Lindsey Graham rips Dr. Fauci for refusing to speak out about migrant crisis at the southern border, saying 'You need to go to there and witness the biggest COVID super spreader event in the nation'
Lindsey Graham has blasted Dr. Anthony Fauci for refusing to speak out about the migrant crisis at the southern border, claiming that the thousands of new arrivals present a health risk to Americans amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The South Carolina senator made the claim Friday, after the infectious diseases expert - who serves as Joe Biden's chief medical advisor - criticized some southern states for completely reopening.
'Paging Dr. Fauci: You need to go to the southern border and witness in person the biggest super spreader event in the nation – President @JoeBiden's immigration policies,' Graham tartly tweeted.
'Thousands of migrants from Central America are coming into the country with a 10 percent COVID-positive rate. They have 900 people staying in a room built for 80 – overcrowded by more 1,000 percent'.
Graham continued in a separate tweet: 'Migrants in these facilities are intermingled and on top of each other. After being around COVID-positives, they are dumped off in Texas and taken to other parts of the country furthering the spread.'
Lindsey Graham has blasted Dr. Anthony Fauci for refusing to speak out about the migrant crisis at the southern border, claiming that the thousands of new arrivals present a health risk to Americans amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
Republicans toured this migrant holding facility in Donna, Texas last week. It is more than 700 percent full and several detainees have tested positive for COVID-19
The South Carolina senator made the claim Friday, after the infectious diseases expert - who serves as Joe Biden's chief medical advisor - criticized some southern states for completely reopening
He then directly told he doctor: 'If you are worried about the spread of COVID, you should be gravely concerned about what is happening at our southern border. There is no end in sight on this super-spreader event until these policies are changed.'
Fauci has not spoken out about the crisis at the border, despite strongly critiquing Republican governors who have lifted restrictions in Texas and Mississippi.
Graham is just one among a number of politicians - both Republican and Democrat - who have expressed concerns that overcrowded migrant detention facilities could be fueling the spread of the coronavirus,
More than 170,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern border in March - the highest number in 15 years.
That is also significantly up from the 100,000 taken into custody in February.
Graham joined 18 other Republican senators on a tour of the southern border and the packed migrant facilities last week
Graham is just one among a number of politicians - both Republican and Democrat - who have expressed concerns that overcrowded migrant detention facilities could be fueling the spread of the coronavirus
Photos taken from inside the overcrowded Donna border facility last week
More than 170,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern border in March - the highest number in 15 years
Officials from the Biden administration have said that their more 'humane' approach to immigration policy has fueled the soaring number of border crossings.
Since taking office, Biden lifted the Trump policy that forced migrants to remain in Mexico while going through the legal process to enter the US, narrowed the ICE's criteria for arrests and deportations and stopped the building of Trump's border wall.
However, the administration failed to properly prepare the resources and infrastructure need to cope with the expected surge.
Speaking last week, Biden refused to call the situation a crisis, despite human rights lawyers claiming migrant children were going hungry and showering only intermittently.
Biden defended his policies at his first formal White House press conference o, saying he would not apologize for rolling back Trump's policies.
He told reporters that 'I guess I should be flattered people are coming because I'm the nice guy'.
Graham joined 18 other Republican senators on a tour of the southern border and the packed migrant facilities last week.
Grim photographs show the inside of a new immigration facility in Texas that has already been overrun as soaring numbers of migrants cross the southern border
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