Teen Jailed Over TB to Face Deportation

AP via SFGate ^ | 8/30/7

[SmithL]

Lawrenceville, Ga. (AP) -- Officials started taking steps to deport a Mexican teenager who was jailed after refusing treatment for tuberculosis.

Francisco Santos, 17, has acknowledged to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that he is in the country illegally, Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway said Wednesday.

County health officials jailed Santos last week after he refused treatment for an active, contagious case of tuberculosis and threatened to travel to Mexico, a move that could expose more people to the potentially fatal disease. Santos, who lives in Duluth, has since started taking medicine, but he will remain jailed at least until a Sept. 5 hearing.

Conway said Santos' condition and age could further complicate a deportation process that can take months. Because he is a minor, officials would have to make sure he has family in Mexico or that the Mexican government would take a role.

Four people who had been living with Santos have also tested positive for tuberculosis, health officials said Wednesday.

"Those four tested positive but are not actively ill," Gwinnett County Health Department spokesman Vernon Goins said. "Chest X-rays were negative, and we will treat them to keep the disease from developing."

[SmithL]

Maybe we should start to think about securing our borders.

[kittymyrib]

Are the children of illegals tested for TB before they enter the schools your children attend? No.

[muawiyah]

Patch tests for TB have always been standard ~ there are even websites with discussions of NEW patch tests that work even better.

One would imagine the illegals kids get tested too.

[Buckhead]

why on earth isn’t the whole family deported? they are all illegals with tb.
there is going to be huge disease outbreaks while the idiot politicians sit
and twiddle their thumbs.

wife o’buckhead

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Hey Bush, where's the fence?

[NonValueAdded]

I would have sworn it was “yes” but it isn’t, at least in Florida. There is an immunization schedule (but a TB vaccine doesn't exist IIRC) and a requirement to have a physical. Now, would a doctor be guilty of malpractice if s/he did not ascertain a country-of-origin when taking a patient’s history and not conduct a routine TB screen as part of the physical? Maybe yes, maybe no. But if a classmate catches TB from an infected classmate, perhaps an aggressive tort lawyer (is that redundant?) would subpoena the doctor’s health certification for the TB carrier and go after that deep pocket aka malpractice insurance. Let the AMA add a TB question right before they ask about guns in the house.

[AnAmericanMother]

Gwinnett County has been taken over by illegals, and they have brought lots of crime with them. We have friends in what used to be a nice neighborhood, now there are drunk drivers, people relieving themselves in public, burglaries and armed robberies in broad daylight. They are scared but can't sell their house 'cause nobody's buying. Apparently the same thing is happening all up and down I-85.

I think law enforcement is frightened that they won't be backed up or that they'll be persecuted for enforcing the law.

[org.whodat]

Four people who had been living with Santos have also tested positive for tuberculosis, health officials said Wednesday.

And what has the great and wonderful department of home land security done about these walking time bombs.

[3AngelaD]

See: Illegal Immigrants May be Bringing Tuberculosis Into U.S {Ya think?} Also, paging Michael Moore

At

http://lungdiseases.about.com/b/2005/06/17/update-illegal-immigrants-may-be-bringing-tuberculosis-into-us.htm

[gathersnomoss]

Isn’t 1 in 20 Million a drop in the bucket? Seal The Borders.

[Mr J]

A TB resurgence is one of the many side-effects of unchecked illegal immigration.

[tracer]

Forming Commissions and Task Forces and producing voluminous “official” documents about such walking time bombs. Why do you ask?? 8~)

[tracer]

Forming Commissions and Task Forces and producing voluminous “official” documents about such walking time bombs. Why do you ask?? 8~)

[tracer]

Forming Commissions and Task Forces and producing voluminous “official” documents about such walking time bombs. Why do you ask?? 8~)

[SmoothTalker]

“Maybe we should start to think about securing our borders.”

You racist you! They are only coming here to do the things we won’t do. Just ask El Jefe :)

[tracer]

Swine sticky Microsoft mouse......

[kittymyrib]

There is no TB test required for school entry in Texas, a border state.

[lilylangtree]

Deport this criminal and let Mexico take care of him.

[Master Shake]

Just spreading the communicable diseases that Americans won’t spread....

[panthermom]

I would bet they don’t. Hell, they don’t have to have any of the information that a citizen needs to have to register for school, all they have to do is show up.