186,700 Illegal Immigrants from 130 Nations Stopped by Trump’s Coronavirus Border Closure

President Trump’s shutdown of the southern border early in the coronavirus crisis kept nearly 190,000 illegal immigrants from 70% of the world from entering the United States and potentially spreading the disease, according to administration data.

Officials said that 186,000 from 130 of the world’s 195 nations, including China and Mexico, were stopped from entering the country since the beginning of the year. Some 42 had unknown citizenship.

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Border tightening began in March after the Centers for Disease Control told the Department of Homeland Security to block illegal immigrants from entering. Their order was one of several Trump administration efforts to stop the spread of the virus.

Officials said that in using Title 42 authority, they could send back an apprehended illegal in just a few hours instead of weeks.

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The numbers, said officials, are incredible. For example, nearly 60,000 Mexicans were stopped, as were 12,632 people from Guatemala and 8,000 people from Ecuador and El Salvador combined.

Before Title 42 kicked in, border officials stopped 98,000 from countries with the virus from entering.

Since the March 21 order began, another 88,100 were stopped.

“Had the president not exercised these authorities, many of these aliens would have entered the United States to remain in the country awaiting judicial proceedings while threatening to spread the virus,” read the review.

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