U.S. Approves Force in Detaining Possible SARS Carriers

The New York Times ^ | 5/6/03 | PHILIP SHENON

[Pro-Bush]

WASHINGTON, May 6 — As part of the government's efforts to prevent an epidemic of SARS in the United States, the Bush administration has authorized immigration and customs agents at the nation's international airports to use force to detain arriving passengers who appear to have symptoms of the disease, senior administration officials said.

The Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for immigration and customs inspections at airports and other border crossings, has provided masks and gloves to thousands of its airport inspectors in the last month as part of the agency's effort to stem transmission of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which can be deadly.

At training sessions, officials said, the inspectors have been told that their screening duties now go beyond passports and baggage and that they need to give extra attention to the health of passengers arriving on 51 daily flights from Asian cities where the SARS outbreak has been most severe, including Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Officials said that the tightened screening procedures had gone into effect gradually in the last few weeks and that, so far, no airline passengers had required forcible detention, suggesting that the efforts of Asian governments and major airlines to prevent passengers infected with SARS from boarding trans-Pacific flights had been successful.

Under the new procedures, officials said, immigration and customs agents identifying arriving passengers who appear to be ill with any SARS symptoms, including high fever or breathing trouble, will be authorized to detain them and summon health inspectors.

If SARS is confirmed, they said, the passenger would be moved to a hospital or other medical facility and placed under mandatory quarantine. An executive order signed last month by President Bush lets the government quarantine people infected with SARS.

The immigration and customs agents have been told that they can decide for themselves whether to wear the disposable masks and gloves.

"Obviously, our people are on the front line," said Robert C. Bonner, the commissioner of customs and border protection. "And we have a duty to do. When we know you're coming off a flight from an area where SARS is a concern, we're going to be looking for signs and symptoms."

Mr. Bonner oversees the work of inspectors who, before the creation of the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year, had worked for the Customs Service, the Immgration and Naturalization Service, and the Border Patrol.

Another senior administration official said that while there had been no need so far to detain ailing passengers arriving at American airports from overseas, the government feared that the day would come soon when large numbers might need to be stopped.

"We want our people to be ready to invoke this authority," said the official, who is helping organize the administration's response to the disease. "We need the message out there that travelers who arrive on our shores cannot bring this disease with them. This is a national security issue."

[Pro-Bush]

Speading the disease vs. Protecting U.S. citizens

Moral delimma?

[Timesink]

Oh please. Since when COULDN'T they use force when it was deemed necessary?

[Pro-Bush]

Oh please. Since when COULDN'T they use force when it was deemed necessary?

When has the U.S. done it before? Do you know?

[Timesink]

To forcibly detain passengers on incoming flights considered to be dangerous? So many times it's not even a question.

[Beck_isright]

Bookmark for later...

[Judith Anne]

Not to mention the Ellis Island quarantines.

[Pro-Bush]

You are talking of passengers who broke the law or showed violent behavior while in flight..Not someone who was sick. Do we ever ban AIDS infested passengers? or test folks for TB who travel to the U.S?...no we don't!

[Judith Anne]

Yes, Ellis Island quarantines.

[Pro-Bush]

Not to mention the Ellis Island quarantines.

Ellis Island was for citizenship acceptance....not visiting the country!

[Timesink]

There was a thread about this a month or so ago, when Bush signed an executive order adding SARS to a huge list of diseases for which you could be forcibly detained. Does this sort of thing happen every day? No. Does it happen? Yes.

[Judith Anne]

Okay, sick animals have been banned or quarantined...I'll search for visitors...

[Pro-Bush]

Don't get me wrong..I am for stopping the spread of SARS..Do what needs to be done!

Does this sort of thing happen every day? No. Does it happen? Yes.

We live in interesting times!

[Pro-Bush]

I just posted the question? I don't have an answer.

[Consort]

Common sense.

[Judith Anne]

Yes, I remember that, I think the article is somewhere on flutters' SARS article list...there ARE a whole list of conditions for which visitors can be denied entry...plague is one of them, I think...

[Judith Anne]

As timesink mentioned, President Bush signed an EO adding SARS to a whole list of diseases for which visitors could be denied entry into the US. As I mentioned, I think plague, Ebola, and several other diseases are among them. So, yes, we can and do deny entry.

[A CA Guy]

If they add the name AIDS to the Sars (Sars-aids), they will have the rights in this country to infect anyone they wish at will.

[DPB101]

Nobody would have to forcibly quarantine me. What kind of a person thinks they have a civil right to walk around infecting others?

[Pro-Bush]

See Post #7

Under the new procedures, officials said, immigration and customs agents identifying arriving passengers who appear to be ill with any SARS symptoms, including high fever or breathing trouble, will be authorized to detain them and summon health inspectors.

Not a bigger threat like TB.

[Judith Anne]

Good question, and good for you.

Some people, exposed to SARS and asked to observe two weeks of quarantine to avoid infecting others in case they've caught the illness, might decide that going to work and paying their bills was more important than staying home in quarantine. Some might deny the possibility of getting sick--I've seen that in patients before. Some might have an elderly parent that they need to look in on...some might have saved for a vacation for a long time...some might discount the reality or severity of SARS. Some might think that a particular homeopathic remedy will protect them...

Some might be young, and want to party and refuse to believe they could get sick/spread an epidemic. Some people think rules don't apply to them...