Top CDC scientist said COVID-era health policy used to expel migrants unfairly stigmatized them

The U.S. government's top public health expert on migration told Congress he refused to approve a policy allowing mass expulsions at the U.S.-Mexico border because he believed the measure, enacted by President Donald Trump and retained by President Joe Biden, unfairly stigmatized migrants as spreaders of COVID-19.

During an interview in May with the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, Dr. Marty Cetron called the policy, known as Title 42, a "wholesale border closure" that suspended the rights of migrants and "risked the misuse of a public health authority," according to a transcript. ...