Governor Says Immigration Surge Is Fueling COVID Cases: 'None of Them Are Vaccinated'
Illegal immigrants are spreading the coronavirus as they infiltrate states across the country, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday.
“Part of the problem is, the southern border is open and we’ve got 88 countries that are coming across the border and they don’t have vaccines so none of them are vaccinated and they’re getting dispersed throughout the country,” Reynolds said Tuesday, according to The Des Moines Register.
“As they’re trying to impact additional restrictions on Americans, we’ve got people coming across the border that haven’t been vaccinated, and so that’s also something we need to continue to look at,” Reynolds said, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Also on Tuesday, Reynolds, a Republican, pushed back at the creeping tendrils of mask mandates that are emerging from the Biden administration. The Centers for Disease Control issued guidance Tuesday saying some people who are already vaccinated should be wearing masks indoors in many public places.
“The Biden Administration’s new COVID-19 guidance telling fully vaccinated Iowans to now wear masks is not only counterproductive to our vaccination efforts, but also not grounded in reality or common sense. I’m concerned that this guidance will be used as a vehicle to mandate masks in states and schools across the country, something I do not support,” Reynolds said in a statement.
“The vaccine remains our strongest tool to combat COVID-19, which is why we are going to continue to encourage everyone to get the vaccine,” she said.
“I am proud that we recently put new laws in place that will protect Iowans against unnecessary government mandates in our schools and local governments,” she said, referring to legislation she signed in May. “As I have throughout this pandemic, I trust Iowans to do the right thing.”
On Tuesday, according to the Register, Reynolds aide Pat Garrett noted that media accounts have documented the spread of COVID-19 in the Rio Grande Valley sector in Texas. Fox News reported last week that cases in that sector have increased 900 percent.
?? Now Confirmed: The South American COVID-19 lambda variant is spreading in Texas.
After Biden has let thousands of COVID-positive illegal immigrants into Texas.
It’s not a coincidence.
Biden’s border crisis is a public health crisis.
SECURE THE BORDER NOW.
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) July 26, 2021
**NEW**: After an incident at a Whataburger, police in La Joya, TX say they’ve learned illegal immigrants who test positive for COVID-19 are being released from federal custody to a local Catholic charity in the RGV which then places them in local hotels without notice. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/cOx4yR5Wiw
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) July 27, 2021
Reynolds was blasted from the left for her comments about illegal immigrants
Joe Henry, state political director for the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa, accused Reynolds of “hate-mongering.”
“This has nothing to do with immigrants,” he said, according to the Register.
He said Reynolds should have ensured more Iowa residents were vaccinated.
“For her to cry wolf about this doesn’t seem to make sense in light of the fact that she hasn’t done the work here in Iowa to make sure that everybody gets vaccinated,” he said.
According to Iowa government data, 46.6 percent of the state’s adults are fully vaccinated.
Patricia Ritchie, the vice chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party’s Latinx Caucus, was also critical of Reynolds, saying her comments could feed anti-Latino discrimination.
“I just think that she needs to be educated in what is appropriate, as far as cultural diversity,” Ritchie said, according to the Register. “I take it as nobody has taken the time to explain it to her.”
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