Fox News’ Sean Hannity says many of the new COVID-19 infections are “coming” into the U.S. because of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
During a segment of Hannity’s show on Thursday night focused on the current situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, Geraldo Rivera turned his attention to the increase of coronavirus cases in Florida.
“On Tuesday in Florida, there were over 16,000 new COVID infections. Yesterday, Wednesday in Florida, there were nearly 17,000,” he began.
However, the host quickly interjected, “Ron DeSantis saved every older person. He used every state agency. No, this is not bash Ron DeSantis. A lot of these cases are coming here because of Joe.”
“This has nothing to do with Joe,” Rivera responded.
Hannity quipped, “Oh yes, it does.”
Watch the exchange below:
Geraldo: On Tuesday in Florida there were over 16 thousand new COVID infections. Yesterday, there were nearly 17 thousand
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 6, 2021
Hannity: No, this is not bash Ron DeSantis. A lot of these cases are coming here because of Joe pic.twitter.com/zG6P3GdXva
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has received praise for his handling of the pandemic for his decision to buck public health guidelines. However, Florida is currently the state with the second-highest number of cases per capita.
But Republicans and conservatives have claimed that Biden’s immigration policies have led to a flood of COVID-19 infected migrants coming to the U.S. and have helped fuel the current surge in cases.
In July, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said during an appearance on Fox Business, “The real problem right now is our porous southern border.”
“People are coming over at a rate of almost 2 million for the year. They’re not tested. They’re not vaccinated. That is the biggest influx of coronavirus and variations of that into the country,” he added.
People are coming over at a rate of almost 2 million for the year. They’re not tested. They’re not vaccinated. That is the biggest influx of coronavirus and variations of that into the country,” he added.
DeSantis echoed that claim earlier this week, as he said, “[Biden’s] imported more virus from around the world by having a wide-open southern border.”
According to The Washington Post, migrants are being tested for the virus, although it is “somewhat patchwork.”
While there have been coronavirus outbreaks in migrant detention centers, the Post notes that there is an ongoing surge of cases around the country.
And as of late July, the paper noted the cities that were seeing some of the largest surges were Phoenix, Arizona, and Los Angeles, California, which “perhaps one could attribute” to border crossings.
However, the Post pointed out that Miami, Florida, was also seeing a large surge in new cases.
Instead of migrants being the cause of the rise of cases in those cities, the Post posits, “Much of this surge is a function of the delta variant, the more-contagious version of the virus that is now the dominant strain in the country.