Problems Caused by Illegal Immigration

            With the circus atmosphere of the Senate hearing of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, it is easy to be distracted from other problems in the United States. After all, liberals are screaming that confirmation of Kavanaugh as an associate justice on the Supreme Court would end the world as we know it. What else could be worth discussing? Since the world is not ending because of Kavanaugh, we need to discuss some of the other problems, one of which is immigration.

            Economist Walter Williams says that we must be concerned about illegal aliens crossing our borders for some serious reasons. He explains that the Immigration and Nationality Act requires “all immigrants and refugees” to receive “a medical screening examination” before they are allowed into the United States. This requirement has been in place since the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries when people with “dangerous diseases were turned back from Ellis Island.” 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has technical instructions for medical examination of prospective immigrants in their home countries before they are permitted to enter the U.S. They are screened for communicable and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis, polio, measles, mumps and HIV. They are also tested for syphilis, gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted diseases. The CDC also has medical screening guidelines for refugees. These screenings are usually performed 30 to 90 days after refugees arrive in the United States.

But what about people who enter our country illegally? The CDC specifically cites the possibility of the cross-border movement of HIV, measles, pertussis, rubella, rabies, hepatitis A, influenza, tuberculosis, shigellosis and syphilis. Chris Cabrera, a Border Patrol agent in South Texas, warned: “What’s coming over into the U.S. could harm everyone. We are starting to see scabies, chickenpox, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections and different viruses.” Some of the youngsters illegally entering our country are known to be carrying lice and suffering from various illnesses. Because there have been no medical examinations of undocumented immigrants, we have no idea how many are carrying infectious diseases that might endanger American children when these immigrants enter schools across our nation.

            Apparently, all those champions of open borders and sanctuary cities are ignoring this public health issue. With their zeal to allow anybody and everybody into the United States, they are endangering our children. This problem with illegal aliens bringing diseases into the nation is compounded by the fact that many parents are against having children inoculated against them. The “herd protection” of most children receiving the shots is weakened or lost, and the children without them are more susceptible of getting the diseases – many of which were once nearly destroyed within our borders.

            Health issues are only part of the problem that illegal immigration brings to the United States. Williams says that “there is a greater threat” to our nation by some of the people who are coming to the United States.

[We are] welcoming to our shores people who have utter contempt for Western values and want to import anti-Western values to our country, such as genital mutilation, honor killings and the oppression of women. Many libertarian types make the argument that we would benefit from open borders when it comes to both people and goods. That vision ignores the important fact that when we import, say, tomatoes from Mexico, as opposed to people, to the U.S., they are not going to demand that we supply them with welfare benefits.

The bottom line is that we Americans have a right to decide who enters our country and under what conditions. If we forgo that right, we cease to be a sovereign nation. But that may not be important to some Americans.

            We are importing once-eradicated diseases into our society when we allow illegal immigration and putting our children at greater risk. We are also importing people who do not appreciate America and American values. We need to use common sense in making decisions about who can come into our nation and who cannot. We not only have the need to be choosy, but we also have the right to be selective. It is time that we start to use that right to protect Americans from dangerous people and dangerous diseases.