Trump to enact strict new border controls

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration plans to immediately turn back all asylum-seekers and other foreigners trying to cross the southwestern border illegally, saying they cannot risk allowing the new coronavirus to spread through detention facilities and among Border Patrol agents, four administration officials said on Tuesday.

The administration officials said the ports of entry would remain open to U.S. citizens, green-card holders and some foreigners with proper documentation. Some foreigners would be blocked, including Europeans currently subject to earlier travel restrictions enacted by the administration. The entryways will also be open to commercial traffic.

But under the new rule, set to be announced in the next 48 hours, Border Patrol agents would immediately return to Mexico anyone who tries to cross the southern border between the legal ports of entry. Under the policy, asylumseekers would not be held for any length of time in an American facility nor would they be given due process. Once caught, they would be driven to the nearest port of entry and returned to Mexico without further detention.

Although they advised that details of the policy could change before the announcement, administration officials said the effort was critical to avert an outbreak COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, inside detention facilities along the border.

Such an outbreak could spread quickly through the immigrant population and could infect large numbers of border patrol agents, leaving the defenses at the southwestern border weakened, the officials argued.

Administration officials say many of the migrants who cross the border are already sick or lack sufficient documents detailing their medical history.

Confirmed cases of the virus in Mexico stand at 82, compared with around 5,600 in the United States and more than 470 in Canada.

Officials insisted on Tuesday that the new policy was not meant to achieve the president’s immigration goals. They said it was driven by the president’s health advisers and would be in effect only as long as the coronavirus remains a threat to the United States.

It is not clear whether the policy applies to the border with Canada.