Examining claims on migrant surge at border
Republicans are blaming President Joe Biden for the surge, Dems. argue that the system he inherited left him stuck.
With the number of migrants apprehended at the southwestern border expected to reach a two-decade high, Republicans are blaming President Joe Biden for the surge, while Democrats argue that the immigration system he inherited left him ill-prepared.
Here is a fact-check.
Trump’s record
Biden officials have inaccurately described the Trump administration’s actions.
What was said:
“The previous administration was expelling these unaccompanied children — some who are girls under the age of 12, for example — back to Mexico. We ended that practice.”
— Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of homeland security, in a congressional hearing Wednesday
This is misleading. The practice of expelling unaccompanied children ended thanks to a court ruling before Biden took office, although his administration declined to resume expulsions when an appeals court decided it could do so.
Citing the threat of the coronavirus and using a public health emergency law known as Title 42, the Trump administration announced in March 2020 that it would send back to their home countries people who illegally crossed the southwestern border, rather than detaining and processing them.
In mid-November, a federal judge ruled that the administration could not expel unaccompanied children. As a result, expulsions of unaccompanied children fell from nearly 3,200 in October to 1,520 in November to just three in December and 18 in January.
An appeals court stayed that ruling in late January, once again allowing the expulsion of children, but the Biden administration has decided against the practice. It continues to send back adults and families, however.
“Unaccompanied children haven’t been expelled since November,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the policy counsel for the American Immigration Council, which advocates on behalf of immigrants. “They chose to keep the status quo in place.”
Beds for children
What was said:
“We inherited a government that had allowed the number of beds to safely and humanely house these children — administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Refugee Resettlement — had allowed it to shrink to a record-low number.”
— Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, in an interview this month on MSNBC
False. The Biden administration is struggling to find space for migrant children and teenagers who have recently arrived at the border, with some sleeping on gym mats with foil sheets in processing facilities as they wait to be transferred to shelters contracted with the Office of Refugee Resettlement. But Klain is wrong that the backlog is because the previous administration drastically downsized monthly bed capacity.
When the Obama administration faced its own surge of migrant children, the refugee agency increased its monthly bed capacity to about 8,000 beds in the 2015 fiscal year from about 2,000 in the 2011 fiscal year, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Under the Trump administration, monthly bed capacity fell to about 7,000 in October 2017 but grew to more than 16,000 by December 2018. By Trump’s last full month in office, in December 2020, monthly bed capacity was at 13,000 — hardly a “record low.”
The issue, however, is that shelters could no longer operate at a full occupancy rate during a pandemic. The refugee office reduced capacity to at least 40% to comply with coronavirus protocols before returning to full occupancy this month as the number of children increased.
A White House spokesperson acknowledged that the maximum number of beds “theoretically” stood at 13,000 under former President Donald Trump but contended that the previous administration took no steps to mitigate the reduction in occupancy capacity or shortages in staffing that reduction caused.
GOP statements
Republicans have mischaracterized Biden’s immigration policies, especially in relation to the virus.
What was said:
“The Biden border crisis, though, was created by Joe Biden’s promises of amnesty and open borders and free health care for illegals during the campaign.”
— Sen. Tom Cotton, RArk., in an interview Monday on Fox News
“Yes, the signals that the Biden administration is sending by eliminating the migrant protection program or ‘Remain in Mexico’ program that was negotiated with the Mexican government, and as well as the failure to enforce the Title 42 public health order, which basically give the Border Patrol the ability to keep people out of the country who may infect the U.S. population, basically, they’re ignoring all of that.”
— Sen. John Cornyn, RTexas, in an interview Sunday on Fox News
This is exaggerated. Both senators were partly accurate in their descriptions of Biden’s policies.
It is true that Biden has proposed a pathway for citizenship for the immigrants currently residing in the United States without legal permission and revoked the previous administration’s policy that required asylumseekers to remain in Mexico as they awaited decisions on their cases.
But Cotton is wrong that Biden promised “free health care” for immigrants living in the country without legal permission. A spokesperson for Cotton said the senator was referring to the 2020 campaign, when Biden raised his hand after Democratic presidential candidates were asked during a 2019 debate whether their health care plans would allow unauthorized immigrants to have access to such care. But there was no mention of “free” health care. Under Biden’s plan, those immigrants could buy health care plans including a proposed public option on exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act.
Cornyn’s reference to Title 42 was also inaccurate. Although the Biden administration has decided not to expel unaccompanied children, despite a court ruling allowing the practice, it has continued Title 42 expulsions of most border crossers. In fact, out of the more than 100,000 encounters at the southwestern border in February, 72,000 led to expulsions.
COVID spread
What was said:
“When I talked to the doctor to see when they’re being tested for COVID, when they get out, more than 10% are testing positive, while you’re being stored together. In a time when the president will keep our country closed, when maybe we have hope for a Fourth of July to get together just with our family, how much spread of COVID is he creating every single day by his policies along this border?”
— Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Monday in a news conference
This is exaggerated. Bob Fenton, acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said during a congressional hearing a day later that migrants were testing positive at a rate of “less than 6%” across the entire border. That is a lower positivity rate than currently in Texas (9%), Arizona (11%) and New Mexico (8%) but higher than in California (3%).
There are different coronavirus protocols in place for different migrant populations, but the notion that migrants are spreading the virus unchecked is hyperbolic.
Asylum-seekers with pending cases who returned to Mexico under the Trumpera program must test negative before entering the United States. Those who test positive with mild or no symptoms are required to quarantine for 10 days, while those who show severe symptoms must seek treatment in Mexico, according to the State Department.
For migrants who are not immediately sent away and processed by border officials, the Department of Homeland Security relies on community organizations for testing and reimburses the costs, according to the department. Those who test positive while in Border Control custody are immediately isolated. Unaccompanied children specifically are tested at facilities operated by the Department of Health and Human Services.