Health Risks of Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigration has become another politically incorrect subject created in America. We hear every day through the media and our politicians that the benefits undocumented immigrants create far outweigh the liabilities. Those opposing illegal immigration cite the loss of jobs, lack of taxes collected, and strain they create on our social system. But, why is it we never hear about the short and long-term health problems that may be occurring from illegal immigration? In my research, I have attempted to address this question, keeping the political correctness in mind, but tackling this subject with an unbiased and scientific objective.

Since 1926, Congress has kept medical examination requirements in the US Rules of Immigration for all foreigners wishing to immigrate to the USA. These presently include: *1

Physical Examination: Applicants are required to have a physical examination (to include complete disrobing), and a mental status evaluation.

Tuberculin (TB) Skin Test: All applicants two years of age and older are required to have a Tuberculin skin test (TST).

Serologic (blood) Test: All applicants 15 years of age and older are required to have serologic tests for HIV and for syphilis. Applicants under age 15 can be tested for HIV or syphilis if there is reason to suspect the possibility of infection. Civil Surgeons and Panel Physicians are required to provide pre-test counseling to all applicants who take the HIV test. If you are found to have HIV infection, the Civil Surgeon must provide you with post-test counseling

Vaccinations: Most applicants need to show that they are current with all vaccinations recommended by the U.S. public health officials.

'Medical grounds of inadmissibility' is a term used when an applicant has a health condition which is a public health concern to the U.S. Under the U.S. immigration laws, the medical grounds of inadmissibility are divided into four categories:

* Communicable disease of public health significance
* Lack of required vaccinations (for immigrant visa applicants only);
* Physical or mental disorders with harmful behavior
* Drug abuse or drug addiction

The US maintains a strict policy to deny immigration and even entry into its country should any applicant fall into one or more of the above categories.

According to the 2010 Census and INS statistics, roughly twelve million immigrants, mostly Mexicans, were living illegally in the United States as of January 2010. That is an increase over the 4 million the INS said lived in the country as of the 2000 Census. The population grew on average during the 1990's by 350,000 a year, about 75,000 more per year than reported in earlier INS estimates.

Mexicans made up 69 percent, or 4.8 million, of the illegal immigrant population in 2000, compared with 58 percent in 1990, the INS said. Aside from Mexico, other countries that are the source of more than 100,000 illegal immigrants include El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Honduras, China, and Ecuador *2.

These "official" figures are disputed by many non-government organizations. According to the private research group located in Washington, D.C., Pew Hispanic Center reports a 23% increase in illegal immigration bringing the total to 10.3 million illegals within U.S. national borders. On average, approximately 500,000 border-crossers are added to the already 2-3 million total that enter the United States illegally each year *3. The American Resistance Foundation estimates an even higher illegal population of 12 - 20 million *4. Since the recent invasion of immigrants from Central America, experts believe there will be more than 30 million illegal immigrants living in the US by the time of the 2020 Census.

HEALTH CONCERNS IN SOURCE COUNTRIES:

Mexico: According to the World Health Organization in January of 2015, more than 42% of the adult population in Mexico are carriers of the Tuberculin (TB) virus. 20% of those infected carry the strain that presently cannot be treated with drugs. Hepatitis A & B cases are in epidemic conditions throughout the region. Leprosy has grown at the rate of 10 to 12 percent since the first studies in 1958 *5.

Central America: Reports indicate that per 100 people, Central America has the world's largest population of TB carriers, seconded only by Mexico. The most recorded number of deaths to Hepatitis A & B has been recorded in the region by the World Health Organization since 2015.

South America: Since the W.H.O. study in 2015, second only to Africa, South America leads the world in the most recorded cases of HIV and venereal diseases per 100 people
.
DEADLY DISEASE INCREASES IN THE US:

Tuberculosis:
Since the blanket Amnesty Act was passed in 1986, recorded cases of TB have increased at a rate of 4% each year *6. A drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis from Central America is worrying U.S. health officials. On March 26, 2006, Joanne Carter, legislative director of RESULTS Educational Fund in Washington, D.C, announced the following to members of the US media:

"Today, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control released some disturbing new data that shows multi-drug resistant TB cases in the U.S. increased some 13.3 percent from 2003 to 2004, and that's the largest one-year increase since the early 1990's. And they're also reporting that what they're calling extensively drug-resistant TB(XDRTB), extremely drug resistant strains of TB that are resistant to many of the second line TB drugs, have accounted for a little bit more than four percent of multi-drug resistant cases " and that's a very scary number as well" *7.

"In my opinion, the growth of this (drug resistance) could be considered an epidemic situation," said Eduardo Olivarez, chief administrative officer for the Hidalgo County, Texas, Health Department *8.

Tuberculosis, a potentially fatal bacterial disease usually affecting the lungs, poses a great public health risk because it is spread through coughing or sneezing. According to the Herald, in 2005, Hidalgo County, Texas Health Department handled 101 new cases of TB, a 25-percent increase from 2004.

Hepatitis A & B:
It is estimated that there are between 125,000 and 200,000 Hepatitis A infections (HAV) per year in the United States. Approximately 1.25 million people in the United States have chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV), with an estimated 78,000 new HBV infections each year. HCV is the most common chronic blood borne infection in the United States. It is estimated that about 4 million Americans have been infected with HCV, of whom 2.7 million have chronic infections. There are approximately 25,000 new infections in the U.S. each year *9. Hispanic male immigrants account for more than half of the new infections.

By 1982, the reported incidence of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections in the US had doubled in just ten years. Before 1982, an estimated 200,000 - 300,000 people in the US were infected with HBV every year, including about 20,000 children. By 2001 this number had fallen to 78,000 due to the vaccination program that began in 1989 *10. Today, most new cases of this disease are found in illegal Hispanic male immigrants.

HIV:
In 1989, 442 people tested positive for H.I.V. out of 397,000 applicants 15 years or older who sought to immigrate, the United States Public Health Service said. In 1994 only 10 people applied for the waivers, the Immigration and Naturalization Service said. Due to privacy laws since enacted by Congress, statistics relating to the number of immigration applicants with HIV is no longer open to the public *11.
No one knows exactly how many immigrants in the US, illegal or otherwise, have HIV. In a 2002 study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most case of HIV in the immigrant community are found amongst South Africans, followed by people from Honduras and Columbia *12.

CONCLUSIONS:

It doesn't take a lot of common-sense to see that illegal immigration can, will, and does encourage an unnecessary health problem in the United States. Under current and strict immigration laws, people applying for US citizenship must pass intense health requirements. Those with health problems will not be allowed to immigrate.

An illegal immigrant bypasses the health safeguards that are in place to protect the main population. The United States Health Department has invested over one hundred and thirty two years in efforts to eradicate deadly diseases through a well organized program of vaccinations. The countries supplying most of our illegals do not have such programs in place, or at least as well organized.

All the countries, where most illegal immigrants come from, have epidemics far above each year's estimates by the World Health Organization. The United States INS has turned down almost every legal application for immigration from these countries in an effort to avoid such epidemics in this country. Yet, our government seems to do next to nothing to stop people from these countries crossing our boarders illegally or send them home once found. One person with wet leprosy or active TB can infect over 200 people a day. This accounts for the high increases of these diseases in the US over the past ten years, especially in border communities.

Unless our country gets in control of its borders soon, experts predict TB, Hepatitis B, Small Pox, Measles, Leprosy, and HIV will all be in epidemic stages by 2022. The largest community to be affected by these epidemics will be our elderly and young children. Because of the political incorrectness of illegal immigration, our elected officials refuse to get the matter under control, leaving the health of the people in jeopardy.

Our leaders continue to tell us that illegal immigrants provide a greater service to the nation as a whole. What is difficult for me is if it is so great why do we have the laws to prohibit it in the first place?




REFERENCES:

*1 VisaPro USA - Medical Examination Requirement for Immigration. http://faq.visapro.com/Immigration-Medical-Exams-FAQ2.asp#Q1
*2 CBS News - Huge Increase in Illegal Immigration http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/03/10/national/printable543313.shtml
*3 Immigration 9-11 European American News, by David Mullenax http://us.altermedia.info/news-of-interest-to-white-people/sharp-increase-in-ill...
*4 American Resistance Foundation - Overview - Illegal Aliens in the United States http://www.desertinvasion.us/data/invasion_numbers.html
*5 SciFlo Public Health, Bulletin of the World Health Organization
http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-9686200600080000...
*6 New York Times, May 24 2006, Editorial http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/24/opinion/24meese.html
*7 RESULTS, Telephone Press Briefing for Arizona Journalists on World TB Day http://www.results.org/website/article.asp?id=2127
*8 World Net Daily, Resistant TB from Mexico Feared http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48579
*9 San Francisco City Clinic, Hepatitis http://www.dph.sf.ca.us/sfcityclinic/stdbasics/hepatitis.asp
*10 HealthLink, Getting Rid of Hepatitis B in the United States. http://www.healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002175.html
*11 The New York Times , October 1992 Immigrants with HIV http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D91F3FF934A35753C1A96495826...
*12 US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Deadly Secrets: Massachusetts Hub Group Helps African Immigrants With HIV-AIDS Overcome Bias, Fear http://www.thebody.com/content/legal/art19429.html