Office of Inspector General Report: Numerous Communicable Diseases Rampant at Alien Holding Centers

By Joe Guzzardi
August 4, 2014

With Congress away from Capitol Hill and back home, legislators can expect an angry earful from their constituents fed up with the border outrage. Then, although it may be wishful thinking, perhaps Congress will put party politics aside to act in the nation’s collective best interests. In other words, insist that President Obama put the wheels in motion to immediately deport Central American aliens and others streaming across our southern border. 

Congress adjourned last week after the House passed two measures, neither likely to become law, to address the alien surge. The first would provide $694 million for border security funding but would also revise the 2008 law that allows aliens a time-consuming due process hearing. With the law altered, the prospect of expeditious deportations would help deter more illegal immigration. The second House bill would block President Obama from issuing more deferred action amnesties which he has repeatedly threatened to do. The Senate left town after it failed by ten votes to pass its proposed $2.7 billion bill.

Weeks after the invasion began, we now know that the surge consists more of teenagers and young adults than children. Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX) said that on his trip to the border, he saw teenagers who might represent a “threat” to American safety. Last month the National Border Patrol Council confirmed that at least 16 arriving self-identified MS-13 members have used Arizona’s Nogales processing center to communicate with fellow gangsters already in the U.S. Instead of immediately returning the MS-13 criminals, the Obama administration mandated Immigration Customs and Enforcement to release them into interior where, according to the FBI, they regularly recruit middle and high school students. 

Disease threats represent another major concern. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General reported that based on 87 unannounced visits to 63 to Texas, Arizona and California detention centers, many family units “require treatment for communicable diseases, including respiratory illnesses, tuberculosis, chicken pox, and scabies.” OIG observed other, highly unsanitary conditions.

Finally, a leaked Customs and Border Patrol intelligence analysis indicated that Chinese, Pakistani, Egyptian, Syrian, Yemeni, Somali and Albanian nationals among others have been either caught trying to sneak into the U.S. or have crossed, and then voluntarily surrendered. Furthermore, as detailed in the CBP report, between January 2014 and July 2014 at least 71 Africans from Ebola-affected nations have been apprehended or turned themselves in. This verifies what Michelle Bachmann, (R-MN) saw on her trip with Steve King (R-IA) to the Texas/Mexico border that “virtually nobody” is stopped, and that she witnessed “border processing, not border security.” Confirming what McCaul saw, agents told Bachmann and King that “more than 80 percent” of the people entering are males over 14. 

Those who advocate giving illegal aliens permanent residency, social security cards and eventual citizenship will dismiss McCaul, Bachmann, King, the OIG and CBP as partisan, at best, or racist, at worst. But Congress should act on the side of caution, deport and enforce the law rather than risk keeping the border wide open which invites more worldwide illegal immigration with its disease and terrorism risks.

Congress reconvenes on September 8, three days before September 11th’s thirteen anniversary. If youths from remote Central American villages can easily access the U.S. border, well-organized, well-funded terrorist groups like ISIS will do it too. When that happens, another 9/11 is inevitable.

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Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow whose columns have been nationally syndicated since 1987. Contact him at [email protected]