By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Biden Administration announced Monday that it will not conduct routine immigration arrests at coronavirus vaccination centers.
The vaccination sites will be considered
"sensitive places"
and in general immigration agents will not make arrests in them, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
The agency noted that the arrests will only be carried out under "the most extraordinary of circumstances."
[Biden asks the Supreme Court to reject cases about the border wall and the 'Stay in Mexico' program]
Drivers by appointment enter the COVID-19 vaccination megacenter installed in the Dodger Stadium parking lot in Los Angeles, on Saturday, January 30, 2021. (AP Photo / Damian Dovarganes) AP
The announcement is yet
another example of the more compromised approach to illegal immigration by
the administration of President Joe Biden, which has moved swiftly to reverse the major immigration policies of its predecessor.
In the statement, the Department of Homeland Security indicated that it encourages everyone, "regardless of immigration status," to receive the vaccine if they are eligible, and noted that the agency and its federal partners
"fully support equal access to COVID-19 vaccines and the vaccine distribution centers for undocumented immigrants ”
.
[Children who cross the border alone will be deported]
Homeland Security
also oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA), which is collaborating with other federal government agencies to set up vaccination centers across the country.
The government has viewed health clinics, as well as schools and places of worship, as sensitive places where it would not regularly carry out arrests.
Over the years, that has caused some people to take refuge in churches to avoid deportation.
