TX Gov Rejects Federal Aid To Test Migrants For COVID

The Texas Tribune reports:

Gov. Greg Abbott appeared this week to rebuff help from the federal government to give coronavirus testing to migrants before they are released from federal custody, saying it’s a federal responsibility to screen immigrants coming into Texas. The announcement came after Abbott, a Republican, repeatedly accused the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden of “releasing immigrants in South Texas that have been exposing Texans to COVID.”

He argued in a statement that border security is “strictly a federal responsibility,” and thus the Biden administration alone should “test, screen, and quarantine” migrants who may have COVID-19. “Instead of doing their job, the Biden Administration suggested it did not have the sufficient resources and, remarkably, asked Texas to assist them in aiding their illegal immigration program,” Abbott said. “Texas refused.”

Read the full article.

So Texas wants sheriffs to act as fed immigration officers but doesn’t want money to test migrants for COVID because not state’s role? Gov. Greg Abbott rejects aid from Biden administration in dispute over coronavirus testing for migrants https://t.co/sE9jBJ8n6s via @TexasTribune

— T.L. Langford (@tlangford) March 6, 2021