(CNN) — More than 6,000 migrants have been turned away at the US-Mexico border since new coronavirus border restrictions took effect, according to the latest US Customs and Border Protection data.
Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan insisted Thursday that the new restrictions, which went into effect March 21, are “not about immigration.”
“It’s purely about infectious disease and public health,” said Morgan, who repeatedly stated: “This is not about immigration, period. This is about public health and safety.”
President Donald Trump has previously floated closing down the US-Mexico border. Late last month, the administration invoked Centers for Disease Control and Protection authorities that allowed the US to immediately expel migrants encountered at the border.
CBP is expelling 80% of everyone encountered in less than two hours. As a result, the number of people in its custody has drastically dropped. Morgan said Thursday there are currently fewer than 100 people in custody. That’s down from around 20,000 last May at the height of the southern border crisis.
Migrants apprehended at the border are being put through a new, expedited process — biometrics are taken, medical assessments are completed and then migrants may be returned to Mexico or their origin country.
Of the more than 6,000 migrants expelled in March, 299 were children who arrived alone and 393 were family members.
The “overwhelming majority” of those being returned are encountered crossing illegally, Morgan told reporters, adding that at the ports of entry people without proper travel documents or authority are quickly turned away.
Still, despite the new coronavirus measures, the number of people illegally crossing the southern border remained steady. In March, 29,953 people were arrested on the southern border, down slightly from 30,074 in February.
The majority of migrants encountered by the agency are single adults from Mexico and people from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, said Morgan. Migrants from other countries have dwindled to a “handful,” he added, which is “very different than it was just a few short weeks ago.”
Against the backdrop of the outbreak, the Trump administration has tried to move forward with some of its most restrictionist policies that have struggled to be put into practice, including blocking entry to asylum seekers.
Citing the “unscreened” and “unvetted” people who come into the US across the southern border, Trump said last month that the border would be sealed off “mostly, and even beyond, but mostly during this global pandemic.”
That’s also held true for migrant children arriving to the US-Mexico border alone. CBP has said that children are subject to the new restrictions, marking a shift from the longstanding practice of referring children to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services.
When asked if asylum and legal protections for unaccompanied children arriving at the border have been suspended, Morgan did not directly address the question, instead saying, “the disease doesn’t know age.”