Overcrowding at southern border stations makes it difficult to impose public health precautions like social distancing, the filing said, noting that more migrants have been testing positive for the coronavirus.
Over the weekend, the administration stepped up enforcement at the southern border, sending more officers to help border officials with the lengthy processing necessary to bring migrants into the country and start making a case that they need asylum, the administration said in its court filing.The number of times border officials caught migrants crossing illegally in June was the highest monthly figure since April 2000.
Just a few weeks ago, the administration was considering a plan to lift the public health rule for migrant families as early as the end of July and later for single adults, who make up the bulk of the migrants who have been turned away since the beginning of the pandemic.Despite the public health rule, many migrant families have been allowed to enter the United States this year.While the Border Patrol typically processes migrants who cross the border illegally, the sheer number of people who have been crossing into Texas in the Rio Grande Valley — many of whom are Central American families fleeing violence and poverty — has led the administration to send officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to assist with those duties and expand testing for the coronavirus.Trump’s handling of a similar surge in 2019 when he proposed a regulation to indefinitely detain migrant families caught crossing the border illegally.