White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday that President Biden supports giving illegal immigrants coronavirus vaccines.
“The more people who are vaccinated, whether they’re undocumented or not, the safer we are as a country, and that’s certainly the president’s point of view,” said Psaki.
Some immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been given the vaccine.
“President Biden’s plan to vaccinate illegal immigrants ahead of Americans who are currently being denied the COVID-19 vaccine is a slap in the face to millions of hard-working families who have been waiting months for the vaccine,” said House Minority Whip Steve Scalise in a statement in February.
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez accused Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts of being racist after he said that illegal immigrants working at meatpacking plants would not receive vaccines in his state’s distribution plans back in January.
“Imagine being so racist that you go out of your way to ensure that the people who prepare *your* food are unvaccinated.”
“Illegal immigrants are not permitted to work in those facilities, so I don’t think that will be a problem,” said Ricketts in response. “Again, you’re supposed to be a legal resident of the country to be able to be working in those plants so I do not expect that illegal immigrants will be part of the vaccine with that program,”
Discussion about this post