Only a small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of migrants processed by the United States this year have received the COVID-19 vaccine while in federal custody, according to research using unpublished government data obtained by CBS News.
Half of them are unaccompanied children.
The data reveals that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) refused to offer vaccines, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without immunization when they were deported or released in the United States.
Unlike other agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
CBP ignored calls from health experts to vaccinate people in their custody.
This despite the fact that there were plans in this regard since the summer, according to the aforementioned medium.
ICE and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have administered doses of vaccines to more than
90,000 immigrants in deportation proceedings
, according to the data obtained.
Migrant families sit together as they wait to board a Border Patrol bus after crossing the Rio Grande into the United States in La Joya, Texas.Brandon Bell / Getty Images
The CBP had to have developed a plan until July 31 to vaccinate the migrants.
However, it did not comply and just this week, reports CBS, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS, for its acronym in English) said that CBP planned to offer vaccines to migrants returned to Mexican border cities under the Remain in Mexico program.
.
The delay in CBP's action has been criticized by health experts.
"Denying this population access to vaccines
is incredibly inconsiderate and dangerous
for the individuals themselves and for anyone who comes in contact with them," said Ranit Mishori, a Georgetown University professor and advisor to Physicians for Human Rights.
The reasons why CBP refused to vaccinate migrants have not been clarified, but according to the investigation, an internal DHS memo noted that it was because "
vaccines can be seen as an attraction
to cross the border without authorization
."
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Although ICE has vaccinated migrants, at least
21,970 have refused to receive doses of the vaccine.
In the case of migrant children, about 46,480 received at least one dose of the vaccine while they were in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, according to the aforementioned media.
As of this Wednesday, 8,090 unaccompanied children had received the two doses of the vaccine.
[This is how the radical change that eliminates many deportations and mass raids by ICE will work]
Felipe González, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, said last month that it would be "
a grave violation of the human rights of migrants
" for the United States to deny them vaccinations as an immigration policy issue.
