Shhhh! Teen with TB is an Illegal Immigrant
Terry Trippany on Aug 30 2007 at 9:00 am | Filed under: Illegal Immigration
Soon to be deported
This story may make you sick. Literally.
It turns out that many peoples’ original inclination to wonder about the citizen status of a Mexican teen that refused to take TB medicine was correct; Francisco Santos is an illegal immigrant who came to this country to work illegally. I’m sure all the people that came in contact with the youth can rest easy knowing that an American employer facilitated the potential spread of a deadly disease by opening the door for an unscreened illegal immigrant.
I hope they get sued by every American citizen that was put at risk. That is what it will take to send the message that Americans an legal immigrants aren’t going to take this flouting of the law sitting down.
Deportation proceedings have begun.
The Mexican day laborer jailed in Gwinnett County for refusing tuberculosis treatment is an illegal immigrant and officials have begun the deportation process, officials said Wednesday.
Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway said Francisco Santos acknowledged to agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that he is in this country illegally.
Conway said federal immigration agents placed a “detainer” on the 17-year-old Santos, meaning he will be held and that the deportation process begins. But he said Santos’ condition and his status as a minor could complicate a process that can take months.
Because of Santos’ age, officials would have to make sure before his return that he has family in Mexico or that the Mexican government would take a role.
Gwinnett County health officials jailed Santos Friday after he refused treatment for an active, contagious case of tuberculosis and threatened to flee to his native Mexico. Santos, who lives in Duluth, has since started taking medicine, but will remain in jail at least until a Sept. 5 hearing in Gwinnett Superior Court on his isolation.
Attempts to reach the ICE agency were unsuccessful Wednesday. Two ICE agents are stationed at the Gwinnett County jail and screen each foreign-born person taken into the jail.
Conway said he does not believe any significant action will be taken to deport Santos until he is “medically clear,” meaning that he is no longer contagious. Santos’ treatment is expected to last about a year until he is cured, but he is expected to be no longer contagious in about three weeks. (src. AJC)
For those of you out there who want to sweep the risk under the covers and claim that this is being over-exaggerated pay attention:
Also on Wednesday, four family members of Santos tested positive for the disease, but they are not showing symptoms, are not contagious and will not be isolated, health officials said.
Lets mark this up as another advantage of illegal immigration. I wonder if the teen was attending school, comforted by illegal immigrant sympathizers whose short sighted agenda is completely ignorant of the ramifications of unfettered access to this country?
See also: Michelle Malkin
TB, illegal immigrant, Gwinnett County, tuberculosis, Francisco Santos
