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Law360 (March 20, 2020, 8:41 PM EDT) -- The chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security has slammed the Trump administration's "mixed-messaging" on immigration enforcement amid the coronavirus health emergency, saying the administration is prioritizing anti-immigrant policies over the nation's health.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., called on the Trump administration Thursday to limit arrests by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to individuals with criminal histories or those who pose public safety risks. Without such a declaration, Thompson said, migrants experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 won't seek medical care and will thus set back the government's attempts to combat the highly contagious disease.
"The Trump administration must state — publicly, formally, and clearly — that all ICE raids will stop during this crisis except against felons or those who pose a risk to national security and that no testing or treatment for COVID-19 will lead to any form of immigration enforcement," Thompson said.
Thompson's statement came immediately after Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said on Twitter that ICE would continue arresting migrants without criminal histories and those who don't pose safety risks.
The tweets came as an abrupt follow-up to a Wednesday notice that ICE would prioritize actions against individuals with criminal histories and those who could endanger public safety and would delay enforcement actions against other individuals until after the crisis, or employ "alternatives to detention."
Thompson said that the notice "suggested in vague and ambiguous terms" that ICE was delaying enforcement actions in certain circumstances.
But Cuccinelli said otherwise.
"[The notice] does not mean that no other removable aliens will in fact be removed, but during the current public health situation, removals will be done in such a way as to minimize the exposure of our agents and of the removable aliens we are encountering."
But Thompson said that unless the government declares that ICE will suspend raids on individuals without criminal histories and migrants who pose no safety risks, migrants will be deterred from getting tested for COVID-19 and seeking medical attention.
Representatives for ICE did not immediately return requests for comment.
--Editing by Peter Rozovsky.
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