A new report from Fox News states that the number of illegal immigrants testing positive for COVID-19 in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector in Texas skyrocketed in the first two weeks of July, marking a 900% increase compared to the previous 14 months.
One hundred and thirty-five detainees tested positive in the area, a prime target for illegal immigrants hoping to cross into the United States. “This information was obtained exclusively from a slide distributed to RGV Border Patrol managers to share with agents to help them protect themselves from the virus,” Fox News reported.
Typically, 2,000 illegal immigrants are caught every day in the RVG sector. “Currently, the majority of those encountered are turned back due to Title 42 public health protections put in place during the Trump administration,” Fox News noted. Title 42 allows the Biden administration to expel apprehended illegal immigrants because of COVID-19 concerns.
Last week, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who introduced the SHIELD Act, which promises to codify Title 42, blasted President Biden after reports had surfaced that Biden wanted to end Title 42. “This is lunacy,” said Cruz. “It is lawless and the only reason Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are doing it is because they are captive to the extreme radical left of their party.”
“You know the leading paper in Washington (The Washington Post) has as its slogan ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness,’” Cruz began. “Joe and Kamala want darkness on the disaster that they have created. And not only that, they’re proposing to make it worse. Joe Biden is now talking about ending Title 42.”
“Title 42 is the tool that has allowed us to prevent people with COVID from being released into this country,” Cruz explained. “We’re in a pandemic; Joe Biden likes to talk about what a priority he puts on the pandemic. Understand this: if the Biden administration ends Title 42, they will be releasing illegal immigrants in your community who are COVID-positive.”
“We’re seeing COVID positivity rates rise in South Texas; we’re seeing COVID positivity rising in Laredo; we’re seeing COVID positivity rising in San Antonio,” Cruz noted. “Just yesterday I spoke with the mayor of Uvalde, Texas, who said as a result of the illegal immigrants being released in Uvalde, they’re seeing COVID positivity spiking up and Biden want to release even more COVID positive illegal immigrants.”
‘This is lunacy,” he stated. “It is lawless and the only reason Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are doing it is because they are captive to the extreme radical left of their party. Everyone else who believes in common sense ought to say, enough is enough, and let’s not make the pandemic worse by making this crisis at the border even worse than it already is.”
In late June, U.S. Reps. Yvette Herrell (R-NM) and Brian Babin (R-TX) wrote in a letter to the CDC and the Department of Homeland Security, “As the situation at the border continues to worsen, Title 42 has been the only thing preventing your border crisis from turning into a complete and uncontrollable catastrophe. If Title 42 is lifted, a surge of illegal immigration will hit our border, dwarfing what is happening today.”
Former acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan blasted the Biden administration earlier this month, saying, “But they’re still going to open it up to people in these countries to come from, to transverse through to get to our country, and allow them in — it’s absolutely endangering American lives and once again shows this administration puts America last and everyone else first.”