Authorities in the south Texas said Tuesday they learned that illegal immigrants Those who may tested positive for COVID-19 were released from federal custody to a Catholic charity who booked hotel rooms for them without notifying local officials.
La Joya police said a patrol officer was flagged up Monday by someone who was concerned about a group who appeared to be sick at one o’clock Whataburger Fast food restaurant. The officer found a family inside who was coughing and sneezing and not adhering to health guidelines, including wearing masks, authorities said during a press conference.
A manager told the officer that he wanted people to leave the facility because they made everyone “restless” inside. When the officer approached the migrants, they said they tested positive for the coronavirus and were arrested by border guards a few days before they were released.
They didn’t have documents to prove they were COVID positive, said La Joya Police Sgt. Manuel Casas said.
“We didn’t know,” he said. “Nobody told the town of La Joya. Nobody told the police these people were here, and nobody told us that these people might be sick.”
The migrants informed the officer that they were staying at the nearby Texas Inn & Suites. The hotel manager informed authorities that the Rio Grande Valley Catholic charities had booked rooms at the hotel to accommodate undocumented immigrants arrested by border police.
“We understand from what we have been told that the hotel is already rented in its entirety,” said Casas. “The information we have is that everyone who stays at this hotel is COVID-19 positive because it is being rented out to them.”
The Texas Inn & Suites in La Joya, Texas. Texas authorities said Tuesday that undocumented migrants who may have contracted COVID-19 were staying in hotels after being released by border patrols.
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In the hotel, officials observed 20 to 30 people outside who were not wearing masks, the police said in a social media post. Wearing masks is not mandatory, but those who have symptoms of COVID-19 should wear one, Casas said.
He said the department could not prevent any of the migrants from leaving the hotel and moving to another destination in the United States.
Police later learned that those arrested by border police showed symptoms or contracted COVID-19, were quarantined and later turned over to the charity group to be housed at hotels in the McAllen area as well as in La Joya the police said.
Officials contacted the Hidalgo County Department of Health and Human Services, which said it would investigate the matter.
Fox News reached out to CBP and the Catholic charity group. Casas admitted that the charity was trying to help the migrants and may have been overwhelmed when they booked the hotel rooms.
A hotel employee declined to give his name, but told Fox News that there were undocumented migrants at the hotel, but wasn’t sure how many.
“There are so many people trying to help,” he said. “We have no problems here (with COVID-19).”
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In response to the news, city officials are asking the public to adhere to social distancing measures and wear masks.
Illegal border crossings have under the Biden Management. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently announced that there had been nearly 190,000 migrant encounters on the southern border in June. The total number of encounters for the financial year exceeded 1 million, according to the figures.
On Tuesday, Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, a Republican, ordered the Texas National Guard Assisting the State Department of Public Security with arrests related to the border.
