Coronavirus Is Spreading across Borders, But It Is Not a Migration Problem

Travel bans, border closures, and other migration management tools did not prove effective at blocking COVID-19 from spreading across international borders. Indeed, the virus is now in every corner of the world save Antarctica.

But as governments move away from the goal of containment toward trying to slow the spread of the virus within their countries, closing borders to nonessential travel (as the United States and Canada have done) may be a logical extension of asking people to stay home. In this new mitigation phase, travel restrictions may be a useful part of the policy toolkit in the context of social distancing and restricting all forms of human movement.

However, as explained in this Migration Policy Institute piece, border controls are only one piece of the puzzle. They must be combined with other interventions to be effective, among them medical testing, limiting contact to exposed individuals, and ensuring everyone has access to medical care in the event of infection. And these controls must be implemented in ways that advance public health goals (for instance by avoiding overcrowded screening areas at airports). There also are broader philosophical considerations, including whether immigration enforcement operations, and widespread detention of asylum seekers and other migrants awaiting immigration hearings, may conflict with public health imperatives during this crisis.

The up-to-date commentary can be found here.

KJ