Should American citizens be treated differently from migrants illegally entering the country?  How about our men and women who serve in the military?  Many would likely answer yes, but that's not the way it appears to be playing out when it comes to COVID vaccine mandates.

Recently, the brother of Col. Alexander Vindman, of impeachment infamy, expressed his support for a prosecution team that secured a first-in-the-nation conviction of a lieutenant for failing to get a COVID-19 vaccine.  Regardless of where one stands on the issue of mandates, the double-standard when it comes to the new vaccine policy announced for migrants is hard to accept.  In the midst of firing members of the military for not getting jabbed, the Biden administration has declared the pandemic over for the purposes of turning migrants away from the southern border (i.e., use of Title 42) and stated it will no longer be implementing COVID mitigation measures such as testing and vaccines for migrants entering the country.  The idea that those not legally in the country are entitled to more liberty and autonomy than American citizens may strike many as puzzling.

Given the migrant numbers, the contradiction in treatment is staggering.  More than 2.4 million illegal migrants have come in contact with Border Patrol agents since President Joe Biden took office, and that number does not include those who are not caught.  The CBP encountered 221,303 illegals in March 2022 alone, the thirteenth straight month of over 150,000 encounters — a trend never before recorded.  Many of these people are ferried to various cities in the U.S. and, since they are no longer tested or vaccinated, could spread COVID-19 to unsuspecting U.S. citizens who come in contact with them. 

Is this double-standard acceptable to most Americans?  How many Americans fully understand the differing levels of treatment?  This is what drives my organization, the Center to Advance Security in America (CASA), to be so active.  We have sent Freedom of Information Act requests to the federal government to find out the basis for these policies and how they are being implemented, so the public can be properly informed of why American citizens should be subject to tighter restrictions than those illegally entering our country.

The American people need to know.  And they will, if CASA has anything to say about it.    

Adam Turner is the director of the Center to Advance Security in America.

Image: Martin Leveneur.