Mass illegal immigration from underdeveloped countries poses a direct threat to Americans’ public health.

The CDC reported that “Mexico-born persons accounted for the largest proportion of foreign-born persons reported with TB.”

Reductive and biased media narratives, which frame the migrant debate both in the U.S. and in Europe solely in terms of people who value “diversity” versus nationalists motivated by xenophobia, obfuscate the fact that many of these people come from countries where medical care is decades behind the developed world.

This has very real and dangerous consequences.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released in March 2016 revealed that the country’s progress toward eradicating tuberculosis is at a standstill. After two decades of annual decreases in the number of cases nationwide, rates of TB infection did not decrease between 2013 and 2015, with 2015 seeing a slight uptick in cases compared to the previous year.

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia all reported increases in the disease. Immigration is largely responsible for this health crisis, belying the left’s claim that immigrants are always a net positive and anyone who says otherwise is a bigoted racist. The truth is that immigration can literally make natives sick.

Data from the Vermont Department of Health, obtained by Watchdog.org, revealed that of the roughly 900 refugees tested for tuberculosis since 2013, over one-third of them tested positive for the disease.

“Of the 13 cases confirmed since the outbreak was announced last week, nine have been detainees and four have been employees of the detention center.”

Moreover, the CDC reported that “Mexico-born persons accounted for the largest proportion of foreign-born persons reported with TB,” and that “data reported to the National Tuberculosis Surveillance System indicate that TB incidence among foreign-born persons in the United States has remained approximately 13 times the incidence among U.S.-born persons.”

Tuberculosis is common across the world. The CDC estimated that about 9.6 million people had active TB infections in 2014 and that 1.5 million people from the disease. It is not common, however, in the U.S. — which in 2014 saw just over 9,400 active cases. Mass migration threatens to undo decades of American medical progress in fighting TB.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

[lz_jwplayer video=”broBiLap” ads=”true”]

Unfortunately, TB isn’t the only disease long-forgotten in the developed world reemerging thanks to mass migration. In 2014, the country was shocked by a measles outbreak in California, traced ultimately to a non-citizen from the Philippines.

Many in the media were quick to blame the speed with which the disease appeared to spread on the anti-vaxx movement, and this is certainly true — the CDC reported a significant number of those infected were not vaccinated.

Arizona is currently dealing with its own mini-outbreak of measles. Fourteen cases have been confirmed in the state. Once again, the mainstream media is rushing to lay blame solely at the feet of anti-vaxxers. “Two words for anti-vaxxers: 1. Arizona 2. Measles,” reads one headline.

But this narrative conveniently overlooks the fact that every single one of Arizona’s current cases has been traced back to an immigrant detention center in Elroy, Arizona. “Of the 13 cases confirmed since the outbreak was announced last week, nine have been detainees and four have been employees of the detention center,” reported The Arizona Republic before case 14 was confirmed.

[lz_table title=”Diseases Linked to Migration” source=”CDC, WHO”]America
Tuberculosis
Measles
Zika
|Europe
Tuberculosis
Measles
Diphtheria
Cutaneous leishmaniasis
Louse-borne Relapsing Fever
[/lz_table]

And of course — as if TB and measles weren’t enough to worry about — the country now has to deal with the threat of the Zika virus that has gripped Central and South America, a threat that would be far more manageable were legions of Central and South Americans not streaming across the border daily.

The Zika outbreak in Central and South America has reached epidemic levels, generating enough concern that 150 medical experts signed an open letter to the World Health Organization requesting it demand the Olympic Games be postponed. Despite this, proponents of mass migration maintain their support for open borders.

Europe, flooded by mass migration from North African and Middle Eastern countries, faces a similar crisis. Not only tuberculosis and measles, but also diphtheria, a particularly nasty flesh-eating disease called cutaneous leishmaniasis, and Louse-borne Relapsing Fever. LBRF had been eradicated in Europe for nearly 100 years, while cutaneous leishmaniasis was until recently basically unknown outside the Middle East.

Despite the demonstrable health risk illegal immigrants and Muslim migrants pose to Americans, Obama promised Sunday that “we will continue to welcome immigrants and refugees into our nation, including those who are Muslim.”