Trump considers labelling asylum seekers Measles, Tuberculosis threat: Report

As US President Donald Trump continues to push his anti-immigration rhetoric, a report suggested that his administration is considering labelling migrants as a Measles and Tuberculosis risk. The current and the former officials told The Wall Street Journal, that Trump’s team is trying to repel asylum seekers from the southern border of the US, emphasizing that they might bring these infections with them into the American territory.

The officials who asked to remain anonymous said that Trump’s advisers have been looking for evidence of disease threats from migrants that would merit their claims. The officials told WSJ that Trump’s team wants to revive a policy they used during the pandemic to keep undocumented migrants and asylum seekers afar. They believe that the US emergency health law, known as Title 42, would override the laws that guarantee migrants a right to request humanitarian protection in the US.

As per the report, the White House believe that TB and measles are the most common disease threats that can invoke Title 42. Officials involved in the endeavour told the American news outlet that the US Health and Human Services Department is sending Public Health Service officers to the border to assess the situation.

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Why the sudden focus on disease threats?

It is pertinent to note that the state of Kansas is struggling with a TB outbreak. Meanwhile, measles cases have been reported in several border states including Texas. However, it isn’t known whether these cases have any connection with the migrant crisis at the border. Not only this, the public health officials have also maintained that the general risk from both diseases remains extremely low.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order banning migrants from requesting asylum because he claimed that the southern borders were under “invasion”. People close to Trump have said that his administration is now looking for immigration policies in case the court strikes down his order. Earlier this week, the American Civil Liberties Union along with other human rights groups sued to halt Trump’s executive order.

It is pertinent to note that if everything goes as planned, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Trump’s nominee for health secretary, would need to approve any sort of health-emergency measure for measles or TB if he is confirmed by the Senate. In the past, Kennedy has questioned whether vaccines for measles are safe and whether the threat of measles is exaggerated. However, during his Senate confirmation meeting last week, Kennedy said that he supports the measles vaccine.

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Taking a page out of an old book

Back in 2018, Trump’s adviser, Stephen Miller, first suggested using Title 42 to essentially halt asylum at the border when flu cases rose in the Border Patrol detention facilities. At that time, White House lawyers resisted the plan, but the Trump administration enacted it two years later during the pandemic. The officials at that time noted that holding migrants at crowded detention facilities long enough to consider their legal claims risked exacerbating the spread of COVID-19.

When the Biden administration took the reign, they maintained the policy for several years. However, the plan soon became less effective as Mexico took back fewer migrants a day. The policy was also litigated at a federal appeals court where the court maintained that Title 42 does not override protections against sending back migrants at risk of persecution or torture.

The court emphasised that the country’s immigration law states that people are allowed to ask for humanitarian protection in the US no matter how they enter.