WASHINGTON – Since the coronavirus mushroomed into a global health crisis this winter, President Trump has used the aggressive practices that public health experts have recommended to combat the pandemic to advance some of the most stringent immigration actions at the nation’s southern border since he took office.
Federal officials have implemented the tightest border controls in decades, instantly deporting or turning away refugees, asylum seekers, and young migrants attempting to cross into the United States without parents or guardians. At the same time, the administration has moved so slowly to release people from detention centers and shutdown immigration courts, it has sparked legal challenges from immigrant rights groups that argue the centers and courts have become infection hot spots.
In effect, the pandemic has allowed Trump, using his authority to respond to a national emergency, to enact the type of strict immigration crackdown he had been unable to put in place because of opposition from Congress and the courts. The outbreak also could allow Trump to make China a new focus for his anti-immigrant message in an election year, adding to the fears he has stoked about Latinos at the southern border.
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