News you can use, as they say.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding a young immigrant from Asia who officials say is infected with a rare drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis.
The man was detained by the Border Patrol trying to sneak into South Texas on Nov. 27.
Several days later, while undergoing a medical screening at the Port Isabel Service Detention Center, he was diagnosed with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, the least treatable form of the disease.
According to the story, it’s not a very easily transmitted strain of TB. But that’s little comfort. ICE won’t say what country in Asia he’s from, which is disturbing. Asia’s a big place. Some people there really don’t like Americans. Estimates are that for every border jumper who is caught, another nine actually get into the US.
Those nine had a friend in Washington. Outgoing Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says so in a parting interview.
”I will absolutely make myself available,” said Solis, a four term congresswoman representing districts in the heavily Hispanic East LA area. “Many of the hardworking people in those immigrant communities that I represented were not full citizens but they paid taxes they had children that were born here.”
Some of them tried to bring deadly, communicable, drug-resistant diseases here.
My Doc has recommended that I go through the full course of immunizations that I got in childhood as well as a couple of new ones. He said that people of my age, 63, and income had spent our whole lives in an essentially disease-free environment and that because of immigration and the ease of international travel America was no longer disease-free and our immune systems might not be up to an attack by diseases long thought to be no longer a part of American life, e.g., whooping cough, measles. Scared Hell out of me and I’m doing it.
This is why we have rules. Perfect example. Thats all we need is for TB to make a comeback.