COVID-19 Cases Coming in Through Southern Border: Stephen Miller

White House senio­r advis­er Steph­en Mille­r looks on as President Donald Trump addresses reporters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington D.C., on July 15, 2020. Anna Moneymaker-Pool/Getty Images

President Joe Biden’s border and immigration policies are allowing COVID-19 to spread throughout the United States from the porous southern border, former Trump administration adviser Stephen Miller said on Sunday.

During an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Miller, founder of America First Legal, took aim at the president’s decision to suspend a Trump-era policy of forcing illegal aliens to return to their country of origin amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden suspended federal Title 42 order and has released unaccompanied children and families into the United States, where they ostensibly await immigration court dates.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), since Biden took office, around one million illegal immigrants have been apprehended at the southern border. In June, agents apprehended 188,829 people illegally crossing the border, up from 180,034 in May, according to CBP.

“A central part of the strategy after the pandemic hit was an authority known as Title 42,” Miller told show host Maria Bartiromo, explaining that the rule had allowed border officials to remove individuals who illegally crossed the U.S. southern border posing a serious COVID-19 risk. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

“The principle of it is very simple, which is that during a pandemic, if you come into this country, your very presence here, if you enter unlawfully, is a threat to public health and full stop, you go home,“ Miller continued. ”There’s no process, there’s no procedure, there’s no asylum. You are removed either to Mexico or to a third-party country or your home country.”

Miller said he’s concerned that these individuals would then go on to infect other immigrants, border patrol agents, and community members.

“There is no way to safely conduct illegal immigration during a pandemic,” Miller said, adding that he believes it is the most “unsafe” form of travel.

Revoking Title 42 has meant that every month, vast amounts of unaccompanied minors and many families have been able to enter the country and spread COVID-19 throughout the United States, Miller continued.

He also warned that Americans aren’t guaranteed protection even if border officials test immigrants who enter the United States, noting that COVID-19 can remain in a person’s system for many days before registering a positive test.

Those who test negative are crammed together with other illegal aliens, including those whose tests may return positive.

With reports of rapid spreading of the Lambda variant in South America, Miller added, “This administration is bringing variants into this country ... This is an attack on the health of every citizen.”

In March, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas admitted during a hearing that some illegal immigrants were not tested for the virus or expelled at the border.

Miller’s remarks follow a lawsuit (pdf) that he filed in June with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to stop the Biden administration’s catch-and-release border policy, claiming that it’s allowing COVID-19-infected illegal immigrants to enter the country.

“At the same time the Administration is urging Americans to get vaccinated, they are resettling thousands of unvaccinated illegal aliens into their cities, towns, and schools—and placing the cost and burden of all healthcare services for these new arrivals in the taxpayer tab,” Miller said in a statement about the lawsuit at the time.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, echoed Miller’s remarks last week, saying that “part of the problem” with surging COVID-19 cases in the United States is unvaccinated immigrants crossing the southern border and “getting dispersed throughout the country.”

Meanwhile Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who has been critical of the White House’s immigration policies, said on Sunday that “something has to change.”

“Our DHS agents, & border communities, are overwhelmed & must be prioritized. DHS will again encounter over 180,000 immigrants at the southern border during July—adding to the more than 1M immigrants that have arrived at the southern border in FY21,” Cuellar said on Twitter.

Separately, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has accused the Biden administration of knowingly importing COVID-19 “into Texas from across the border—willfully exposing Texans and Americans alike.”

“Until President Biden and his Administration do their jobs to enforce the laws of our nation and protect Americans, the State of Texas will continue to step up to protect our communities and uphold the rule of law,” Abbott said last week.

The Biden administration didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times.