RPT - Migrants Risk COVID-19 Exposure On Border Due To US Violations Of WHO Rules - Rights Group

EL PASO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd April, 2020) Asylum-seekers from Mexico under the Migrants Protection Protocols (MPP) program face a high risk to COVID-19 exposure due to requirements that violate guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center Executive Director Linda Rivas told Sputnik.

More than 56,000 asylum-seeking migrants have been subject to the MPP program, which requires them to stay in Mexico while they wait for their asylum court dates in the United States.

"As the situation intensifies, you have this administration requiring migrants to go to the bridge [port of entry] at hours such as 4:00 a.m. [and] 5:00 a.m... to get a piece of paper because they never established an efficient way to communicate and inform people of any changes in their court [date]," Rivas said. "So you still are placing migrants at risk, placing women, children, sick people at risk of COVID exposure by having to present at the bridge in a large crowd that is going to go against what the CDC and the World Health Organization would recommend."

The CDC and WHO have issued guidelines advising people to avoid areas of large gatherings and to practice social-distancing such as maintaining at least three feet of distance from others especially from individuals who are coughing and sneezing.

Taylor Levy, a private immigration attorney in El Paso, said via Twitter on Tuesday that at least 60 asylum-seeking migrants were closely gathered on an international bridge in Juarez, Mexico early in the morning waiting to hear about their new MPP hearing appointments.

The city of Juarez currently has seven confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the Chihuahua State Health Department. Mexico has a total of 1,215 confirmed cases with 29 deaths, according to the John Hopkins University coronavirus resource center.

"That's very troubling for us as advocates to see that they must go forward and present at that time even though they know that there's going to be no court date," Rivas said.

Rivas believes the Trump administration is taking the opportunity with the pandemic to further gut asylum protections.

"So that's with turning people away at the border, their most recent iteration of that said that even migrant children would also be turned away," Rivas said. "So there's a lot of egregious, illegal and cruel things happening right now and they are stating it is COVID-related but it is unfortunately placing migrants at even more harm."

On March 26, the National Association of Immigration Judges, the American Federation of Government Employees Local 511 - which is an ICE Professionals Union - and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, among others, sent a letter to US Attorney General William Barr requesting that the Justice Department immediately close all 68 immigration courts temporarily due to the pandemic.

The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review announced on Wednesday that it has postponed all MPP hearings scheduled through May 1 due to the pandemic, adding that asylum-seeking migrants with canceled court dates are required to present themselves at the ports of entry to receive hearing notices with new hearing dates.

Moreover, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on Monday that there are four migrant detainees who have tested positive for COVID-19 and detainees who were in contact with them have been isolated and are being monitored for symptoms.

In addition, ICE said five ICE employees and personnel working in ICE detention facilities have tested positive for COVID-19 while 28 ICE employees not assigned to detention facilities have also tested positive for COVID-19.

As of Wednesday, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world has reached over 880,000, with more than 44,000 people having died and some 185,000 having recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus resource center. The United States currently has more than 199,000 confirmed cases, according to the data.