WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th April, 2020) US immigration enforcement has immediately turned back less than 10,000 migrants since March 21 under a new Federal public health order that went into effect amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson told Sputnik.
"From March 21 to April 9, we have had under 10,000 expulsions," the spokesperson said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a public health order in March that allowed immigration authorities to immediately return migrants caught illegally crossing the US border without processing them at immigration facilities.
On Monday, CBP confirmed that 160 employees throughout the United States have tested positive for COVID-19.
Moreover, data published by CBP on Thursday showed that apprehensions on the US-Mexico border have dropped amid the pandemic. Border apprehensions on the southern US border dropped from 36,514 in February to 33,937 in March. In four of the last five years, border apprehensions usually increased during the same period.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States has exceeded 450,000 with 16,267 deaths due to the disease, according to data published by Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.
