Thanks to the work of government watchdog Judicial Watch, the same organization that has aggressively pursued in court former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s past rogue practices in high office, a series of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) emails have been revealed that document the health and safety risks that came along with the tens of thousands of undocumented Central American minors that recently entered the country.
The disturbing revelations were actually the subject of a report on the nation’s top Spanish-language news program, Noticiero Univision.
A Judicial Watch lawsuit resulted in the release of a series of redacted CDC emails about the 2014 wave of undocumented children from Central America, and the concerns of federal officials about the accompanying health and safety risks, specifically focusing on the danger of tuberculosis.
DR. EDGAR CHAVEZ, DOCTOR AT WHITE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: Tuberculosis is a lung disease that is very dangerous, which can cause death. And the problem is that it is very contagious.
JAIME GARCIA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: On its website, Judicial Watch criticized the government of President Obama for having discounted the risk to public health that supposedly are these thousands of Central American children.
DR. MIGUEL ANGEL ARGÜELLO, PNEUMOLOGIST: You can get it at the time, but the disease can manifest itself four, six, eight, ten, twelve months later.
Following the alarming statement by Dr. Argüello, Univision wasted no time making sure other “experts” on the subject also offered their spin on the story, minimizing the danger.
A look at the emails, however, show that CDC officials were very concerned that the wave could easily overwhelm the agencies that handle the minors’ medical checkups. CDC officials also revealingly noted that “some of these kids are not really kids, they are young adults, and we should be wary of personal safety.”
Alaric C. Denton, an environmental health scientist for the CDC, stated in one of the emails that the CDC “might as well plan on many of the kids having TB.” He went on to say “Most of these kids are not immunized, so we need to make sure our staff are immunized.”
These details from internal CDC communications directly conflict with White House statements at the time about the risks of the massive inflow of undocumented minors. No matter where one stands on the issue, the message is clear: the White House and Univision are prone to do whatever they can to avoid or downplay serious and legitimate concerns whenever the situation fails to fit their favored, dominant narrative.
Below is the transcript of the cited segment aired on the April 25 edition of Noticiero Univisión:
NOTICIERO UNIVISION
4/25/16
6:39:22 PM - 6:41:41 PM EST | 2 MIN 18 SEC
MARIA ELENA SALINAS, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: The organization Judicial Watch revealed several e-mails circulating internally at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2014. These warned of the risk of contracting tuberculosis by treating thousands of children who came alone to the border. This theory contradicts the statements then issued by the government. Jaime Garcia has this story.
JAIME GARCIA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: Just when it was revealed that so far this year the Border Patrol has arrested some 26,110 Central American undocumented children, a report by the conservative Judicial Watch reveals that two years ago the Center for Disease Control warned medical staff many of the children could be suffering from tuberculosis.
DR. EDGAR CHAVEZ, DOCTOR AT WHITE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: Tuberculosis is a lung disease that is very dangerous, which can cause death. And the problem is that it is very contagious.
JAIME GARCIA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: On its website, Judicial Watch criticized the government of President Obama for having discounted the risk to public health that supposedly are these thousands of Central American children.
DR. MIGUEL ANGEL ARGÜELLO, PNEUMOLOGIST: You can get it at the time, but the disease can manifest itself four, six, eight, ten, twelve months later.
MAYRA JOACHIM, NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER: And we might have expected that these types of cases would have come up by now.
JAIME GARCIA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: This lawyer points out that the voice of alarm does not consider that the detained children are subjected to a first medical checkup, followed by another checkup.
MAYRA JOACHIM, NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER: A medical checkup that is a bit more intensive, and by that checkup they make sure the children do not have tuberculosis, or that they don’t bring any other diseases that could be dangerous.
JAIME GARCIA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: Official data shows that between 2001 to 2011 the number of tuberculosis cases worldwide remained around two million. Here in the United States, 46% of those cases were people from Asian countries. And 34% were Hispanics.
DR. EDGAR CHAVEZ, DOCTOR, WHITE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: But at same time [we should] not sound an alarm that all children are infected because it is not true.
JAIME GARCIA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: This specialist who performs medical exams for immigration processes adds that there is another element to consider.
DR. EDGAR CHAVEZ, DOCTOR, WHITE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: In Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras they put the tuberculosis vaccine.
