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Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said Thursday that the United States should halt all deportations as it works to contain the coronavirus.
"WE NEED TO STOP ALL DEPORTATIONS DURING THIS CRISIS," the Minnesota congresswoman tweeted in response to a Los Angeles Times report that Guatemala's health minister had claimed at least half of the nation's COVID-19 cases could be traced back to migrants returned from the U.S.
According to NPR, Guatemala's health minister called the U.S. "the Wuhan of the Americas," referring to the city in China where the virus is thought to have originated.
Last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced it would limit its enforcement activities but not end them entirely. Acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli clarified "that does not mean that no other removable aliens will in fact be removed, but during the current public health situation, removals will be done in such a way as to minimize the exposure of our agents and of the removable aliens we are encountering."
ILHAN OMAR FACES PUSHBACK AFTER DEFENDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AS 'AMERICAN TAXPAYERS'
He added: "ICE will exercise its law enforcement authority in a manner that accounts for the dangers presented by COVID-19, while maintaining the safety and security of the communities it has sworn to protect.”
Omar's comments came amid widespread controversy over how the U.S. should address immigration during the pandemic. Last week, the Minnesota congresswoman faced criticism for defending illegal immigrants as "American taxpayers."
"There, fixed it for you," Omar tweeted alongside an image of a New York Post headline that read: "'Squad' members want to make illegal immigrants eligible for coronavirus aid." The Minnesota congresswoman crossed out the phrase "illegal immigrants" and replaced it with "American taxpayers."
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Omar also called for Congress' coronavirus relief package to include so-called "mixed-status" families, which include people who are noncitizens. “It is absurd and cruel that a taxpaying, mixed status [sic] couple or family could be excluded from this relief,” Omar said at the time.
Former Attorney General and current U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Sessions took a starkly different stance Thursday, calling for a moratorium on employment-based immigration into the U.S.
“American families and workers must come first," Sessions said in a statement. "It is morally wrong and economically disastrous to import more foreign workers when millions of Americans are out of work through no fault of their own."
Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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