Illegal Immigrant Jailed over Tuberculosis

UPDATE: ICE has determined that Santos is in the country illegally. (Shocking, I know!) Because of his age, he will receive free treatment, courtesy of American Taxpayers, until the feds can confirm that he has family in Mexico to take care of him, or the Mexican government will. It will take months.
Four of his relatives have tested positive for TB and are receiving treatment. No word on the immigration status of the rest of the family.


A 17-year old Mexican, named Francisco Santos, is being held in the Gwinnett County Detention center. He was diagnosed with active, contagious tuberculosis on friday. When the doctors told him, he refused to believe them, refused treatment, said he was going back to Mexico, and went to leave.
Gwinnett County officials put him in jail.

David Will, the county health attorney, said Santos was detained because he is a public health threat.

"He has active, contagious TB," Will said Saturday. "He is at risk of communicating that with anybody he comes in contact with."

Will said Santos is being held under a court order for confinement. He'll stay in that cell until either he starts cooperating and accepting treatment, or a judge makes some other decision at a Sept. 5 hearing. At that commitment hearing, the judge could decide to place him in a hospital with security.

Santos listed his birth place as Mexico. Will said he did not know the status of Santos' citizenship. The Gwinnett jail has two federal immigration agents who screen foreign-born inmates to determine whether to investigate their status and potentially place a hold on them for deportation.

According to the CDC's Web site, in 2006, a total of 13,767 TB cases were reported in the United States.

There has been a resurgence of TB in the United States during 1985-1992. {Gee, what immigration trend happened during that time?} A disproportionately high rate of TB in this country has been seen among Asians and Hispanics, and the CDC is working with international health organizations to help reduce TB in affected countries.

According to the CDC, in 2006, the TB rate among foreign-born persons in the United States was 9.5 times that of U.S.-born persons.

In 2006, for the third consecutive year, more TB cases were reported among Hispanics than any other racial/ethnic population. Among persons with TB whose country of birth was known, 95.6% were foreign born.

But remember, if you want to secure the border, you're a racist, nativist, inhuman bastard!
What are the chances that TB could be transmitted if Francisco, or one of his 'several siblings', cough on my burrito grande? Just wondering.