On Wednesday, Ali Noorani of the National Immigrant Forum called in to Boston Public Radio to discuss how the Trump Administration is using fears about COVID-19 to advance its anti-immigrantion policies.
Yesterday, four administration officials told "The New York Times" about imminent plans to turn away all foreigners and asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border.
Noorani said the proposed rule "on one hand, is kind of close to what they’re doing already with the programs that are in place.”
“But,” he continued, "by making this sweeping statement, the administration is pretty clearly trying to create a narrative that blames the foreigner, the immigrant — the migrant, for COVID-19.”
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Noorani said it was ironic for the U.S. to ban immigrants coming from countries far less impacted by the novel coronavirus.
"I think it was Guatemala last week, who was the first country in the world to … bar travel from the U.S. because of, frankly, our lack of screening and testing,” he said.
"Things are turned upside down, but this administration is going to use every opportunity they can to turn people against immigrants.”
