The CDC Turns Its Back on Migrants and Science

Credit: UNOHCR.By Jamile Tellez Lieberman and Joe AmonPHILADELPHIA, US, Oct 7 2021 (IPS) Last month, asylum-seeking families at the U.S.-Mexico border appeared to have won a victory, however temporary, in their last-ditch bid for safety in the United States. It was also a victory for evidence-based public health policy. The 1,954-mile-long southern border has always been a magnet for debate, with deep political divides. Bolstered by Donald Trump during his presidency, long-simmering anti-immigrant rhetoric and xenophobia surrounding migration and immigration increased dramatically. Starting in 2016, under the previous administration, thousands of migrant families who made it to the southern border were told by immigration officials that they must remain in Mexico to await their asylum decisions, rather than in the United States. The CDC was once heralded for its apolitical, evidence-based public health policy. Sadly, this is no longer the case. The first step in restoring the CDC’s tarnished reputation is to repeal the CDC’s Title 42 order With long waits for the processing of their asylum cases, families caught in this legal limbo were forced to make do in temporary settlements in Mexican border towns, many of which are controlled by cartels. Life in these settlements is violent, unstable and impoverished. In March 2020, then Vice President Mike Pence directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to use its emergency powers to effectively seal the southe...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Headlines Health Human Rights Migration & Refugees North America TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news