Even the Biden White House, which haplessly blurts out the truth more often than you’d think, is apparently unwilling to just come out and say that its vaccination policy on migrants – which is to not require vaccination – means migrants are effectively in a unique category of people who are to be admitted to the country illegally, no matter what.
On Monday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki was asked, once again, why there is a double standard for migrants on vaccination, in contrast to Americans who face losing their jobs, and losing access to public accommodations, if they don’t get vaccinated.
According to Breitbart, “When reporters asked about the apparent double standard on vaccination requirements, White House press secretary Jen Psaki argued that illegal immigrants and migrants crossing the border were not intending to stay in the United States.”
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
The Psaki quote: “They’re not intending to stay here for a lengthy period of time I don’t think it’s the same thing. It’s not the same thing.”
The explanation from Psaki comes after she explicitly confirmed last week that Americans are to be required to be vaccinated in order to keep their jobs, but illegal migrants crossing the border are excused from any requirement.
DOOCY: Vaccination "is a requirement for people at a business with more than 100 people, but it's not a requirement for migrants at the border. Why?"@PressSec says "that's correct" without offering ANY explanation as to why. pic.twitter.com/XgJeKirfII
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 10, 2021
While it’s obvious this latest Psaki statement is just silly – exceptionally lame by any standard – there’s also specific rigor behind the critique of it.
That’s because comparing the supposedly “temporary” migration to the closest analogy – legal travel to the U.S. on a visa of one kind or another – blows it out of the water.
The same day Psaki said “temporary” migrants wouldn’t need vaccination, the Biden administration announced it’s relaxing travel restrictions for foreigners who enter the U.S. legally, if they can prove they’ve been vaccinated.
CNBC reports: “The U.S. will ease travel restrictions for international visitors who are vaccinated against Covid-19 in November, including those from the U.K. and EU, the White House said Monday.”
Proof will be required. “Noncitizens visiting the United States will have to show proof of vaccination and a negative Covid test taken within three days of departure, said Jeff Zients, who is leading the nation’s Covid response efforts for the White House.”
Though lifting the travel bans is good news, seeming to address the bizarrely inconsistent policy Hans Bader highlighted in the Biden bans this past weekend, the continued inconsistency of a vax requirement for legal travelers versus no requirement for illegal and completely unvetted migrants is obvious.
Foreign travelers to the U.S. come in on visas, which inherently have expiration dates, and thus mean their presence in the U.S. is meant to be temporary (no scare quotes needed).
Yet the visible double standard doesn’t end there, as Breitbart pointed out in the article linked above. Charlie Spiering cites a July report from Axios, which revealed that 30% of the migrants who’ve been offered vaccination while in ICE custody have refused it.
According to Axios: “ICE did not provide the exact numbers of immigrants who were offered the shot but declined. But the 30% figure has been shared internally, according to sources familiar.”
Says the report: “There have been nearly 20,000 COVID-19 cases and nine deaths among ICE detainees, according to agency data. There are currently more than 900 confirmed cases.”
That was a snapshot from July, representing information from ICE – not CBP. ICE custody is a phase of entry through which migrants increasingly do not go, as the crisis at the border expands. Many thousands of migrants in 2021 have not been held in ICE custody, but have simply been transported inland and released on America’s streets with a distant court date. Hardly any of them has been tested or offered the vaccine.
Certainly the migrants under the bridge in Del Rio, Texas are not being required to undergo COVID testing or make a choice about vaccination. The facilities don’t exist to even give them shelter.
If they were legal travelers from India, Japan, or Morocco – or, of course, Haiti, for that matter – they’d have to prove vaccination status and take a COVID test to enter the United States.
And if they were Americans, they’d be hounded and threatened with their livelihoods and their access to normal functions of the community. Jen Psaki doesn’t shrug about the 18% of Americans who haven’t been vaccinated with at least one dose (“So far, 212 million Americans have received at least one dose of a vaccine—82.2% of the adult population”). The Biden administration vilifies and blames them for all the COVID-related ills, real or concocted, that the media flog seven days a week.
