Acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli is warning that thousands of migrants expected to reach the U.S.-Mexico border in the coming weeks could spark a surge in coronavirus cases.
Cuccinelli made his comments during a Monday interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
"When these caravans come up, and really the whole illegal immigrant pipeline, Sean, they are in tight conditions that they don’t control with people who don’t care about them," Cuccinelli said.
"Let’s be very clear about that, it is an absolute human Petri dish opportunity for the transmission of a demonstrably very transmissible virus, and then we have to worry about this new strain now.”
Cuccinelli said the expected surge at the border "isn’t a surprise or a shock to anyone." However, he said the Biden administration’s scaled-back immigration policies will yield "way more than you bargained for."
"While I don’t like it or appreciate it or think it’s consistent with the law, it’s not like Joe Biden snuck up on anybody with this, right?" Cuccinelli said.
"I mean, this is what he said he was going to do. And what we were saying along with the Department of Homeland Security is 'hey look, you are going to get way more than you bargained for.'"
Fox News noted that more than 3,000 Honduran migrants moved into Guatemala on Friday. They are part of a larger caravan that left earlier in the day for the U.S.
Meanwhile, Mexico continued to drill thousands of National Guard members on its southern border in an attempt discourage the caravan from crossing into Mexico.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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