Nationally syndicated columnist Walter Williams noted in August that would-be immigrants to the U.S. are tested for a host of communicable diseases. Among them are “tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis, polio, measles, mumps, and HIV.” Keep in mind, this is screening performed on those attempting to legally immigrate into our country.
“But what about people who enter our country illegally?” Williams asks. “The CDC specifically cites the possibility of the cross-border movement of HIV, measles, pertussis, rubella, rabies, hepatitis A, influenza, tuberculosis, shigellosis, and syphilis.”
It goes without saying that these people are rarely tested at all. So what impact does illegal immigration and its associated health issues have on the American people?
Biological Threats
Tuberculosis is a prime example of a disease that has followed the paths of population movement. TB cases plummeted in developed nations over the course of 100 years up until the 1980s. Then, with the influx of Third World immigration, TB re-emerged as a health threat in the West. A disturbing 2002 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that:
“Today, the proportion of immigrants among persons reported as having TB exceeds 50% in several European countries, including Denmark, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. A similar proportion has been predicted for the United States.”
And that is just one example. Unfortunately for all of us, it is hardly the only one.
“What’s coming over into the US could harm everyone. We are starting to see scabies, chicken pox, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, and different viruses,” Southern Texas Border Patrol agent Chris Cabrera ominously warns.
A Border Patrol agent told National Review Online in 2014 how common it is for scabies to spread via illegal aliens. Poorly screened illegals who are hastily processed and released soon filter out into the community at large. “Management’s more concerned about processing and getting rid of them as quickly as possible than looking at decontamination,” the agent told NRO. “And [after they are released the illegals] go out in the community, get on the public transportation, go where they need to go, and it could result in another infestation of scabies being spread everywhere.”
Scabies thrives in tropical climates, so Central Americans are especially prone to catching infestations of this mite. Good thing we don’t have too many Central Americans illegally entering our country, right?
A June article at The Conversation noted that scabies is a huge problem among refugees pouring into Europe as well. To make matters worse, research published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases found that 25% of migrants to Europe bring antibiotic-resistant bacteria with them. So not only are Third World immigrants carrying almost-eradicated diseases like TB into our lands, they are bringing a bacterial resistance to the means to fight those diseases as well.
Compassion Con
The constant cry of “racism” is directed at those who oppose illegal immigration, yet it is often black Americans who are most endangered by illegals bringing disease into the U.S. Illegal aliens often move to population-dense urban areas where black Americans live. Their children are sent to the public schools that overwhelmingly serve as the main educational institutions for black children. Christopher Arps of the black conservative public policy group Project 21 aptly explains the hollowness of this open-borders “tolerance”:
“Illegal immigrant children, possibly with serious communicable diseases, are being allowed to remain in our country and attend school under the guise of compassion. But how compassionate is it to unnecessarily expose American schoolchildren to diseases that have largely been wiped out in this country for a generation? Will children of the elites and liberals enrolled in private schools who advocate for this de facto amnesty be subjected to the same health risks as public school students?”
The loaded term “compassion” is indeed thrown around like a weapon by leftists pushing unchecked immigration into this country. Yet there is no compassion shown for American citizens threatened by illegal immigrants who don’t care one whit whether or not they spread contagious diseases among the communities they steal their way into.
