Fact Check: Examining Claims of Immigrants Driving COVID-19 Rise
False
In July, Representative Boebert wrote a tweet implying “illegal immigration” was the cause of rising COVID-19 cases across the country, which ignores other factors that have led to increased COVID-19 cases over the summer and creates a false relationship between immigration and COVID-19.
On July 14, 2022, Representative Lauren Boebert tweeted about the “millions and millions of untested, unvaccinated illegals entering the country” being responsible for the recent rise in COVID-19 cases around the country this summer.
In March 2021, Representative Lauren Boebert introduced two bills related to border security: “Secure the Southern Borders Act” and “No Amnesty Act” to increase border security and nullify President Biden’s Amnesty Act respectively. Her tweet can be attributed to her position against the end of Title 42 – a policy that prevents illegal aliens with communicable diseases like COVID-19 from entering the country.
Title 42 went into effect in late March 2020, and was supposed to end on May 23rd, 2022; however, several states sued the federal government to prevent the CDC from rescinding Title 42. Judge Robert Summerhays of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction preventing the termination of Title 42 until the case ends. Title 42 is therefore still in place. In 2022 to date, the CBP and Office of Field Operations (OFO) have reported 861,736 expulsions under Title 42.
Neither Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) nor the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published data specifically on COVID-19 rates among migrants. Several doctors and officials at the CDC have stated several times when Title 42 was implemented that there was no correlation between increased COVID-19 cases and migrants.
There is no verifiable information that immigrants and asylum seekers at the border are responsible for the recent COVID-19 case rise.
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References and Further Reading:
Associated Press. LA Times. Pence ordered borders closed in March over objection of CDC experts. 5 October 2020.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Demographic Trends of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the US were reported to CDC. August 10, 2022
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert. Border Security.
John Gramlich. Pew Research. Key facts about Title 42, the pandemic policy that has reshaped immigration enforcement at U.S.-Mexico border. April 27, 2022
US Customs and Border Protection. Nationwide Encounters. July 15, 2022
US Customs and Border Protection. Nationwide Enforcement Encounters: Title 8 Enforcement Actions and Title 42 Expulsions 2022. July 15, 2022
Uriel J. Garcia. Texas Tribune. Judge blocks Biden administration from lifting public health order used to quickly expel migrants. 20 May 2022.
