Under coronavirus immigration measures, U.S. is expelling border-crossers to Mexico in an average of 96 minutesWashington Post, Mar 30, 2020
Migrants who cross into the United States illegally are being expelled to Mexico in an average of 96 minutes under emergency coronavirus measures now in force across the U.S. southern border, according to three U.S. officials with knowledge of the latest government statistics.
The pandemic has allowed the U.S. Border Patrol to implement the kind of rapid-fire deportation system President Trump has long extolled as his preferred approach to immigration enforcement.
Under the new rules, U.S. agents are processing migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras “in the field†before they are able to set foot inside a U.S. Border Patrol station. The migrants are then whisked back to the border and sent into Mexico.
The migrants are not given medical exams while in U.S. custody, which is one of the reasons agents are able to send them back to Mexico so quickly, according to one Customs and Border Protection official who, like the others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the process because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
“The goal is to minimize the exposure to the alien, agent and our country,†the CBP official said.
The flow of unauthorized border crossings has plunged since the emergency measures were implemented on March 21, down from more than 1,000 per day to fewer than 600 on Sunday, the latest statistics show.
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