U.S. to test some immigrants for coronavirus before deportation
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[April 24, 2020]
By Ted Hesson and Mica Rosenberg
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United
States plans to begin testing some migrants in detention for COVID-19
before deporting them, an official familiar with the effort said on
Thursday, after infections among deportees in Guatemala, Haiti and
Mexico.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will acquire 2,000 tests per
month from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to
screen deportees, the official said, without mentioning the timing.
The agency is unlikely to have enough tests for all deportees and will
need to prioritize, the official said, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
ICE and HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move comes amid criticism from foreign governments about receiving
migrants infected with the coronavirus, which causes the respiratory
illness COVID-19.
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Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Jamaica and Ecuador have all
asked for testing, the U.S. official said.
"They all want it. Who wouldn't?"
Guatemala said it would stop receiving deportees from the United States
after dozens of returning migrants tested positive.
As of Thursday, President Alejandro Giammattei said at least 85 deported
Guatemalans had tested positive, around a fifth of all the reported
cases in the Central American country.
Cases of infection among deportees have also been reported in Haiti and
Mexico.
Giammattei said last week the Guatemalan suspension would remain in
place until the United States was able to certify people were being sent
back virus-free.
Later on Thursday, his government said a flight carrying deportees,
including unaccompanied minors, would be allowed to arrive on Friday due
the vulnerable state of those deported after they were apprehended at
the U.S.-Mexico border.
It called the flight an exceptional "humanitarian" act, and said the
pause on deportee flights remains in place.
ICE moved to step up testing to avoid risking more countries' pulling
back cooperation with deportation flights, the U.S. official said.
"The news articles about COVID spread in ICE facilities and individuals
who tested positive after being removed are making governments nervous
about continuing to accept flights," the official said.
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![](../images/042420pics/news_f13.jpg)
A member of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Removal
Operations (ERO) (San Francisco and Northern California) Fugitive
Operations teams is pictured during an operation in San Jose,
California, U.S. September 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kate Munsch/File Photo
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More than 250 immigrant detainees in U.S. custody have tested
positive for COVID-19. But only some 425 tests had been conducted on
the more than 32,000 detainees nationwide, an ICE spokeswoman said
on Wednesday.
Dozens of unaccompanied migrant children in HHS custody have also
tested positive for the virus, the agency has said.
As of this month, there were some 4,600 Guatemalan adults and more
than 1,100 children in U.S. custody, according to a Guatemalan
government document.
ICE removed more than 267,000 people in fiscal year 2019, which
began in October 2018.
In the midst of the pandemic, deportations continued, even as the
administration of President Donald Trump took extreme measures to
cut off the country's border to immigrants and travelers.
From March 21 to April 20, as coronavirus cases were rapidly rising
in the United States, more than 1,400 deportees were sent to
Guatemala, including families and unaccompanied minors, according to
Guatemalan Health Minister Hugo Monroy.
There were a significant number of people infected on several ICE
flights, one in late March and two last week, Monroy said. The U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was deployed to review
cases on the flights but the agency declined to provide more details
on the investigation.
Guatemala's foreign minister, Pedro Brolo, told lawmakers on Monday
the government had pushed the United States to do more.
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"We were able to tell them, 'Look we have these cases, please make
some revisions,'" he said. "We don't want people on those flights
who are healthy but who then get infected on the same flight."
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Mica Rosenberg in New
York; Additional reporting by Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City;
Editing by Richard Chang, Leslie Adler and Michael Perry)
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