Dallas Ebola Patient Was Another Visa Mistake
Look up "likely visa overstay" in the dictionary, and you should find a picture of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who is the first Ebola case diagnosed within the United States, and who is now being treated in a Dallas hospital.
This looks like another good case for the consular officers training manual of a non-immigrant visa that never should have been issued, but which could have serious public health consequences, not to mention monetary costs.
According to his Facebook page and other reports, Duncan is a 40-something, single, unemployed Liberian living in Ghana who applied sometime in the last year for a visa to visit his sister in the United States. It was reportedly his first time visiting this country.
That is six strikes against his application:
- Single
- Unemployed
- Liberian (5th highest overstay rate of any country in the world)
- Living outside country of citizenship
- First time traveler to the United States
- Sister living in the United States.
Together, all these factors should have weighed very heavily against the issuance of a visitor's visa to Duncan. He clearly appears unqualified.
In 2013, more than 3,500 non-immigrant visas were issued to Liberians. This number has grown steadily since 2009, when just over 1,300 were issued. Most are issued to tourists and business travelers. A relatively high percentage do not return, but settle here illegally to join a well-established Liberian community (many of whom have won green cards in the visa lottery).
The federal government has yet to disclose the details of Duncan's immigration history, but it is fair to ask why he was issued a visa in the first place? More importantly, what steps are being taken to prevent others who may be infected from entering the country?
Using 2013 non-immigrant visa issuance statistics and information on visa validity periods, I estimate that there are about 5,000 people from Sierra Leone, 5,000 people from Guinea, and 3,500 people from Liberia who have valid non-immigrant visas to enter the United States.
The president and his immigration agencies have the authority and the responsibility to deny admission to any alien that has (or cannot establish to the government's satisfaction that he or she doesn't have) a communicable disease of public health significance, such as ebola. In the midst of this severe outbreak, the government should be setting up more robust screening protocols. Reportedly, travelers to the United States are simply being questioned about their contact with infected people and are checked for a fever. In contrast, three African countries (Namibia, Kenya, and Zambia) have banned travelers from the countries that are experiencing the outbreak (Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea).
In July, a member of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson suggesting that we bar entry to any foreign travelers who have visited the three Ebola-stricken countries within 90 days of seeking entry to the United States.
But, as with the threat from terrorism and from foreign criminal cartels, the Obama administration seems reluctant to use immigration controls even to protect the homeland.
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Kaiser Permanente Staff: No Ebola Training in San Diego Hospital, Breitbart, October 20, 2014.
CIDRAP Director: Two Ebola Possibilities That 'Should Keep Us up at Night', Breitbart, October 19, 2014.
The Ebola crisis - Much worse to come, The Economist, October 18, 2014.
Senate Judiciary Republicans to Obama: Stop Issuing Visas to Ebola-Stricken Countries Now, October 18, 2014..
Judicial Watch: Obama Plans to Transfer Ebola-infected Foreigners to U.S. for Treatment, Breitbart, October 18, 2014.
General: US Troops Who Contract Ebola Will Be Quarantined in Liberia, Breitbart, October 18, 2014.
World View: Forecasting the Ebola Endgame and Global Risk, Breitbart, October 18, 2014.
Obama: Ebola Travel Ban Won't Keep Americans Safe, Breitbart, October 17, 2014.
Vomiting Passenger Dies on Flight from Nigeria to New York's JFK, Breitbart, October 17, 2014.
U.S. Soldiers Get Just Four Hours of Ebola Training, The Daily Beast, October 17, 2014.
Obama Authorizes National Guard, Army Reserve Call-Up for Ebola, Breitbart, October 16, 2014.
Ebola! How worried should you be?, by Chris Martenson, October 15, 2014.
How Ebola Patient Flew to U.S. From Liberia via Belgium, Bloomberg, October 10, 2014.
Three Ebola Stories the Mainstream Media Literally Scrubbed From the Internet, DC Clothesline, October 9, 2014.
Nurses Union Contradicts CDC Director's Claim That Hospitals Are Well Prepared for Ebola, Breitbart, October 4, 2014.
The Dallas Ebola Case: An Immigration-Related Process Conspiracy?, Global Research, October 3, 2014.
Sneaky CDC Changes Ebola Transmission Page – What You NEED to Know, DC Clothesline, October 3, 2014.
Five Ways the White House Could Have Stopped Ebola from Reaching U.S. Soil, Breitbart, October 3, 2014.
...The Obama administration failed to enforce existing immigration law to protect American citizens from epidemics in foreign countries. The Immigration and Nationality Act grants them power to discriminate -- yes, discriminate -- against foreigners who could pose a threat to Americans, whether it be from contagion, criminal character, mental illness, drug abuse, and a bevy of other disqualifications. Section 212 [ 8 U.S.C. 1182 ]...
Top Doctors: Ebola May Become Airborne … And May Already Be Transmissible Via Aerosols, Global Research, October 2, 2014:
...In 2012, a team of Canadian researchers proved that Ebola Zaire, the same virus that is causing the West Africa outbreak, could be transmitted by the respiratory route from pigs to monkeys, both of whose lungs are very similar to those of humans....
The Guardian reports today:
There is a ‘nightmare’ chance that the Ebola virus could become airborne if the epidemic is not brought under control fast enough, the chief of the UN’s Ebola mission has warned...
But perhaps most challenging to the mainstream assumption that Ebola can only be spread through physical contact with a person who is showing symptoms of infection is the following explanation by two national experts on infectious disease transmission, both professors in the School of Public Health, Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, at the University of Illinois at Chicago (footnotes omitted):
We believe there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles both near and at a distance from infected patients, which means that healthcare workers should be wearing respirators, not facemasks...
Thousands from Ebola Nations Allowed to Enter US Without Additional Screening, Breitbart, October 2, 2014:
Over 3,500 passengers from Ebola affected nations have been allowed to enter the U.S. without any special screening since January 1, 2014, according to a leaked internal intelligence report from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Intelligence and Liaison exclusively obtained by Breitbart Texas. In addition, the individuals entered into at least 18 heavily populated U.S. cities across the nation...
The lack of any special processes or testing for individuals with a nexus to Ebola affected nations is illumined in the leaked internal report as well. ...
The U.S. federal agent who leaked the report to Breitbart Texas did so and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The agent said, “This internal report, coupled with the current Ebola case in Dallas, reveals that our government is not only allowing individuals from Ebola-stricken nations to enter the U.S. with only the basic screening they give to passengers from any foreign nation, but the claims of the issue being properly addressed in the West African countries are untrue.”
“The CBP is taking no action to screen individuals entering the U.S. from Ebola-stricken nations. We are doing nothing. All we are doing is asking authorities in nations with Ebola to stick a thermometer in the mouths of people boarding planes. That does nothing to keep Americans safe from Ebola,” the agent said.
The leaked report is provided in its unaltered state for our readers. There are nine pages in total and no redactions have been made. The report is labeled “UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY//LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE” and contains a warning stating that the document is not to be made available to the media, the general public, or nonsecure internet servers. It further states that some of this information may not be available through the Freedom of Information Act....
Top Doctors: Ebola May Become Airborne … And May Already Be Transmissible Via Aerosols, Global Research, October 2, 2014.
During An Ebola Pandemic in America All Of Your Rights Would Essentially Be Meaningless, Global Research, October 2, 2014.
Ebola Outbreak: The Latest U.S. Government Lies. The Risk of Airborne Contagion?, Global Research, October 1, 2014.
U.S. Ebola Patient Had Layover in Dulles, CDC Didn't Inform Other Passengers, Breitbart, October 1, 2014:
...The CDC typically notifies an airline when it learns that an infectious person traveled on that carrier. The airline then turns over the flight manifest to the CDC, and health officials notify other passengers while the airline deals with crew members.
In this case, the CDC told United but not the public what flights the man took. In an interview Wednesday, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, suggested that doing so would divert public-health resources away from controlling an outbreak of the virus. He said the CDC was focused on finding and tracking anyone who came in contact with Duncan after he began showing symptoms.
CDC Spokesman Admits Screening Inadequate, Won't Ban Flights From Liberia, Breitbart, October 1, 2014:
CDC Spokesman Dave Daigle stated that the US would not be preventing flights from countries with massive outbreaks of the Ebola virus from coming in to the United States, despite seemingly admitting that the case of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan showed that airport screening cannot catch every case of Ebola ...
He also stated that he was unaware of a report from The New York Times that Duncan had come into contact with a pregnant woman who later fell ill and died, and also did not know Duncan’s flight history.
White House: No Ebola travel restrictions, World Net Daily, October 1, 2014.
Visas: The Ebola Elephant in the Room, Immigration Reform, October 1, 2014.
Ebola: Quick Take, Bloomberg, October 17, 2014.
Did Patient Zero come to U.S. because he had Ebola?, World Net Daily, October 1, 2014.
Liberian boarded plane, came to Texas, 4 days after his friend died of it
Michael Savage blames 'President Obola' for virus in U.S., World Net Daily, October 1, 2014:
Charges open-borders policy, unwillingness to quarantine threatens nation
...“You let nobody in from a country where you have a raging epidemic,” he said, emphasizing “microbes do not discriminate.” “You isolate and you quarantine an entire nation, if necessary.”...
Texas school kids in contact with Ebola patient, World Net Daily, October 1, 2014:
The first patient also had contact with five students who attend four different public schools, officials said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry confirmed during a press conference Wednesday that “some school-age children” had been identified as coming into direct contact with the unidentified Ebola victim. He also said that the children were being monitored closely and the situation was being taken very seriously...
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are the focus of the unprecedented outbreak, which has already taken 2,800 lives and could kill as many as 1.4 million by the end of January, according to the CDC...
Dr. Lee Hieb, former president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, warned that quarantine and fly restriction measures should be taken to prevent Ebola from coming to America.
“You don’t get Ebola from Europe,” she told WND. “You get Ebola from Africa. And it’s a really simple formula: Don’t let people fly to America if they’ve been to areas where there’s an outbreak. When there’s an outbreak, stop air [traffic] flow.”..
Did you realize the United States government owns the patent on Ebola?, Natural News, September 23, 2014.
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