U.S. denies entry to more than 100 Canadians due to coronavirus measures

#CanadianBarredEntyToUS; #CoronavirusMeasures

United States, Mar 6 (Canadian-Media): More than 100 Canadians have been barred entry to United States land borders in addition to air travel as a result of new U.S. rules banning entry to anyone recently in coronavirus-affected China and Iran, according to a senior U.S. official.

US custom and Border protection. Image credit: Twitter handle

More Canadian nationals than anyone have been affected by the land-border measure, said Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

"Some people may find it ironic, but the largest excluded group are Canadians. It is Canadians who had traveled to China in the previous two weeks," Cuccinelli said. 

"The next largest group were Chinese nationals."
​
In response to Sen. Kamala Harris's question about racial profiling, Cuccinelli concurred that ethnicity does not matter.

"There is without question no difference that this virus shows whether you're black, white, Asian, Hispanic, anything else," he said.

Canada's public safety minister Bill Blair who was in Washington to discuss coronavirus measures at the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday said,

"Canadians who have recently been in the affected areas, within the past 14 days, before they would be allowed entry into the United States they would be screened and if in fact they've been in those affected areas they would be prohibited from entering into the United States."