Illegal immigrants bring diseases into States

Kansas State Collegian ^ | September 11, 2007 | Brigitte Brecheisen

[uxbridge]

As our nation slowly is overrun by illegal immigrants, we must realize there are not just societal and economic issues, but medical concerns as well.

It has become second nature for people to sit back and make justifications for allowing illegal immigration. However, unless they acknowledge the consequences they are not likely to understand its full implications.

Investor's Business Daily reported on Aug. 29, that Francisco Santos, an illegal immigrant, was arrested at Gwinnett Medical Center on Aug. 24 when he refused treatment for an active case of contagious tuberculosis and threatened to leave the hospital and return to Mexico.

Santos will get his wish when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deport him back home to receive medical help there, instead of taxing our services.

Unfortunately, cases like Santos' are not random occurrences. A tuberculosis outbreak involving 131 immigrants occurred at a South Carolina poultry plant just a few weeks ago.

According to webmd.com, tuberculosis is a highly contagious viral infection spread through air particles by an infected person when he or she sneezes, coughs or spits.

Frontpagemagazine.com reported Aug. 17, "It is estimated that each person infected with TB will infect 10 others."

This is a huge biological threat to the citizens of the United States. New strains of tuberculosis that are resistant to drug treatment have developed, and research by the Indiana University of Medicine affirmed it was introduced into the United States by Mexican Nationals.

Citizens of the United States should be rightfully concerned with the alarming rate at which infected immigrants, who have not gone through any medical screening processes, are coming into this country. According to a Pew Hispanic Report, illegal immigrants make up for almost 30 percent of the foreign-population inside the United States.

Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report titled "Trends in Tuberculosis Incidence - United States" saying the number of tuberculosis cases among foreign-born persons in the US increased in 2006, and approximately half came from five countries, Mexico being the leader with 1,912 reported cases.

Considering the United States shares a border with Mexico, it would be in our best interest to stop any miscreants from coming into the country and unabashedly jeopardizing our health.

Matt Hayes, professor at Berkeley College and author of "The New Immigration Law and Practice," said in response to the problem, "Not one of them encounters immigration authorities, let alone BCIS civil surgeons whose job it is to test immigrants for communicable diseases."

The evidence shows the relative costs of harboring between 8 and 15 million illegal immigrants outweighs the "benefits" that illegal-immigrant sympathizers fabricate.

If ever there was a time to crack down on illegal immigration it would be now before a pandemic arises. We must not brush off this dire problem with anecdotes about the tough life of an illegal immigrant.

If the United States wants to continue to be a strong prosperous nation, we need to learn to control the borders so as to protect our country from disease. The longer we continue to blatantly ignore problems, the worse the repercussions.

[pandoraou812]

I like your tag line... lmaoooooo

[dynachrome]

“all fruits & veggies are well washed before eating them”
That is the important one. Lots of problems with the people picking the crops, anymore.

[TheLion]

"If the government feels that expensive medical exams are necessary for those who try to follow the legal route into the US...how can they allow millions of illegals to live in the US (often in the food service industry) with no medical screening?"

Good point!