White House attributing covid-19 increase to travel from Mexico

The White House is trying to link migration from Mexico to a trend of rising coronavirus infections.

According to the Associated Press‘ interviews with two administration officials familiar with the issue, the possible link between legal travel from Mexico and rising covid-19 cases in southern states was discussed during a meeting of the administration’s coronavirus task force in the White House Situation Room last week.

COVID-19 cases are currently rising in more than 20 states nationwide. Particularly impacted are the southern regions of Arizona, Texas, and California, where the Latinx population is large and the number of cases amongst that community high. Though migration between Mexico and these states is traditionally considerable, and led the task force to investigate linkages, the U.S. and Mexico entered into a joint agreement in March to restrict non-essential travel along the countries’ border that has substantially decreased cross-border travel. However, American citizens and many others are still allowed entry to the U.S., including those conducting commercial traffic and agricultural workers, making spread not impossible.

Though the White House did not respond to a request for comment on this story, The Hill notes that Trump has long tried to used Mexico as a scapegoat for domestic problems and has used the covid-19 crisis to push forward many immigration restrictions, including blocking asylum cases, limiting on green cards, and suspending nonimmigrant visas from China. He also has reasons to deflect attention from state reopenings, testing delays, and police protests that could also be contributing to the rise in covid-19 cases.

MHC (h/t Sydney France, Colorado Law)