The flood of illegal immigrants has brought with it human trafficking, rampant crime, known terrorists, sexual slavery, pedophilia, the drug deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans, has enriched cartels beyond their wildest dreams and oh-so-much more. Another diverse and inclusive import is third-world diseases once all but eradicated in America. It’s becoming rather noticeable:

Following reports of data showing migration at the southern border smashed monthly records in December, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the Biden administration of "aiding and abetting" drug cartels. 

"We've got the Biden administration, as I said, aiding and abetting the cartels, encouraging the cartels to make billions of dollars and to bring as many people here as fast as possible, and as soon as possible," Paxton told Fox News’ Jason Chaffetz on "Sunday Morning Futures." "That's what the Biden administration is doing. They're not just not doing their job, they're actually encouraging the opposite," he added. 

And they’ve been doing it for years:

New York City’s health commissioner announced last week that the influx of migrants from the southern border — more than 50,000 to New York City alone in the past year — is delivering contagious diseases, including tuberculosis and polio, to our neighborhoods.

The same disease threats are also endangering other migrant destinations, including California, Texas and Florida.

In a letter to physicians and health-care administrators citywide, Commissioner Ashwin Vasan explained, “Many people who recently arrived in NYC have lived in or traveled through countries with high rates of TB.”

TB, short for tuberculosis, is a bacterial infection. It is treatable with antibiotics, but it generally takes six to nine months of medication to recover. Not a walk in the park.

TB spreads through the air, like flu or a cold. 

But how can this be? Surely every immigrant is carefully vetted at the border, like for Covid, whose lockdowns nearly destroyed the economy?  Of course, and have I told you I’m a Nigerian prince in exile, and if you’ll give me your bank account numbers, I’ll deposit millions for safekeeping, and you can keep some?

Immigrants who lawfully apply for a visa must undergo health screenings and show they are vaccinated, and refugees are screened for TB before entering the United States. 

Not so for those wading across the Rio Grande.

Nationwide, at least 6,009 of the 8,300 people with TB in 2022 were foreign-born, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Florida has been slammed with a 21% increase in TB since 2020.

Texas border counties have a TB rate triple the national average.

Image: Eiserne Lunge [Iron Lung], Armin Kübelbeck, CC-BY-SA, Wikimedia commons.org. 

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

At least TB is treatable. Polio, on the other hand, can paralyze you for life.

The article explains other countries use inferior polio vaccines that can spread the disease, and polio, which was once eradicated in the US, is on the rise again. Only about 50% of illegals have received even the inferior, ineffective, vaccine, or so they say. And in Portland, and surely other blue-state social justice utopias, other microscopic imports abound:

Woke Democrats have caused an absurd amount of problems for law-abiding residents in Portland, including a surge in violent crime, out-of-control open-air drug markets, and widespread homelessness. Parts of the metro area have been transformed into a third-world-like state because of disastrous progressive policies. Now, the combination of failed policies has sparked what appears to be a public health crisis. 

A highly contagious bacteria called "shigella" is spreading across Portland. This bacteria is common in countries found in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia regions. 

"Shigella spreads when one person's infected poop gets into another person's mouth through food or water, from objects or surfaces with shigella bacteria on them, or during sex," Multnomah County said, according to local news outlet KOIN 6, adding, "Shigella spreads very easily. Even a very small amount is enough to make someone sick."

In December, there have been over 45 infections of the deadly bacteria in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties, with nine different strains found in Portland since October. For the year, 218 cases have been reported in the region. 

"Local disease patterns suggest that fecal-oral spread through sexual contact may account for between half and more than two thirds of all cases without international travel. The rest are typically attributed to other types of person-to-person spread including outbreaks among populations with lack of hygiene, shelter, and sanitation, and among people who use illicit substances," county officials told KOIN 6 News.

Hmm. From where could these different strains have suddenly come? Fortunately, Shigella can usually be successfully treated with antibiotics. Unfortunately, people die from common bacterial infections every day. They die from TB and polio too, perhaps not as often.

Yet another example of how illegal immigration is our diverse, inclusive and equitable strength, and for some Americans, their exclusive destruction.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor and retired police officer and high school and college English teacher.  His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.