DESANTIS IS DOING IT RIGHT, WHO'S THE DICTATOR?

DESANTIS IS DOING IT RIGHT, WHO'S THE DICTATOR?

U.S.-Mexico border not ‘wide open’
In a statement, DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw focused on the migrants who make it across the border without detection. She acknowledged that migration is not the only factor in COVID-19 spread.

"We know tens of thousands of migrants cross the border illegally every month," she said. "Officials don’t have a precise number, because the border is porous, and it stands to reason that many people enter undetected. ... Some of those countries where a significant portion of the migrants hail from, such as Haiti, have extremely low rates of COVID vaccination."

Still, it is wrong to say, as DeSantis did, that the southern border is "wide open" for everyone to just come into the country. Most people who are encountered are turned away under a public health law invoked by Trump’s administration and continued by Biden.

Border officials — at and between ports of entries — recorded more than 822,000 encounters with migrants from February to June, and most of those people were expelled under the public health law. These individuals don’t get to stay in the country to request asylum or other immigration protection.

Nicole Hallett, a professor and director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School, told PolitiFact that the apprehension numbers reflect that people trying and failing to cross multiple times.

"Apprehensions have increased because of the strict COVID restrictions, not because restrictions have eased," Hallett said.

The Biden administration has allowed certain groups of migrants to file for immigration protection, such as children arriving alone at the southern border and some families with young children. The Department of Homeland Security, however, said it had recently resumed expedited removal flights for certain families who recently arrived at the southern border.

Officials in February began to let in asylum seekers who were waiting for a resolution of their U.S. immigration cases in Mexico under the Trump-era Remain in Mexico program. (Biden ended that program in June.)

The United States is also temporarily limiting inbound land border crossings from Mexico; non-essential travel is not allowed.

Customs and Border Protection told PolitiFact in April that personnel do initial inspections for symptoms or risk factors associated with COVID-19 and consult with onsite medical personnel, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or local health systems as appropriate.