Biden Gives Up on Mandatory Vaccines for Migrants

SOUTHMOST, Texas—The Biden administration appears to have abandoned its effort to ensure all migrants apprehended by immigration authorities are inoculated against COVID-19, just a month after the White House said vaccines would be mandatory.

According to several individuals familiar with the matter, some of whom requested anonymity to speak candidly, Border Patrol officials in the Rio Grande Valley are exempting migrants from such countries as Guatemala, Haiti, and Mexico from vaccine mandates. And migrants from Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela must only receive one dose of the vaccine before they are released into the U.S. interior.

DHS in March issued a directive that some migrants in seven U.S. regions, including the Rio Grande Valley, must receive COVID-19 vaccinations or be placed into expedited deportation proceedings, the New York Times reported. That policy appears to have been scrapped—or at least modified—in favor of a voluntary vaccination program of one shot.

“It depends on the shift, to be honest,” said one individual familiar with the matter. “You talk to guys who work around midnight, and they’re not vaccinating anyone. It’s really more of an optional policy.”- READ MORE