(Headline USA) Democrat senators are demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement provide detained illegal immigrants with COVID-19 booster shots and “vaccine education.”
In a letter to acting ICE Director Tae Johnson last week, the 12 Democratic senators argued vaccines must be made available to illegal immigrants because of the rise in positive cases in ICE detention centers.
“In spite of the CDC’s recommendations, ICE is failing to provide COVID-19 booster shots to people in ICE detention,” they wrote, according to Fox News.
“As of January 6, 2022, ICE has administered only 671 booster shots nationwide, to the over 22,000 detainees nationwide in ICE custody each day,” the Democrats continued. “Advocates have reported to us that booster shots are not being made available to individuals in detention and that even educational materials about booster shots are not uniformly available.”
ICE must identify and provide eligible detainees with vaccine boosters, inform detention facilities that they must “immediately and routinely” provide vaccines, and “promote accessible vaccine and booster education for all detained people” in their “preferred language,” the Democrats demanded.
The Democrats who signed the letter include Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Ed Markey, D-Mass., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Ben Cardin, D-Md.
The Biden administration has come under fire in the past for not requiring illegal immigrants to be vaccinated against COVID-19, especially since it passed a policy requiring all foreign travelers crossing the U.S.’s borders by land to show proof of vaccination before entering the country.
When asked why that policy does not apply to illegal immigrants or migrants seeking asylum, White House press secretary Jen Psaki argued they don’t need to show proof of vaccination because they are not “intending to stay here for a lengthy period of time.”
“It’s not the same thing,” she claimed.
