When two Guatemalan migrant children died of infections last December after being smuggled across the southern border, the Left was livid. The Washington Post fueled its readers’ rage toward the Border Patrol for their obvious dereliction by underscoring that one of the two — and 8-year-old boy — died on Christmas Eve. Oh, the humanity!
Even after it was revealed that the child had not received food or water for several days before crossing border and was already gravely ill by the time immigration agents intercepted him and his father, liberals refused to abandon their fantasy that Donald Trump was somehow responsible for these children’s deaths.
But an article in yesterday’s Washington Examiner tells a different story:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Border Patrol agents have spent nearly 20,000 hours since October driving asylum seekers to and from hospitals for medical evaluations, according to newly released Department of Homeland Security data.
Since Oct. 1, 2018, the Border Patrol, which works in rural areas between border crossings, has “seen an increase in the numbers of apprehended individuals requiring medical assistance.”
A total of 2,224 migrants, primarily from Guatemala and Honduras, have been hospitalized due to health issues that could not be treated on site in the last month alone, according to a CBP statement.
The department said the spike in illnesses among migrants is forcing federal law enforcement to spend less time focused on serious threats because they are facilitating hospital and urgent care trips.
Many of the migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. come from countries with poor sanitation and health care. Many are not vaccinated. The seriousness of the problem these conditions poses was driven home last Friday when a migrant detained in New Mexico was diagnosed as having been infected with a flesh-eating bacteria.
Even if the U.S. is willing to deal with another country’s humanitarian crisis — rather than, say, the World Health Organization — the vast numbers who are arriving via caravan are overburdening our health resources in much the way they are overwhelming our immigration courts.
The latest caravan heading our way is 12,000 strong. Unless these rivers of humanity are stemmed, a lot of people in immigration holding facilities are going to die needlessly. Even worse, those carrying infectious disease who make it across the border undetected pose a greater public health risk to all Americans.
The Democrats don’t want to agree to a wall because it would represent a win for a president they despise. It’s a hard line they may live to regret taking.
