US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that all migrants and asylum seekers crossing over into the US, illegally from Mexico will be removed from the US to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
During a Press briefing, Trump said that a health statute which empowers the Surgeon General of the US to deport people and withhold permission for goods from certain nations to deal with communicable diseases shall be invoked to deal with the Coronavirus.
However, there are no immediate plans to seal the border with Mexico.
Also Read: COVID-19: US closes northern border with Canada for all non-essential travel
Trump said:
“ We are not going to close it, but we are invoking a certain provision that will allow us great latitude as to what we do”.
It is still unclear as to how the US intends to send back the illegal migrants back to Mexico, as this will require the cooperation of the Mexican authorities. The Foreign Ministry of Mexico refused to comment on the new developments.
Canada on March 18 also announced the shutting of its border with the US amidst the virus and banned all non-essential travel.
The US Customs and Border Protection authorities had intercepted 30,000 illegal migrants from the Mexican border in February.
The US is in a state of lockdown with emergency like situation in many states such as New York.
Amidst this outbreak, the US and China are also in the midst of a war of words regarding the origins of the virus.