One Reporter's Opinion – Importing Disease

One Reporter's Opinion – Importing Disease George Putnam Friday, Feb 25, 2005 It is this reporter's opinion that when the president and first lady return from the fence-mending trip to Europe, he and the 'Ayatollah in the White House,' Karl Rove, need to lock themselves in the Oval Office and review the findings of the February 17, 2005 testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee: Three of the nation's highest-ranking Homeland Security officials issued a chilling warning that al-Qaida will exploit our lax border enforcement to infiltrate terrorists and weaponry into the United States.

CIA Director Porter Goss, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Admiral James Loy, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, all warned that al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations will use our poorly guarded border with Mexico to launch another lethal attack on American soil.

According to Admiral Loy, Intelligence reports strongly suggest that al-Qaida considers our southern border to be a point of vulnerability. Goss told the committee, "It may be only a matter of time before al-Qaida or another group attempts to use chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons against the United States."

Mueller warns that at the top of the FBI's list of concerns is "the threat from covert al-Qaida operatives in the United States."

The warnings are spelled out for the president and Mr. Rove just as they were so often before, specifically, in September of 2004 when Time magazine warned of our porous borders. According to Time's cover story, "Illegal immigration into the United States has accelerated in the last year since President Bush proposed a TEMPORARY WORKER PROGRAM that amounts to an amnesty program that would allow millions to remain in the United States legally."

Isn't the president aware of the thousands of letters and communications, phone calls and faxes from all of us crying out against the disastrous effects on Americans as a result of illegal immigration? We the people are stunned at the deaf ear turned away from our pleadings in defense of our nation!

While the illegal immigration crisis began decades ago, it has reached epidemic levels since Bush was elected in 2000. Much of this began with the incessant assault on America by the Mexican government encouraging their nationals to invade the United States in violation of our immigration laws. Observing Mexico's success, many other nations sent their people to join the tsunami of illegals. Shouldn't we conclude that this is a carefully designed and executed plan to destroy the very fabric of our nation?

At this moment, our Census Bureau has released its latest figures: The foreign-born population in the U.S. numbered 34.2 million in 2004, which accounts for 12 percent of the country's total population. Of the foreign born,

And along with this invasion by the unwanted and uninvited comes the importation of diseases we previously all but stomped out: tuberculosis, hepatitis, malaria, even leprosy, and diseases previously not heard of, such as chagas ... and a new one: infectious neurocysticercosis, caused by the parasite taenia solium (a tapeworm), identified as the cause of this disease in the southwestern U.S. It's especially rampant along the Mexican border all the way from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego, California.

It's found in the shantytowns on the U.S. side of the border where there is no sanitation of any kind: no toilets, no showers, no clean water. Disease proliferates unchecked among 185,000 Mexicans and South Americans who inhabit those shantytowns. From 1985 to 1995 the number had increased to half a million. These areas are known as "colonias": rusted trailers and shacks nailed together from tar paper and cardboard, without toilets, and with mounds of trash, multitudes of rats, and a complete lack of sanitation, with the pitiful people drinking their own waste.

And so, Mr. President, having returned from your trip of playing 'nice' to Chiraq, Schroeder, Putin and company, don't you think it's time to take another look at the almost insurmountable task that remains for you here at home?

With 50 million of our fellow Americans living without any form of health care, let's set aside the manufactured crisis of Social Security. It will wait. The health of America will not.

"And along with this invasion by the unwanted and uninvited comes the importation of diseases we previously all but stomped out: tuberculosis, hepatitis, malaria, even leprosy, and diseases previously not heard of, such as chagas ... and a new one: infectious neurocysticercosis, caused by the parasite taenia solium (a tapeworm), identified as the cause of this disease in the southwestern U.S. It's especially rampant along the Mexican border all the way from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego, California.

It's found in the shantytowns on the U.S. side of the border where there is no sanitation of any kind: no toilets, no showers, no clean water. Disease proliferates unchecked among 185,000 Mexicans and South Americans who inhabit those shantytowns. From 1985 to 1995 the number had increased to half a million. These areas are known as "colonias": rusted trailers and shacks nailed together from tar paper and cardboard, without toilets, and with mounds of trash, multitudes of rats, and a complete lack of sanitation, with the pitiful people drinking their own waste.

And so, Mr. President, having returned from your trip of playing 'nice' to Chiraq, Schroeder, Putin and company, don't you think it's time to take another look at the almost insurmountable task that remains for you here at home?"

This is a very important posting. I do not understand why President Bush does not consider this a top priority. It must have something to do with the fact that some of his family members have an Hispanic heritage along with the fact that he probably grew up with and developed a great love for the plight of the South American folks who have a strong presence in Texas. None of that should make a difference to a US policy which considers the well being of it's legal citizens first. My concern as a medical person is beyond any economic concern and that is the fact that disease has altered the course of history many times and it could happen here. Just take the case of the Plague: bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic. This is a disease which was one of the scourges of early history. It has caused three great world pandemics and has caused millions of deaths and certainly, altered the course of history. The first plague occurred in AD 542 and lasted for 60 years. It killed millions. The second pandemic was called the "Black Death" and occurred during the fourteenth century This plague was centered around large trading ports. This severe plague was spread by rats coming off ships and it lasted about 400 years, killing about 25% of the entire European population. The third pandemic occurred in northern China and by 1894, had reached Canton and Hong Kong. It spread from there and it killed millions. Of course, the plague is not currently a problem in the US but this disease of antiquity has become a cause for concern recently as realization hits that it can be used as a weapon of biological warfare or terrorism , along with anthrax and smallpox. It is considered to be a significant risk since it is spread by fleas. In my view, now is the time to tackle our borders. Enough is enough and if we care about Homeland Security, this portal of terrorism must be closed. Are you listening, Bush Administration and Congressmen and women? While American blood is being spilled to root out the cause of terrorism in a far away land, we must not ignore the clandestine spread of disease, planned or unplanned coming through our Southern borders. The other side of this is that our medical facilities are overwhelmed and the medical costs to our society are astronomical. Let other nations see to their people and let our nation have a slow, careful immigration policy which protects the very foundations of our freedom and safety.

"It's found in the shantytowns on the U.S. side of the border where there is no sanitation of any kind: no toilets, no showers, no clean water. Disease proliferates unchecked among 185,000 Mexicans and South Americans who inhabit those shantytowns. From 1985 to 1995 the number had increased to half a million. These areas are known as "colonias": rusted trailers and shacks nailed together from tar paper and cardboard, without toilets, and with mounds of trash, multitudes of rats, and a complete lack of sanitation, with the pitiful people drinking their own waste."

More on "COLONIAS" aka BRINGING THE 3RD WORLD TO THE USA!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1340396/posts

"AUSTIN - Third-world-like conditions that exist in Nueces County and other parts of South Texas in colonias could come closer to being eradicated if a new bill becomes law.

Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, filed a bill Wednesday seeking to end the construction of colonias, which are underdeveloped neighborhoods which are usually past paved roads and in patches of land without municipal water and sewer lines.

"We have colonias with no running water, no drainage, no septic tanks. And when it rains, it floods," said Hinojosa, who represents Nueces County. "People cannot get out of the house. Kids cannot go to school, and you have health problems associated with this."

Additional links:

A Ticking Time Bomb: Diseases that Cross American Borders
	Posted by CHARLITE On News/Activism 12/15/2004 2:42:44 PM CST · 38 replies · 883+ views RUTHERFORD INSTITUTE.COM ^ \| DECEMBER 13, 2004 \| JOHN W. WHITEHEAD As an American, I have always been inspired by the fact that my country welcomes those who seek refuge. And as long as our government officials maintain our borders and ensure that those coming from other countries are screened in order to protect those who legally live here, the concept of welcoming immigrants is a noble one. However, something has gone awry. Indeed, illegal immigration into the U.S. has become an immense problem and a clear and present danger. Documented illegal immigration has more than doubled in the last decade. It has grown, by conservative counts, from 3.5 million in...

Disease, unwanted import
	Posted by ovrtaxt On News/Activism 02/13/2005 4:14:48 AM CST · 20 replies · 501+ views washington times ^ \| February 13, 2005 \| Joyce Howard Price Contagious diseases are entering the United States because of immigrants, illegal aliens, refugees and travelers, and World Health Organization officials say the worst could be yet to come. In addition to a list of imported diseases that includes tuberculosis, sickle cell anemia, hepatitis B, measles and the potentially deadly parasitic disease Chagas, officials fear what could happen if the avian flu, which is flourishing among poultry in Southeast Asia, mutates so that it is capable of human-to-human transmission through casual contact

I find it very interesting that not one of the open border advocates here on FR ever comment on "colonias". The article below is from 1999, and yet most of the country has no idea this insanity is occuring.

Richard Estrada: Colonias shouldn't morph into colonies
http://www.dallasnews.com/editorial/columnists/0827edit1estrad.htm

08/27/99

Just call it the "c" word. Call it that because, among the many hot-button terms in the spirited debate over the issues of immigration and language, few are more sensitive than the word "colonization."

But as the unsettling story of the former colonia of El Cenizo, Texas, continues to unfold, ignoring the "c" word along the border and around the nation no longer is a viable option.

The municipal government of the Rio Grande town of 7,800, located 20 miles downstream from Laredo, still is provoking nationwide commentary two weeks after it approved two blockbuster ordinances that have drawn the ire of Americans everywhere.

One declared that official business would be conducted in Spanish; the other threatened that any employee found cooperating with federal immigration authorities would be fired. Shocked by all the attention they immediately began to receive, El Cenizo commission members defended their moves as examples of democracy in action.

Were the ordinances that? If the point was to serve what some on the City Commission say are the 80 percent of El Cenicenos who are monolingual Spanish speakers and an estimated 1,500 undocumented immigrants, another question begs to be asked: How did the situation get to this point? Against the backdrop of the local government's preference for Spanish over English and a blatant insult to federal immigration authorities, Americans now must begin addressing the question of when a colonia becomes a colony.

In the 1980s, many Texans began to learn about the existence of hundreds of substandard subdivisions along the border. Unlike typical housing tracts, in which the price of basic services was included in the price of a home, the colonia plots lacked running water, sewerage, electricity and the like.

The unincorporated subdivisions often were sold by farmers or speculators who wanted to profit from otherwise worthless land. Because only the most desperate and impoverished individuals would want to build a home on land that was unincorporated and lacking in basic services, the buyers often turned out to be immigrants, legal or illegal.

Driven by humanitarian considerations, state voters approved the use of bond revenue for extending basic services to the colonias in 1989. But the challenge was found to be so great that another bond election was held in 1991, and it, too, was passed. Eventually, hundreds of millions of federal dollars began to be dedicated for the purpose of upgrading the colonias along the Texas-Mexico border.

Defenders and apologists for the colonia system routinely argued that most residents were legal immigrants and that colonias were a reflection of the need for more low-cost housing. But they failed to note that nearly 3 million previously illegal newcomers were given amnesty in 1986 and that their legal status and that of close relatives spring from the federal government having winked at an original act of illegal immigration.

Helping people obtain basic services is a good idea. Winking at more illegal immigration and leaving the levels of legal immigration on automatic pilot, in the knowledge that a colonia-like phenomenon will continue, are not.

The argument that a colonia is a colony has its limits, to be sure. But consider this: One of the most important elements of Mexican foreign policy is to maximize the emigration of Mexican citizens to the United States by lobbying on U.S. soil for high levels of legal immigration and fighting or attenuating U.S. laws and strategies designed to challenge illegal immigration. Mexican officials concerned about a labor surplus in their country even have spoken openly about creating an Israeli-type lobby for Mexico among people of Mexican origin in the United States.

The liberal penchant for ignoring such infringements on national sovereignty is well known. But even libertarian conservatives in the business community are indifferent to the matter. They tend to be fearful of any rhetoric or action that might impede the mass influx of inexpensive foreign labor.

An exaggeration? In 1990, the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal proposed a five-word amendment to the Constitution, "There shall be open borders." In moving closer and closer toward that dubious recommendation, it isn't the City Commission of tiny El Cenizo that should be held accountable by the American people; it is their own elected representatives in Congress.

Richard Estrada is an associate editor of The Dallas Morning News editorial page. His e-mail address is restrada@dallasnews.com.

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