A few days ago we shared the Washington Times story about a facility in New Mexico being closed due to a Chicken Pox outbreak.  However, a little more research into the Artesia, New Mexico, Detainment Center and you can find out a week prior a little-known CDC/DHS inspection found there were 89 (eighty-nine) cases of Tuberculosis identified in the exact same facility.
Is the Chicken Pox story a cover for the more troublesome Tuberculosis outbreak ? Is the New Mexico quarantine really because of Chicken Pox ?
If so, why didn’t they quarantine the facility as they began x-ray screening for the 89 active skin-test TB cases ?
I think with research we have a pretty good idea of what the *actual* reality is.  But first, the Chicken Pox story as it appeared in the media:
artesiaNEW MEXICO – The federal government’s new facility to house illegal immigrant families surging across the border has been put on lockdown because of chicken pox, with no immigrants allowed to be transferred in or out, a congressman said this week.
Hundreds of illegal immigrants being kept at the campus of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, New Mexico, are being treated for and vaccinated against chicken pox after an outbreak, said Rep. Steve Pearce, the Republican congressman whose district includes Artesia.
“As the FLETC facility reaches maximum capacity, I am increasingly concerned for the health and safety of the women and children at FLETC and for the local community. The virus, that has caused two residents to be put in isolation, has halted all departures,” Mr. Pearce said.
artesia 2He said he’s asked the Homeland Security Department, which runs the facility, to be available to handle calls from the community.
The chicken pox outbreak is the latest hiccup for federal officials struggling to gain a handle on the surge of illegal immigrants from Central America this year.
While most of the attention has been on the children traveling without their parents, the border has been flooded by an almost equal number of families from Central America — usually women bringing their children with them. While unaccompanied children were being turned over to social workers, the families were eligible for quick deportations — except the government had fewer than 100 beds to hold the thousands of people being apprehended. (read more)
IMMIG-BORDER
However, the week prior, the first underreported story of positive skin TB tests in the same facility reflected this reality:  (*note – Pay attention to the dates)

TUESDAY JULY 22nd – ARTESIA >> A total of 89 undocumented immigrants detained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center have tested positive on the tuberculosis, or TB, skin test, but no individual has actually contracted the disease according to J.R. Doporto, a Carlsbad City Councilor.

A positive TB skin or blood test only signifies that the person has been infected with the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, according to a fact sheet published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The test does not show whether the person has actually contracted the tuberculosis disease.

If a person tests positive in the TB skin test, he or she is then given a chest x-ray which proves whether the subject has contracted the disease.

Doporto, Artesia Mayor Phil Burch, and other various city and county officials from Southeastern New Mexico met with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on Tuesday (7/22) for an update on the status of the undocumented immigrants being detained at FLETC while they await either deportation or an asylum hearing in front of an immigration judge. (read more)

On Tuesday July 22nd they were in the process of x-raying the positive skin test detainees to identify “ACTIVE TUBERCULOSIS”.
According to the media report some detainees ‘skin-tested positive’ on Tuesday July 22nd, and therefore couldn’t get their x-rays until Wednesday July 23rd or Thursday the 24th.  There are 603 illegal alien detainees in this facility. Notably ICE refused to give the reporter commentary.   However, the final paragraph of the article is this:

[…]  No detainee to-date has been found to have any contagious disease or virus since Central Americans who were caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border were first brought to Artesia on June 27. (link)

And yet SIX DAYS after this article, and four days after the TB X-Rays began, the entire facility was shut down due to an outbreak of “chicken pox” ?
Doesn’t make sense.
If, according to the reporter and city council member, no detainee through 7/22/14 “has been found to have any contagious disease“, then why did the entire facility get quarantined five days after they began screening (x-rays) for “active TB” ?
Think about it.
…And another factor coincidence.  The same day as the media reports the facility was quarantined, President Obama signs an executive order allowing for the detainment and quarantine of those showing signs of acute respiratory disease, ex: Tuberculosis.

On Thursday, Barack Obama signed an executive order that allows for the apprehension, detention, or conditional release of individuals with certain severe acute respiratory diseases, not including influenza. The executive order modifies one signed in 2003 by George Bush that allowed for the detention and quarantine of those with SARS.

“Severe acute respiratory syndromes, which are diseases that are associated with fever and signs and symptoms of pneumonia or other respiratory illness, are capable of being transmitted from person to person, and that either are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic, or, upon infection, are highly likely to cause mortality or serious morbidity if not properly controlled,” the executive order reads. “This subsection does not apply to influenza.” (link)

Our hunch, our reasonable hunch based on empirical evidence, is the quarantine was a direct result of positive x-ray scans for ACTIVE TB.
Further evidenced because the CDC, DHS and ICE have been studying TB contagion rates in illegal aliens for several years.    And not coincidentally guess which countries have the highest rates of TB virus:
TB ICE study 04 - 05
(Source Link)
It’s important to remember the U.S. Border Patrol does NOT screen for diseases.  The BP merely process the apprehended illegal alien and transfer into a temporary detainment facility – like the FLETC facility in Artesia, New Mexico – where DHS (Dept. of Homeland Security) take over and begin screening the arrivals.
Additionally, and again not coincidentally, yesterday the following article outlined Inspector General audits of DHS facilities.   The audit reflected an alarming reality:

Unaccompanied illegal immigrant children with communicable diseases have given or exposed federal agents to lice, scabies, tuberculosis and chicken pox, according to a report issued Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.

In two cases, the children of a border patrol agent got chicken pox contracted from their parents’ exposure to unaccompanied children with chicken pox, according to the report on conditions of detention centers and border facilities.

The report, the first in a series, is based on 87 unannounced visits to 63 detention centers being used to house unaccompanied alien children (UAC) in Texas, Arizona and California during July 1-16.  (continue reading)

An outbreak of “Chicken Pox” sounds a lot better to the public than an outbreak of “Tuberculosis”, no?   The former sounds, well, almost ‘childlike’.
I seriously doubt the exact same facility holding 603 detainees, just coincidentally with 89 positive TB skin tests, is quarantined because of chicken pox -with zero prior occurrence’s- just five days after x-rays began on 89 positive TB skin test patients; on the same day President Obama signs an executive order allowing DHS to detain and isolate TB carriers.
Occam’s Razor !
Just sayin’….
Obama Racine

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