Border Patrol on Alert for Immigrants with Ebola (legal or illegal)

[Robby999 1,024]

With a number of prominent conservative politicians raising fears that the Ebola outbreak could spread to the U.S. via the country’s porous borders with Mexico and Canada, Customs and Border Protection and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sought to reassure a worried public that they are doing everything they can to monitor people entering the U.S. – whether legally or illegally – for the virus.

“CBP and the CDC have closely coordinated to develop policies, procedures, and protocols to identify travelers that are known by U.S. public health officials to have a communicable disease and to handle in a manner that minimizes risk to the public,” Jennifer Evanitsky, a spokeswoman for the CBP told Fox News Latino in an emailed statement.

The CBP’s statement comes after Republican senator and prospective GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul raised fears that infected individuals could enter the country through the U.S.-Mexico border, stoking more concern in states like Texas where Thomas Eric Duncan became the first American to bring the virus to the country.

The “border is not only a danger for national security purposes, it is also a danger for a worldwide pandemic should it occur,” Paul told talk show host Glenn Beck.

A CBP report published online earlier this week on Breitbart.com broke down where undocumented immigrants are coming from and, between January and July of this year, at least 71 people reportedly arrived from the three West African nations hit with the current Ebola outbreak.

Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia wrote to the head of the CDC last month about his fears that undocumented immigrants are carrying "swine flu, dengue fever, Ebola virus and tuberculosis” into the U.S.

"As the unaccompanied children continue to be transported to shelters around the country on commercial airlines and other forms of transportation, I have serious concerns that the diseases carried by these children may begin to spread too rapidly to control," he wrote.

While the CBP did not mention in its statement how it plans to monitor undocumented immigrants for the virus, the agency did say that it has been on the watch for anyone showing overt signs of the illness and all officers have been trained on how to identify a prospective Ebola patient.

“When a traveler or alien is identified with a possible communicable disease or identified from information that is received from the CDC, CBP personnel will take the appropriate safety measures by donning personal protective equipment, to include gloves and surgical masks, which are readily available for use in the course of their duties,” Evanitsky said. “The traveler would be isolated from the traveling public while the CDC and local public health authorities conduct an evaluation.”

New fears that the Ebola outbreak could spread in the U.S. arose after Duncan became the first person to show symptoms of the virus inside the U.S.

Duncan left for the U.S. on Sept. 19 to visit family and became sick a few days after he arrived. He is currently in isolation at a hospital in Dallas, Texas, and is listed as being in serious but stable condition.

Days before he left Liberia, Duncan had helped carry to a taxi a pregnant woman who later died of Ebola, according to neighbors. Her illness at the time was believed to be pregnancy-related.

The disease is believed to have sickened more than 7,100 people in West Africa and killed more than 3,300, according to the World Health Organization.

Despite the worries that travelers will carry the virus across the globe, a spokesman for the United Nations secretary-general has warned that air travel to and from the West African countries affected by the Ebola virus should continue despite the first reported case in the United States.

Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday that "it's very important not to isolate these countries" as it would worsen their political and economic situations. He says aid groups need access to the region.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2014/10/03/border-patrol-on-alert-after-71-people-from-hard-hit-ebola-countries-illegally/

[GandD 5,966]

Why isn't anyone worried Ebola would come from the Northern border?

[Robby999 1,024]

Why isn't anyone worried Ebola would come from the Northern border?

Because that border is actually enforced for some strange reason!

[GandD 5,966]

Because that border is actually enforced for some strange reason!

That's just not true. There's way more infrastructure in place down south.

[UncleBeer 244]

That's just not true.

Border patrol seems crazy diligent on the northern border:

2 Arrested at U.S./Canada Border Fined $10K for Illegally Entering the U.S.

BOWMANTOWN, Maine. – On the afternoon of Sept. 7, a U.S. Border Patrol agent from the Houlton Sector arrested a male from Lebanon, 44, and a male from the United States, 40, for illegally entering the United States south of the Notre Dame, Canada border crossing area.

At approximately 2:30 pm while on patrol, an agent from the Rangeley Station encountered two male subjects walking on a dirt road with mountain bikes in nexus to the border. Questioning by the agent revealed that the two suspects illegally entered the U.S. from Canada. Subsequently, both males were arrested for violation of U.S. law and transported to the Rangeley Station for further processing.

Yep; these two criminals made the mistake of recreationaly biking across the border.

[GandD 5,966]

Border patrol seems crazy diligent on the northern border:

Yep; these two criminals made the mistake of recreationaly biking across the border.

Are you suggesting that the northern border is more heavily guarded than the southern? And if so, please feel free to elaborate, specifically, why.

[UncleBeer 244]

Are you suggesting that the northern border is more heavily guarded than the southern? And if so, please feel free to elaborate, specifically, why.

There certainly seems to be a different level of diligence being put to work on either border. From the linked article, apparently the bikers

...deliberately entered the U.S. without lawful inspection and as such, each subject was assessed a $5,000 civil penalty under 19 USC 1459 for Failure to Report.

So: how often do you think this strict application of the rules happens on the southern border?

[GandD 5,966]

There certainly seems to be a different level of diligence being put to work on either border. From the linked article, apparently the bikers

So: how often do you think this strict application of the rules happens on the southern border?

One example. You give me one example and then roll your eyes at me. More money and resources go to protecting the southern border. This is true.

[UncleBeer 244]

One example. You give me one example and then roll your eyes at me.

There are others. Hikers are warned constantly about the fine, as there've been equally silly punitive measures in the past. Topsy-turvy "law enforcement".

More money and resources go to protecting the southern border. This is true.

If the same penalty was applied to America’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, the federal government could collect $55 billion. "Equal treatment under the law" and all that jive.

Edited October 4, 2014 by UncleBeer

[lostinblue 1,989]

The border patrol folks are changing diapers ... Sure don't have time to search for sick folks.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Why isn't anyone worried Ebola would come from the Northern border?

Last time I checked someone having a visa to canada from say china cannot use that visa to enter the USA. If you came from a suspect (ebola) country into canada you still would not be allowed to cross without the proper visa.

[Dakine10 5,452]

Last time I checked someone having a visa to canada from say china cannot use that visa to enter the USA. If you came from a suspect (ebola) country into canada you still would not be allowed to cross without the proper visa.

How is that different from Mexico?

[VOL 425]

How is that different from Mexico?

People from Canada are educated and have medical care to take care of them

Mexico and southern countries are basically lucky to have a 3rd grade education, and have poor medical and are mostly uneducated...

[Curmudgeon 227]

People from Canada are educated and have medical care to take care of them

Mexico and southern countries are basically lucky to have a 3rd grade education, and have poor medical and are mostly uneducated...

If you believe what you have posted you lack even the 3rd grade education that you accuse those in Mexico and 'southern' countries of having. I don't think this sort of ignorance really has a place on a message board dedicated to welcoming immigrants from all over the world. However, I don't make that decision.

Edited October 4, 2014 by Curmudgeon

[GandD 5,966]

Last time I checked someone having a visa to canada from say china cannot use that visa to enter the USA. If you came from a suspect (ebola) country into canada you still would not be allowed to cross without the proper visa.

Last time I checked, you can't from Mexico either. Now Cuba, that's the one you should worry about. They actually get to stay if they make it. Legally.