It is claimed that obscure legislation is being used to unlawfully refuse entry to asylum seekers during the coronavirus pandemic
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US has issued an order encouraging the immediate deportation of all non-US citizens arriving in that country by land without valid documents citing an obscure quarantine law as justification on public health grounds.
Relying on the provisions of the 1944 Public Health Service Act (the “1944 Act”), the policy claims to permit the summary expulsion of migrants and asylum seekers but the United Nations warns that such an action would be in contravention of international law. The move has also been widely condemned by human rights, humanitarian and religious groups.
It has been suggested that the policy is an attempt to bypass US immigration law and procedure by dismantling the legal protections governing border arrivals.
The process known as “refoulement” is the forcible holding back or return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are liable to be subjected to persecution, and it violates US and international laws and treaties designed to protect people at risk of persecution, torture and trafficking. From the middle of March, under the policy approximately 80% of all migrants and refugees were expelled from the US over the border to Mexico thereby denying them the legal right to seek international protection. Many of those seeking asylum in the US were men, women and children fleeing organised crime, state sponsored repression, and extreme poverty in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
The quarantine provisions of the 1944 Act do not supersede other laws or allow selective application based on immigration status but the CDC’s order singles out persons without valid travel or immigration documents for immediate expulsion on public health grounds, but not commercial enterprises or persons with the correct documentation.
The order must be renewed every 30 days.
