Three in 10 immigrants in ICE custody decline COVID vaccine

Almost a third of Illegal immigrants under the supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) denied the opportunity to receive vaccine against corona virus.

Fox News, quote an ICE official, which confirms an Axios report from last week that the vaccine non-vaccination rate in all detention centers is 30%.

ICE reported 1,376 cases of COVID-19 among prisoners currently in custody as of Wednesday. The total number of prisoners held by ICE was 27,067 for the week ending July 16.

According to ICE data, 1,095 COVID-19 cases (79.5% of the total) have been recorded at facilities monitored by field offices in San Antonio, El Paso, Houston, Phoenix, and San Diego. . Another 69 cases have been recorded at six hotels being used as makeshift facilities for migrants.

It is unclear how many inmates have been vaccinated. However, Axios reported last week ICE distributed more than 95 percent of its original allocation of 10,000 single injections Johnson & Johnson Vaccine.

Coincidentally, vaccination rates among those in ICE custody are slightly higher than rates among eligible Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 68.6 percent of American adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 65.9 percent of eligible Americans (aged 12 years and older) or more) have received at least one dose.

Lawmakers have raised concerns that the continued increase in illegal immigrants at the southern border will lead to an increase in coronavirus cases, particularly due to the presence of the Delta variant. very contagious. More than 188,000 illegal immigrants were arrested at the US-Mexico border in June, the highest total for that month in at least 22 years.

Meanwhile, those who were stopped at the border were increasingly being released into the US. NS Post reported exclusively on Thursday that four bus companies operating out of the border city of McAllen, Texas added six daily routes to meet demand.

McAllen City manager Roy Rodriguez told the Post that demand for tickets is at a record high, and much of that is coming from immigrants caught crossing the border illegally and released during the period. future court appearances. The city manager added that a clearinghouse run by Catholic Charities has a capacity of 7,000 people a week, with half leaving by bus and the other half by plane.

So far, the Biden administration resisted the pressure from immigration advocates to Scrapbook Title 42, enacted by President Donald Trump in March 2020 and authorizing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to deport migrants to prevent the virus from spreading in detention facilities.

However, authorities have allowed unaccompanied children and some family units to stay in the US after crossing the border.