There are plenty of elderly people and frontline workers who still haven’t gotten the COVID-19 vaccine yet, but some illegal aliens are getting them. This should be outrageous to everyone but only Republicans have a problem with it. The outrage on the left comes from NBC and democrats who say it’s racist for Republicans to think at-risk Americans should be prioritized for the vaccine.
Fox News reports:
Some immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been receiving COVID-19 vaccines — a move that could stoke Republican fears about illegal immigrants being prioritized over American citizens.
In a statement, an ICE spokesperson said a “limited number of ICE detainees have begun to receive the COVID-19 vaccine based on availability and priorities for vaccinating individuals in the state where they are currently detained.”
ICE would not say where or how many vaccines have already been administered to detainees. ICE says there’s about 14,000 total detainees in custody.
Joe Biden has said that he will not block illegal aliens from getting the vaccine or even put them at the back of the line.
“President Biden’s plan to vaccinate illegal immigrants ahead of Americans who are currently being denied the COVID-19 vaccine is a slap in the face to millions of hard-working families who have been waiting months for the vaccine,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise in a statement.
NBC however thinks this Republican demand that American citizens get the vaccine first “Reeks of racism”:
A Republican congresswoman from Arizona is drawing backlash for saying that Hispanics are “good workers,” but that “American citizens” should be vaccinated first, stirring a divisive debate on immigration amid the pandemic.
During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing last week, Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., said: “I worked with people that are Hispanic. I mean they’re very good workers. …We’re compassionate people, but for goodness sakes, we have to take care of American citizens, or people that are here legally, first.”
“I’m just not going to be able to explain to my senior citizens that we’re giving away the vaccines to people that (are) here illegally,” Lesko said. “I just think that’s totally wrong.”
I’m sorry, where is the racism reeking from her statement? Because the racism doesn’t jump out of Lesko’s words, NBC dug up some aggrieved democrats to find it for us:
“There are a lot of people of color in her district and for her to be disconnected and really that offensive about how she sees us, as nothing more than good workers and not entitled to equitable vaccine distribution,” said state Sen. Martin Quezada, as democrat whose district overlaps with Lesko’s.
Lesko didn’t say “people of color” shouldn’t get the vaccine, she said “people that are here illegally” shouldn’t get it before American citizens and legal residents. I’m assuming that as a state Senator, Queezada is in the country legally, so why is she pretending that Lesko was trying to exclude her from the vaccine? Oh yeah, because she’s full of shit and trying make a genuine concern into a racial issue.
“Since the voters of Phoenix’s west valley chose to elevate her hate and ignorance, her new position has only emboldened her to take every opportunity to disparage an entire ethnicity to drive division. She is willing to condemn her district and the state to a longer and more ravaging virus just to reaffirm her racism,” said democrat state senator Juan Mendez of Lesko.
“Illegal alien” isn’t an ethnicity or a race, it’s criminal designation.
NBC’s coverage of this story isn’t the disturbing fact that illegal aliens are cutting the line in front of seniors and people with pre-existing conditions but rather how racist Republicans are for demanding at-risk Americans get the COVID-19 vaccine first. That’s some mighty fine fake news you got there, NBC.
