After review, U.S. maintains border policy of expelling migrants, citing Omicron
CBSN
After a recent internal review, the Biden administration decided to maintain a pandemic-era order put in place under former President Donald Trump that authorizes the rapid deportation of migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told CBS News Thursday.
Since March 2020, the Trump and Biden administrations have expelled migrants over 1.5 million times without affording them the opportunity to request U.S. asylum, citing a series of CDC orders that argue the expulsions are needed to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in border processing facilities.
The latest order authorizing the border expulsions, signed by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in August 2021, instructed public health officials to evaluate the need for the policy every 60 days. Two reviews last fall led the agency to keep the order in place.

The Trump administration deployed ICE and other Homeland Security agents to 14 of the nation's airports on Monday to help shuttle passengers through overcrowded TSA checkpoints. In one airport, the security line wait-time was up to six hours. Nicole Sganga and Kaia Hubbard contributed to this report. In:












