The Department of Homeland Security will be able to initially provide up to 2,700 vaccines a day, CNN said in a statement to Congress, increasing to 6,000 a day by the end of May.
The decision comes as the Biden administration reconsiders a Trump-era emergency rule known as Title 42, which allowed authorities to remove migrants detained at the border for more than two years.
As the pandemic landscape unfolds, discussions on ending this order have accelerated, sources told CNN, although it has also sparked concerns about a possible increase.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to release its latest assessment for the beginning in the coming days.
Offering the Covid-19 vaccine to immigrants on the southern border of the United States would be an extension of what the Biden administration is already doing to immigrants subject to the Trump-era “stay in Mexico” policy. People who are subject to this policy and return to Mexico are offered the Covid-19 vaccine. As of March 23, more than 1,400 migrants have been sent back to Mexico as part of a “stay in Mexico” policy.
Last year, senior White House officials rejected a proposal to vaccinate immigrants – a plan aimed at addressing public health concerns – because they thought it would encourage more people to come to the United States, sources told CNN.
Now, the administration is moving forward.
“The effort to vaccinate those in our care and care, which is a best practice for public health, has been going on for many months. DHS has already taken steps to offer COVID-19 vaccines to non-citizens under detention (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) “. said the department in a statement.
“In order to further ensure public health and the safety of border communities, the workforce and migrants, DHS will expand these efforts and begin providing age-appropriate COVID-19 vaccines to non-citizens under CBP detention at the southwestern land border. was deemed inadmissible under Title 8 “, he added.
Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz told CNN last week that discussions about offering Covid-19 vaccines to migrants continue.
“I think vaccines are definitely something that will be very, very important, especially in the affected communities,” Ortiz said. “We need to ensure that as we arrest people and hand them over to an NGO or set them free in the community, we have created them for proper care.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
