FPI / July 20, 2023
Among the illegals streaming across Joe Biden's open border are thousands of children who are infected with tuberculosis, a report said.
At least 2,500 children with tuberculosis have been released by Team Biden into 44 states over the past year, The Washington Times reported on July 18, citing a court-ordered report on how the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) is treating the infected children.
Team Biden insists it is not able to treat the children because they are in custody for a short time and treatment requires three to nine months.
The report said that HHS claims that it releases the infected children to sponsors and notifies local health authorities so they can arrange for treatment before the latent infection becomes active.
But local health officials say the notifications are rare and the child has often already arrived when health officials are told about a case in their jurisdiction.
“We do not know how often the sponsors follow through on treatment,” the Virginia Department of Health told The Washington Times in a statement. “By the time outreach takes place, the child has sometimes moved to another area or state.”
Dr. Paul Alexander noted in a July 18 substack.com analysis that there "if this surrounds latent infection then it is not same as ‘active’ deadly disease, highly infectious with symptoms, and spread."
The problem, Alexander added, "is with latent infection and a declined immune system, the latent infection can become active disease e.g. if one has HIV etc. Then that prior non-lethal person is a threat to the society."
Aurora Miranda-Maese, the monitor ordered by the court to keep tabs on how the government is treating children in its custody, identified tuberculosis as one challenge because the government wants to rush the children out of custody and authorities usually don’t feel they have the time to begin treatment.
“Minors are not routinely treated for [latent tuberculosis infection] while in [resettlement] care because the average length of stay is typically shorter than the time required to complete treatment, and because there could be negative effects from discontinuing … treatment before completion, such as developing drug-resistant TB,” Miranda-Maese wrote.
Washington Times reporter Stephen Dinan noted that tuberculosis "is another instance where illegal immigrants receive better treatment than those attempting to enter the U.S. legally. Those arriving as permanent legal immigrants are required to undergo screening beforehand, as are refugees. Those with active cases can be excluded from entry. Illegal immigrants who show up at the border are already in the country."
Dinan pointed to the example of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants being welcomed and “paroled” into the U.S. through Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s policies which do not require a negative test for latent tuberculosis infection before arrival.
The illegals are told to be screened within 90 days of arrival.
Free Press International
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