Sinclair lies about the Biden administration's COVID-19 testing of migrants
Written by Zachary Pleat
Published
Sinclair Broadcast Group furthered long-running right-wing media efforts to smear immigrants as disease carriers by lying about the COVID-19 testing procedures established by the Biden administration for migrants being released from custody into the U.S. While Customs and Border Protection does not test people for COVID-19, a Department of Homeland Security inspector general report confirmed that all migrants released into the U.S. are tested by other agencies and charities, per a policy established in February.
During a September 14 interview on The National Desk -- which airs on 68 TV stations owned and operated by Sinclair -- Mark Morgan of the anti-immigrant extremist group Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) called migrants “mobile petri dishes,” an attack he has made before on Sean Hannity’s radio show. Morgan said that “it's unconscionable, it's hypocrisy” that the Biden administration is “not doing” COVID-19 testing or vaccination for migrants who are released into the U.S.
Citation From the September 14, 2021, edition of Sinclair Broadcast Group's The National Desk
JAN JEFFCOAT (ANCHOR): Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Texas questioning President Biden's vaccine mandate orders for Americans when immigrants crossing the southern border illegally are not required to get the vaccine. And those who are testing positive for COVID are not required to quarantine. Joining us right now, former acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, and visiting fellow at FAIR, Mark Morgan.
…
JEFFCOAT: Some lawmakers say this is the hypocrisy that can create this mixed messaging at a time when people need consistency from the top. Last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the vaccine mandate for American workers, but not for migrants crossing the border. Take a listen to what she had to say.
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JEFFCOAT: Your thoughts on this. What COVID vaccine protocols do you think should be implemented at the border, Mark?
MARK MORGAN (SENIOR FELLOW, FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM): Jan, first of all, I think this administration should start with the CDC order that says that to protect Americans’ public health in the middle of an ongoing global pandemic, is that we should not release illegal immigrants into the United States. So first of all, that's what they should be doing. But look, the hypocrisy is alive and well. Jan, you and I have talked about this before.
First of all, illegal aliens take a long journey to COVID hotspots, they’re shoved in overcrowded, unsanitary stash houses with no PPE, no medical attention. They're not tested, they're not vaccinated. And that’s before they even reach our border and illegally enter the United States. Look, they are involved in an active mobile COVID petri dishes before they get to the United States. And it's unconscionable, it's hypocrisy when they are the one of the most at-risk, high-risk categories, and you would think any category that would demand testing and vaccination, it would be illegal immigrants. But yet, they're not doing it. They’re jeopardizing Americans’ health, and it’s hypocrisy, and it's obvious.
Then, on September 17, Sinclair national correspondent Kristine Frazao falsely suggested that no migrants are being tested for COVID-19 by citing a Department of Homeland Security inspector general report which said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection "does not conduct COVID-19 testing for migrants crossing the southwest border.” According to a transcript search of the Kinetiq video database, Frazao’s report aired on at least 51 Sinclair stations in 36 states.
Citation From a Sinclair Broadcast Group national segment during the September 16, 2021, edition of WTVC's NewsChannel 9 @ 11
KRISTINE FRAZAO (SINCLAIR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT): From desperate to dire: The number of migrants stationed at this bridge on the border with Del Rio, Texas, now exceeds 8,000. Most of whom, according to officials, arrived just within the last two days. The situation prompting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to threaten to order six ports of entry to shut down, blaming the Biden administration’s policies for compelling so many to take the dangerous journey. The pictures here capture just one snapshot of what's happening all along the southern border. Those standing here wait under a bridge, the only shaded area, in hopes of avoiding heat-related illness.
What the pictures don't show is the other type of illness seeping in, here and elsewhere -- the rapid spread of COVID-19 making a difficult situation even worse. In El Paso, Texas, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol struggling to keep up.
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FRAZAO: That lack of resources means public health is pushed aside. A new inspector general report confirming CBP does not conduct COVID-19 testing for migrants crossing the southwest border, putting those on the front lines in danger.
(VIDEO BEGINS)
MARK MORGAN (SENIOR FELLOW, FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM): They’re not just worried about themselves. They’re worried about bringing the disease home to their family.
(VIDEO ENDS)
FRAZAO: The latest numbers for August showing more than 208,000 encounters at the southern border, with some in Congress, even in non-border states, saying their constituents are concerned.
(VIDEO BEGINS)
SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): We are hearing from health care workers, we’re hearing from educators. They have worked diligently to get their COVID numbers down, to get their vaccination rates up.
(VIDEO ENDS)
FRAZAO: With the delta variant still raging in many other parts of the country, some others say leaders at home also bear responsibility.
(VIDEO BEGINS)
SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-OH): In many of those states along the border, the governors have opposed any kind of actions in masking, and in testing, and in actually vaccinating.
(VIDEO ENDS)
Citation Molly Butler / Media Matters
But these claims, suggesting that no migrants entering the U.S. are tested for COVID-19, are flat-out false. Frazao’s lie of omission is especially glaring -- the very next sentence in that IG report she cited says: “Instead, CBP relies on local public health systems to test symptomatic individuals.” Further down, the report is much more clear that the administration tries to ensure every migrant released into the U.S. has undergone COVID-19 testing, citing the DHS Office of the Executive Secretary (emphasis added):
Since February 2021, through robust partnerships with state, local, and non-governmental organizations, in coordination with the CMO, the Department has developed a multi-layer framework that ensures all noncitizens entering the United States are tested for COVID-19 prior to onwards travel into the United States. After initial health screening by CBP at the point of encounter, noncitizens are tested by ICE (single adults), [state, local, tribal, and territorial government/non-governmental organizations] partnerships and [DHS Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office] contractors in support of CBP (family units), or HHS (unaccompanied children).
In addition, the suggestion by both Morgan and Frazao that CBP agents are being unfairly put in harm’s way by dealing with untested and/or unvaccinated migrants is undermined by the National Border Patrol Council's resistance to the CBP’s vaccination rules, its opposition to the administration’s federal employee vaccine mandate, and its support for personnel who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccines.
While the IG report says there are problems carrying out the testing plan, it's clearly a lie to suggest that none of these people are being tested, as Morgan and Frazao did. Sinclair has fearmongered about COVID-positive migrants and a lack of CBP testing before. Fact-checkers have also previously debunked both this claim and the related insinuation that these migrants are responsible for the COVID-19 surge in the U.S.
Regarding Morgan’s complaint that the migrants entering the U.S. haven’t been vaccinated, The Washington Post reported in August that the Biden administration is planning to offer to vaccinate every migrant released into the country. This, combined with the fact that this migrant COVID-19 testing protocol has been in place since February, suggests that Morgan should no longer be Sinclair’s go-to commentator on immigration policy.