As a matter of public health, the CDC should keep its order in place that bans illegal immigrants from entering the United States during the coronavirus pandemic, Ken Cuccinelli, Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, told Newsmax TV Friday.
The order calls for "SUSPENDING INTRODUCTION OF CERTAIN PERSONS FROM COUNTRIES WHERE A COMMUNICABLE DISEASE EXISTS," which includes Mexico.
"The vast majority of people coming across our border are Mexican. We're catching 400 or 500 of them a day. There's probably another several hundred that are getting away. That's obviously a significant public health concern," Cuccinelli told Sean Spicer on "Spicer & Co."
Border patrol agents have been turning away illegal immigrants who cross the border since the CDC order went into effect.
In March, roughly 7,700 illegal immigrants were turned away. But Cuccinelli said the wall has helped to slow illegal immigrants from getting across the border, which keeps more criminals out and U.S. citizens safe.
"It demonstrates the value of the wall. It's obviously a clear impediment to smugglers, be they human smugglers or drug smugglers," he said.
"There is a little bit of a cat and mouse battle that goes on between the border patrol agents and the evil folks on the other side who try to break our laws, and cutting through the wall is just one aspect of it."
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