Psaki.

Groups in border communities are keeping the virus contained, allowing migrants with a positive test to be quarantined in hotels, confirmed sister Norma Pimentel, of the Catholic NGO of Vale do Rio Grande. Your organization pays for hotels in Brownsville and McAllen for this purpose.

“We want to make sure that they are safe, and that everyone else is safe, and that they do not enter the United States beyond this point without first testing them and making sure that they do not have COVID,” said Pimentel. . “Nobody moves from the point they were left to, to move anywhere, until we can guarantee that they are not positive.”

About 6.3% of immigrants tested positive for the virus. Cameron County, where Brownsville is located, has a positivity rate of 13.8%, Romero told NBC News. On Wednesday, 7,593 new cases of the coronavirus were reported across Texas.

On February 16, the Biden government began prosecuting eligible asylum seekers who were sent back to Mexico under the Migration Protection Protocols, but people seeking to immigrate to the US were urged not to approach the border unless to be instructed to come to the USA The International Organization for Migration is providing coronavirus tests to migrants at ports of entry.

In other parts of Texas, the US Department of Immigration and Customs is also testing immigrants, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

In a statement on Thursday, Abbott argued that border security is “strictly a federal responsibility”.

“Only the federal government has the responsibility to test, examine and quarantine illegal immigrants who cross our border and who may have COVID,” said the governor.

In El Paso, another border town, community leaders say there is danger in the use of inflammatory language on immigrants, given the city’s recent experience with nationalist groups and white militias.

“Obviously, there will be migrants who have COVID, and it would be ridiculous to say that migrants are not susceptible to COVID. Of course they are, ”said US Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso. “But, based on the numbers I saw, the percentages of migrants who have COVID are very low. … The governor of Texas knows that this type of xenophobia, racism and hatred fuels hate crime. This is something that we in El Paso know very well. “

As the Trump administration warned of migrant “invasions” and pushed to “build the wall,” self-described militia groups began camping along the border to protect the nation from what they considered to be invaders.

On August 3, 2019, a lone sniper killed 23 people and wounded dozens of others in an El Paso Walmart, prompting local leaders and organizations to ask politicians to think twice. The alleged sniper said he drove 10 hours from Allen, in northern Texas, to “prevent the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

El Paso County judge Ricardo Samaniego called Abbott’s words “rhetoric at its best”. “My God,” said Samaniego, “this is the man who is telling us not to wear a mask anymore. You cannot have it both ways and blame the immigrant. “

Marisa Limon Garza, deputy director of the Hope Border Institute, a non-profit organization in El Paso, called Abbott’s comments “patently false”. His institute has worked with Mexican organizations on a daily basis to help coordinate the transfer of migrants to El Paso.

“I find it ironic and even hypocritical that Texans no longer need to wear masks,” said Limon, “but immigrants are being painted with the same old racist and xenophobic brush.”

The only migrants who pass through El Paso are those who are part of the Protective Migrant Protocols, said Mayor Oscar Leeser, and they are not allowed to enter the United States if the test is positive. El Paso is currently receiving just 25 migrants a day, and they are required to stay in a local shelter, usually for no more than 48 hours, before joining their host families, Leeser said.