By Penny Starr
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that an average of 4,500 people are detained at the United States border with Mexico each day, and according to a Wednesday report from county health officials, many of them are bringing diseases with them.
Hundreds of the detained migrants are being relocated to San Diego, California, and the County of San Diego Communications Office has confirmed that, as of Wednesday, there have been 59 cases of flu among these migrants since May 19, 2019; and 82 people (33 families) have been quarantined at local hotels.
The sick migrants came from a federal facility in McAllen, Texas, where some 8,000 are being held — “two times the agency’s maximum capacity in the area,” according to Fox 5.
Fox 5 reported:
Federal officials shut down the Texas facility for cleaning after the outbreak and began moving the detainees to San Diego.
The first of those transfers arrived in San Diego on May 19. To date, nearly 300 people at a migrant shelter in Bankers Hill operated by Jewish Family Service of San Diego have received a health screening.
DHS [Department of Homeland Security] officials and U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced the plan to begin flying detained asylum seekers from Texas to San Diego on May 17. Federal immigration authorities are operating 10 jets between San Diego and Texas, with roughly 130 people aboard each flight. DHS officials said they aim to charter three flights a week to San Diego International Airport, from which the asylum seekers will be moved to local CBP processing stations like Brown Field.
San Diego is not the only American city that is receiving migrants.
An Associated Press (AP) report revealed that, aside from DHS releasing nearly 200,000 border crossers and illegal aliens into American communities since December 2018, the agency is flying border crossers and illegal aliens into U.S. cities and then releasing them:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has historically ensured that families had travel plans before releasing them, but last year it shortened custody stays in response to the growing numbers of arrivals from Mexico. They began dropping migrants off in cities along the border at burgeoning shelters and bus stations.
At the same time, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which turns over border crossers to ICE after arresting them, has begun flying migrants to other cities for processing and is releasing them directly into communities without going through ICE, saying their own facilities are at capacity. As numbers have swelled in border cities, authorities have begun looking farther inland.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that from October 1, 2018, to May 4, 2019, there were between 36,400 and 61,200 flu-related deaths.
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