Immigration restrictions have not only failed to significantly limit COVID’s spread but may have likely increased it, according to George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin, who called to allow migrants in the country in exchange for their willingness to vaccinate, suggesting they may “make great technological and medical breakthroughs” if permitted, while admitting sealing of borders “might arrest the spread of a virus” though it is “rarely feasible or defensible.”
In his piece, titled “Here’s why we should end pandemic migration restrictions” and published in the Hill on Friday, Somin began by describing the “unprecedentedly severe migration restrictions” enacted in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
“As a result of measures adopted under the Trump administration last year, the U.S. became more closed to immigration than at any other time in its history,” he wrote, adding that the Biden administration has only lifted a portion of those restrictions.
My just-published @thehill article on why pandemic-related immigration restrictions should be abolished – and probably should never have been adopted in the first place. https://t.co/OvOtgiFNUz
— Ilya Somin (@IlyaSomin) October 29, 2021
While the stated rationale for such measures was “the need to stop the spread of the virus,” according to Somin “migration bans did little to protect public health — and caused enormous suffering” in reality.
Calling on the Biden administration to “immediately lift remaining pandemic-related migration restrictions” and Congress to “bar such policies for the future,” he decried restrictions that had “barred entry to nearly all immigrants seeking permanent residency, suspended the issuance of most work visas, slashed refugee admissions to their lowest level ever,” and used public health powers to expel “nearly all asylum seekers at the southern border.”
Though, he admitted, many such restrictions have been lifted since, he criticized President Biden for having kept former President Trump’s “more egregious policies, most notably the Title 42 expulsions,” a public health provision allowing for the prohibition of entry and swift removal of those potentially posing a health risk.
He also claimed that restrictions “failed dismally” at containing the spread of COVID-19 to the U.S., where over 750,000 American deaths have been attributed to the virus.
“The continuation of many restrictions did not prevent the more contagious Alpha and Delta variants from swiftly establishing themselves here, either,” he wrote. “At best, restrictions only briefly delayed the entry of the virus.”
Claiming many public health experts have condemned the Title 42 expulsions, noting “they do little to stop the spread of disease and may even facilitate its spread,” Somin quoted infectious diseases specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top adviser on COVID policy under both the current and previous administrations, saying that the expulsion of immigrants “is not the solution to an outbreak.”
Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the order for the policy, Somin claimed it “likely did so under political pressure from the Trump White House, against the advice of its own experts.”
Not only, according to him, have such immigration policies failed to meaningfully reduce the virus’ spread, Somin suggests they may have even increased it.
“Indeed, migration restrictions may do more to spread the disease than contain it,” he wrote.
“By making it nearly impossible for most migrants to enter the United States legally, we have created a large population of undocumented migrants who have strong incentives to avoid vaccination and testing, lest they come to the attention of authorities seeking to deport them,” he continued.
He also noted that “poor sanitation” in migration detention facilities used to facilitate deportation “can foster the spread of disease.”
However, Somin admitted, the notion that restrictions on migration can halt the spread of disease “isn’t completely wrong.”
“If a nation could be hermetically sealed against nearly all outside entry, that might arrest the spread of a virus,” he wrote, admitting that despite the effectiveness of a nation’s “hermetic sealing,” it was “rarely feasible or defensible.”
Arguably, Australia managed to constrain the entry of COVID by adopting such a draconian policy and then combining it with harsh restrictions on internal freedom of movement and civil liberties. Measures short of that, however, are unlikely to prevent highly contagious diseases from reaching our shores. And hermetic sealing is rarely feasible or defensible.
He then suggested allowing migrants in the country in exchange for their willingness to vaccinate.
“With vaccines readily available, any good that might be achieved by migration restrictions can more easily be attained by requiring vaccination in exchange for the right to live and work in the United States,” he wrote, calling migrant vaccination upon entry a potential “replacement for pandemic migration restrictions.”
Noting the “immense suffering” migration restrictions have inflicted on those “fleeing poverty and oppression” from countries such as Venezuela and Haiti, Somin wrote of the potential advances immigrants could make given the “disproportionate contributions to medical, scientific and technological innovations” in the past by immigrants to the U.S. and Europe.
“Immigration restrictions may forestall additional scientific advances by trapping talented people in societies where they lack the necessary opportunities to contribute to them,” he wrote.
“Some of the migrants the U.S. government barred during the past 18 months might have gone on to make great technological and medical breakthroughs of their own,” he speculated.
Somin concluded by calling to “terminate” pandemic migration restrictions still in force and “establish tighter safeguards against the enactment of similar policies by future presidents.”
Last year, Somin argued for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would repeal the “ridiculous” requirement for presidents to be natural-born citizens, and instead called for allowing immigrants the right to become president.
The essay comes as a surge in migrants at the southern border sees border crossers testing positive for COVID-19 continuing to travel into the United States.
A leaked presidential briefing document from August revealed that 20 percent of unaccompanied migrant children who illegally crossed the border tested positive for COVID-19 after being released into communities by Border Patrol.
The previous month, a Democrat border county judge who opposed a state disaster declaration over the recent migrant surge criticized the Biden administration after news broke about the regular releases of migrants with COVID-19 into his jurisdiction.
“Ill-conceived policies by both the federal and state governments are beginning to have serious consequences…,” Judge Richard Cortez said in his statement. “I call on federal immigration officials to stop releasing infected migrants into our community.”
In September, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed that thousands of Haitian migrants crossing the Southern border were not tested for coronavirus prior to being released into the United States.
Last month, over 16,000 migrants who tested positive for COVID-19 while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody were released into the United States, according to an agency law enforcement source, who added that the figures only include those migrants tested by ICE.
The Biden administration, which has denied a “crisis” at the U.S.-Mexico border, did not mandate any of the migrants be vaccinated before their release, according to the source which also noted the releases occurred in multiple cities across the U.S. between January 2021 and early October.
In September, House Democrats rejected a plan that would have required immigrants to the U.S. to receive one of three available COVID vaccines despite mandates on American citizens.
Last year, the Trump administration used a healthcare law to help deport 80 percent of migrants within two hours of arriving at the southern border.
Congress’ Title 42 law gives the CDC authority to order border agents to quickly deport migrants before they can spread COVID to them, migrants, and others in the U.S., a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Breitbart News.
The fast-track deportation rules are needed to prevent migrants from spreading the virus throughout detention centers along the border, he added.
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein
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