Texas Border City Says More than 7,000 COVID-Positive Migrants Released Since February

The Texas border city of McAllen says more than 7,000 COVID-positive migrants have been released into the city since February, and more than 1,500 in the past week — the latest example of growing concern about the potential impact of the border crisis on efforts to control COVID-19 in the U.S.

In a statement announcing the building of new temporary shelters to deal with a “rapidly escalating” surge of immigrants being released into the border city, McAllen warned of the release of thousands of migrants with COVID-19.

“Since mid-February of 2021 there have been over 7,000 confirmed COVID-19 positive immigrants released into the city of McAllen by [Customs and Border Protection], including over 1,500 new cases in the past seven days,” the statement said.

Immigrants released by CBP are dropped off with Catholic Charities and tested for COVID by a third party. If they test positive, they are asked to quarantine and offered a room at a quarantine site.

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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, cited the numbers announced by McAllen as he tore into the Biden administration for its handling of the crisis at the southern border.

“That is unacceptable and they keep doing it,” Cruz said on “America Reports” on Wednesday. “Joe Biden likes to talk about this pandemic, well I’ll tell you what, the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris was a super spreader event because their open border is endangering not just the people of Texas but people all across the country.”

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