FAIR Exposes Increasing Threat of Tuberculosis Due to Mass Migration

FAIR Take | October 2024
New research published by FAIR shows how the combination of open borders and weak health screening protocols has allowed tuberculosis (TB) to make a significant comeback in the United States. FAIR’s report establishes the link of rising TB rates to mass immigration and reveals that even if legal aliens test positive for latent TB, they are still admitted to the U.S. This means that all Americans, especially children in our school systems, are at an unacceptable risk of a hard-to-treat, highly infectious, and potentially deadly illness.
FAIR’s report drew heavily on data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, and multiple state and city-level health reporting agencies. After years of declining TB rates, the U.S. has seen an increase every year since the Biden-Harris administration has been in office. American communities, including many border communities, are paying the price.
The open border has encouraged the flow of millions of foreign nationals to the U.S., mostly from countries with poor-quality healthcare and high rates of TB. Data show that, in countries like Haiti, the TB infection rate is a breathtaking 60 times higher than the U.S. rate. At the border itself, TB is already pushing local governments to the limit. Frio County, Texas, has a TB rate over 100 times higher than the U.S. average and higher than the TB rate in countries like Kenya, Pakistan, and Iraq.
Far from the border in New York City, a major center for legal and illegal aliens, nearly 9 out of 10 TB cases in the city are in foreign-born patients. Even in low-population states like North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, the TB rate is between 9 and 18 times higher in foreign-born residents than in U.S.-born residents.
In the U.S., 80 percent of all TB cases are linked to latent TB that progresses into an active infection. In California alone, over 2 million people have latent TB, 90 percent of them born overseas. Just 23 percent of patients in California were aware they even had latent TB, and just 13 percent had received treatment. The current testing regime for potential immigrants allows people with latent TB to enter and become a ticking time bomb.
FAIR’s report also details the impact of TB on migrant children. Hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied alien children are apprehended at the border each year and are quickly released to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). However, even if these children test positive for latent TB, HHS releases them to live with sponsors in communities in the United States without providing them treatment. A report by HHS states that more than 2,450 alien children with latent TB were released without treatment into 44 states between June 2022 and May 2023.
The fear of TB spreading to other children is not just theoretical. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of children under 4 infected with TB nationwide increased by 17 percent, from 199 cases to 233 cases. In April 2024, a 5-year-old girl was infected with TB linked to a migrant shelter in Chicago, which city authorities stated was part of a “small number of cases.” City authorities declined to provide further details when approached by the Chicago Tribune.
Other outbreaks of TB have occurred recently in American schools, but officials are rarely transparent about how the disease was introduced. In June 2024, a TB outbreak at a high school in Porter Ridge, North Carolina placed 270 students at risk of contracting the disease. In November 2023, an outbreak at a Seattle high school exposed 135 students to TB. Also in November 2023, a positive TB diagnosis at a daycare center in Omaha, Nebraska forced school officials to test over 500 babies, infants, and toddlers for TB. While the “patient zero” for the Omaha outbreak was never revealed, CDC statistics show 94 percent of TB patients in Nebraska are foreign-born.
Treating TB is both difficult and expensive. It requires patients to take regular medication at intervals lasting several months and if the patient fails to do this, they remain potentially infectious. Furthermore, the cost of treatment is very high. Even a “routine” infection costs over $20,000 and total costs can be over $500,000 if it is an extensively drug-resistant strain. Some states like Minnesota, where 83 percent of TB cases are in foreign-born patients, offer “free” treatment, although naturally this “free” treatment is paid for by the taxpayer.
FAIR’s TB report was released the same day Louisiana’s Attorney General sued the Biden-Harris administration regarding a detained migrant with an extremely serious case of TB. The migrant, a Chinese national who illegally entered the U.S. near San Diego, has a rare and virulent strain of TB. To make matters worse, as he was transferred from San Diego to a Louisiana detention center, he likely exposed hundreds of migrants and officials to this dangerous and deadly form of TB. The AG’s emergency lawsuit seeks to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from releasing the Chinese migrant, and “potentially infected detainees” who came in contact with the Chinese migrant until they are cleared by Louisiana’s health department.
As the case in Louisiana demonstrates, TB is a highly infectious and potentially deadly illness that is increasing its presence in the U.S., thanks to massive levels of immigration. With over 9,600 cases in 2023 alone, and over 600 TB deaths a year, we must gain control of our borders and ensure the treatment of migrants before they are released into our communities.
To read the full report click here.
Support from readers like you is crucial in funding FAIR’s operations. Please consider making a difference with a tax-deductible contribution and join our efforts in educating the public on sensible immigration reform.