Asylum Seekers In Riverside County: State Opens COVID Clinic

INDIO, CA — U.S. Customs & Border Protection officials have been dropping off immigrants seeking asylum in Riverside County since March, according to local officials, and now a state-funded COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinic has opened in Indio for the newly arrived.

The new seven-day-a-week "Testing, Vaccination and Receiving Center" opened Friday in a parking lot near Highway 111 and Monroe Street. In addition to tests, county and state teams will provide medical screening, transportation to appropriate shelter accommodations and support with travel plans to asylum sponsors in other parts of the United States.

Plans to offer COVID-19 vaccinations at the TVRC are planned for future operations.

The center will service immigrants departing Customs and Border Protection facilities in Indio and Blythe, while immigrants departing the agency's Murrieta location will be tested in the field, according to county spokeswoman Brooke Federico.

The TVRC costs are being funded by the State of California. The federal government has pledged to reimburse the county’s response costs. Travel to asylum sponsors is paid for by the families, according to the county.

“The opening of this site represents important progress towards protecting public health and safety in the communities near the border while maintaining dignity and respect for newly arrived immigrants,” said Tom Osborne, deputy director of Homeland Security at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

The number of asylum seekers dropped off in Riverside County each day is entirely dependent upon CBP. Since early March when drop-offs began, the county has received more than 2,000 people throughout Riverside County. Approximately half of the asylum seekers have needed to either isolate or quarantine based on a positive test within their family, according to the county.

The length of time each family spends in Riverside County ranges from a few days to a couple weeks depending on whether isolation or quarantine is needed. Any positive test results among asylum seekers are not counted in Riverside County’s ongoing coronavirus case numbers, county officials said.

“The opening of the Testing, Vaccination and Receiving Center is a great step in our coordinated response to this humanitarian need,” said Riverside County Fourth District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez. “It will definitely help, and I thank the State of California for fulfilling this request and supporting the county.”