Texas Border Town Police Find Migrants ‘Sick with COVID’ at Whataburger

A border city police department warned residents about groups of migrants with COVID-19 being released by Border Patrol into their community.

According to a statement from La Joya Police Department, on Monday afternoon authorities responded to a Whataburger restaurant where a concerned citizen told them about a group of people who were not observing health guidelines, maskless, and were coughing and sneezing without covering themselves. Inside, the manager told police that he wanted the people in question to leave.

When authorities spoke with the group, they learned they were migrants who had been apprehended and released by Border Patrol. According to the statement from La Joya Police, the migrants said they were “released because they were sick with COVID-19.”

The migrants had been staying at a local hotel which was completely booked by Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley to house migrants. Inside the hotel, authorities found between 20 to 30 migrants not wearing masks or observing any quarantine measures. According to police, the charity did not inform authorities that they would be releasing migrants with Coronavirus. La Joya Police also contacted the Hidalgo County Health and Human Services Department to assist with the incidents.

In their statement, the police department warned resident to wear masks and observe other health practices to avoid exposure to the virus.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.