With 10,000 Summary Deportations in Two Weeks, CBP Down to 100 in Custody

The President took this action pursuant to the Surgeon General's authority under 42 U.S.C. § 265. ~~~
4/9/2020 (Part of Article): “On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that more than 10,000 aliens have been summarily deported since March 21, the day after President Trump issued his travel restrictions along the Southwest border to stem the tide of the Wuhan virus. As a consequence, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has fewer than 100 detainees in its custody, down from nearly 20,000 at this time last year during the border crisis. Notwithstanding the implementation of restrictions on movement within most of the United States, **Key Democrats oppose this action.**
“42 U.S.C. § 265. That provision states: ‘Whenever the Surgeon General determines that by reason of the existence of any communicable disease in a foreign country there is serious danger of the introduction of such disease into the United States,
and that this danger is so increased by the introduction of persons or property from such country that a suspension of the right to introduce such persons and property is required in the interest of the public health, the Surgeon General, in accordance with regulations approved by the President,
shall have the power to prohibit, in whole or in part, the introduction of persons and property from such countries or places as he shall designate in order to avert such danger,
and for such period of time as he may deem necessary for such purpose.’

“The law, enacted less than a week before D-Day in 1944, grants the Surgeon General sweeping powers to limit movement across the border to restrict the introduction of any communicable disease into the United States. On March 23, CBP described how and why these provisions would be implemented:

‘Those encountered between ports of entry after illegally crossing the border similarly will not be held in congregate areas for processing and instead, to the maximum extent feasible, will immediately be returned to their country of last transit. These aliens are processed in stations designed for short-term processing, where distancing is not a viable option, creating a serious danger of an outbreak....’

“Although CBP has policies and procedures in place to handle transmittable diseases, COVID-19 will impact already strained holding capacities and place an extreme burden on what is forecasted to be a stretched healthcare system and the nation's critical medical professionals who are needed to attend to U.S. citizens and legal residents... Since the beginning of the FY20 fiscal year in October 2019 through the end of February 2020 (over the period of October 1, 2019 to February 29, 2020), foreign nationals from >> 122 separate countries << have been apprehended or denied entry (inadmissible) at the U.S. Southwest border, for a total of over 190,000 apprehended or inadmissible migrants from countries currently with confirmed COVID cases.”
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Some Democrat politicians protesting the new protections toward the United States