An Exclusive From the Washington Examiner
By Anna Biaritelli
The Biden administration is no longer vaccinating migrants in custody at the southern border ahead of their release into the United States, according to the federal agency and a vaccine provider contracted by the U.S. government.
The federal government rolled back its flu and COVID-19 vaccination operation for migrants who come across the U.S.-Mexico border illegally last September, just as the flu winter season commenced, according to Tom Douglas, vice president of business development and government relations for vaccine contractor Universal Healthcare.
”The operations came to a halt in September of 2023,” Douglas said in a phone call.
CBP confirmed to the Washington Examiner that migrants no longer have the option to get flu or COVID-19 vaccines. A federal contract with AMI, whose subcontractor Universal Healthcare fulfilled the contract, has ended, CBP said.
However, Douglas said it is imperative for the government not only to restart those vaccinations but expand them given the diseases being seen inside the country and traced back to migrants who came from the border.
“This is not only a public health emergency, it’s now evolved. This is a breach of national security. Now that we’re seeing all these eradicated diseases, I mean, we don’t need to talk about influenza and COVID anymore. We need to be talking about tuberculosis, measles, mumps,” Douglas said in a phone interview this week. “We can’t continue to do nothing. And so a quick and inexpensive vaccination of that is the most effective health care tool that we have.”
Rare Diseases Making a Comeback
Since March 4, the Chicago Health Department has confirmed 64 cases of measles that it said originated at one of the city’s dozens of migrant housing facilities. Since then, the city has paid to provide more than 26,000 measles vaccines to migrants and some Chicago residents.
In April, Chicago officials confirmed tuberculosis cases among migrants who had just arrived from the southern border.
But Chicago is not an outlier. Migrants departing the border to wait for years in the U.S. to appear before an immigration judge have largely flocked to sanctuary cities, typically northern or coastal states that do not turn immigrants arrested for non-immigration offenses over to federal officials for deportation proceedings.
Many of these cities have faced new problems as a result of the influx, including how to house, feed, employ, and handle public health issues related to the millions that have shown up since 2021.
The millions of migrants that the Biden administration has ordered Border Patrol to catch then release may travel on any public transportation and largely rely on commercial flights and buses. The Department of Homeland Security has not disclosed the exact number of migrants let into the country.
California has seen a “substantial” increase in tuberculosis cases between 2019 and 2023, according to its Department of Public Health in January.
In August 2023, New York City’s health commissioner Ashwin Vasan wrote in a letter to medical professionals that “many people who recently arrived in NYC have lived in or traveled through countries with high rates of TB.”
New York City spent $28 million in September 2023 to hire four dozen medical workers to help the city detect and prepare for outbreaks, including new variants of COVID-19 and “polio and Ebola.”
Illness and Disease at the Border
Routine vaccinations beyond the flu, such as for measles or tuberculosis, had not been provided to migrants in Border Patrol custody.
Border Patrol is a federal law enforcement organization tasked with intaking, processing, and transferring or releasing migrants within three days of their apprehension. Organization facilities are not intended as long-term housing.
Last year, the Border Patrol documented one confirmed case of measles among roughly 2 million migrants apprehended, the organization confirmed to the Washington Examiner, though it did not disclose the extent to which it tests migrants for any illness or disease.
“CBP officers and agents prioritize the health and safety of all those they encounter by providing appropriate medical care and humanitarian assistance as needed and by routinely coordinating with emergency medical services to assist individuals in need,” a CBP spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Migrants are initially looked over by Border Patrol agents for general medical issues when first encountered then again in a more thorough exam by any of the 1,300 contract medical personnel who work at processing facilities, where all migrants are brought and examined.
Vaccines Rolled Out
In late 2019, left-aligned groups organized a protest outside a Border Patrol facility in Southern California. The protesters, who claimed to be medical professionals and representing Doctors for Camp Closures, Families Belong Together, and Never Again Action members descended on the facility to vaccinate adults and children.
Three children died from the flu while in federal immigration custody in the preceding year. At the time, CBP said in a statement to the Washington Examiner that “operating a vaccine program is not feasible.”
“This is intentional cruelty. People are needlessly suffering and dying,” Dr. Marie DeLuca said in a news release from the groups. “Flu deaths are preventable and large scale vaccination is not unprecedented.”
Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA) said in a congressional hearing in late 2019 that not vaccinating people at the earliest point could lead to flu outbreaks before people leave Border Patrol custody.
By early 2020, the healthcare environment was changing as the pandemic prompted the U.S. government and nongovernmental organizations to prioritize healthcare.
In late 2021, Universal Healthcare began a pilot with federal agency U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to offer two types of general illness vaccines to migrants in custody.
During the pilot, an average of 2,700 migrants requested and received a vaccine each day, roughly more than 80,000 per month.
The pilot was deemed a success, Douglas said, based on the government’s decision to sign a longer-term contract. Universal Healthcare entered into a noncompeted federal contract in January 2022. Across five sites at the busiest parts of the southern border — Brownsville, Eagle Pass, and El Paso, Texas; Yuma, Arizona; and San Diego, California — migrants were given the option of receiving a flu and/or COVID-19 vaccine.
Migrants were “highly encouraged” but not mandated to get one or both vaccines, according to Douglas.
After a year and nine months of voluntary COVID and flu shots, the operation was halted in September 2023.
“They said it was really the perfect storm as to why they came to a halt. For one thing, most of our vaccine inventory was coming from Pfizer, and Pfizer increased the price per vaccination by over 20% for the new vaccination strain that addressed the current COVID variant that evolved in 2023,” said Douglas.
Universal Healthcare sought to negotiate the price with Pfizer, but continuing the operation became more complicated because federal funding was set to expire on Sept. 30, 2023, the final day of the fiscal year. It has not been continued in the fiscal 2024 year, to Douglas’s dismay.
Blowback from Republicans
The White House and Department of Homeland Security now face growing blowback from Republican lawmakers over the lack of federal effort to protect migrants and Americans not only from general illness but serious disease.
Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ), a veteran on the House Homeland Security Committee, told the Washington Examiner this week that the millions of illegal immigrants released from the border into the country under President Joe Biden was a “government-orchestrated invasion” that came with the added concern of including people “who pose health and security threats.”
Other House Freedom Caucus members, including Chairman Bob Good (R-VA) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), said the lack of vaccines for migrants contradicted the government mandate for Border Patrol agents to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
“President Biden has demonstrated little regard for the safety of Americans in the process, whether it’s criminals who sexually assault or kill our citizens, the epidemic of fentanyl, or individuals who could potentially bring in diseases,” Good said in a statement.
“Joe Biden’s blatant hypocrisy is astounding. Millions of Americans, including our heroic Border Patrol agents, were forced to choose between an experimental vaccine with unknown ramifications and keeping their jobs,” Biggs said in a statement. “Ironically, Biden has never coerced illegal immigrants being released into our country in droves to receive vaccinations. If requiring the COVID vaccine was to protect Americans and not to impose an authoritarian regime, Biden would have vaccinated every single illegal immigrant invading our country.”
During the pandemic, federal employees were told they must get vaccinated or face termination. Roughly 4,000 of the Border Patrol’s 20,000 employees refused to get the shot. Agents sued the Biden administration and won.
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) claimed the vaccine mandates of federal employees was “never about the science.”
“It’s always been about politics — and Biden needs to be held accountable for it, starting with reinstating fired military members along with full backpay,” Cloud said.
A Path Forward for Vaccinations
Douglas said that the top medical officers at the DHS and CBP supported vaccines and wanted to restart the operation. However, without funding from Congress, the operation is at a standstill, leaving cities and states downstream to deal with the effects of no vaccinations.
“We’re seeing diseases that we thought were eradicated. … COVID and influenza vaccinations — that really was just scratching the surface,” Douglas said. “There are budget dollars to keep this operation going. This is not an expensive operation at all, by any means.”
Universal Healthcare’s vaccinations for migrants receiving either shot was $90 per shot per person, according to Douglas. The contract to vaccinate from January 2022 through September 2023 surpassed $100 million, according to federal contract information.
“A quick vaccination is the most effective health care tool we have today. For every $1 spent on a vaccination you’re saving our public health system conservatively around $11,” said Douglas. “The number really can go as high as $1 for every $30 or $40 saved.”
Given that illegal immigrants do not have health insurance, hospitalizations are paid for by the local government or hospital, further adding to costs sustained by any outbreak within the U.S.
The three organizations that protested outside a Border Patrol facility in 2019 — Doctors for Camp Closures, Families Belong Together, and Never Again Action— did not respond to or declined requests to comment for this story.
Douglas remained optimistic that the pendulum would swing back in favor of vaccines shortly and with strong public support, potentially bringing his company another large contract.
“The Chief Medical Officer of CBP has encouraged us to literally get the word out. … I have full support of CBP. It’s just a matter of time, I expect to be meeting with some of my CBP officials later this month to discuss what next steps will look like,” Douglas said. “I think it’s just a matter of time before the operations resume, and they resume in a way that addresses all the necessary vaccinations to eradicate disease.”
Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) called the move not to prioritize vaccines for migrants “absolutely backwards.”
“After members of our military lost their jobs for refusing to take an experimental vaccine for COVID, it is absolutely backwards logic that DHS is now refusing to give illegals vaccines while in custody. It is clear which group Biden values more,” said Rosendale. “This is sickening.”
The White House and DHS did not respond to requests for comment.
A version of this article was published by the Washington Examiner on May 19, 2024. Reprinted with permission.
