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Louisiana is suing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and various agencies after an illegal Chinese immigrant may have exposed hundreds of people in the state to a rare, drug-resistant form of tuberculosis.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and state Attorney General Liz Murrill on Wednesday said the unnamed migrant was moved by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through different facilities in the state, possibly exposing at least 200 other detainees and staff.
The Chinese national has a rare, aggressive, and drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, which carries high mortality rates, the lawsuit states.
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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, then the state attorney general, speaks during a Weaponization of the Federal Government Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., US, on Thursday, March 30, 2023. (Getty Images)
State officials have worked to prevent the spread of the disease, but ICE requests calls to hold detainees until they have been medically cleared by the Louisiana Department of Health.
"We have dodged a bullet this time. We have utilized the justice system to ensure that we can continue to protect the public," Landry told reporters Wednesday.
In addition to Mayorkas, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and several detention facilities are named as defendants in the lawsuit. Fox News Digital has reached out to both agencies.
The Chinese citizen crossed illegally into California through the southern border in July, the lawsuit states. They were later flown with 100 other detainees to Alexandria, Louisiana. They were then bussed to another facility with more detainees.
The patient tested for TB and was transferred to two other facilities before returning to a detention center at Richwood. Despite having symptoms of TB, they were released into the general population in August at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, the lawsuit said.
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Of the 174 detainees exposed to the patient, 60 have been deported, transferred, relocated, or released from the Basile facility.
On Oct. 9, the Louisiana Department of Health officials received positive results on their condition. The Basile facility quarantined the dorm where the Chinese migrant was housed and conducted tests of the detainees in that dorm for drug-resistant tuberculosis. All had negative results.
"This particular patient has a very resistant strain of tuberculosis," Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham said. "It is the only case in Louisiana, and … we normally do not see a case such as this except from a foreign country."
He noted that the patient has been "well-treated" and is currently "asymptomatic" but was still receiving medication.
ICE spokesperson Jeff Carter told Fox News Digital that the agency has public health requirements that "ensure its detention centers comply with CDC guidelines and mitigate any potential public health concerns, including screening for and managing communicable diseases."
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Louisiana officials said a Chinese illegal immigrant tested positive for a rare form of tuberculosis. (iStock)
"Diagnosis and treatment protocols are informed by current medical guidance, reviewed routinely, and implemented in collaboration with federal, state, and local health officials," Carter said in a statement. "Continuous and ongoing contact tracing practices ensure early detection and appropriate action when there is a suspected communicable disease diagnosis for a noncitizen in ICE custody. ICE coordinates with federal, state, and local health officials whenever there is an anticipated release of a noncitizen to ensure both the continued treatment of the individual and ensure any public health concerns are addressed."
Landry noted that as Louisiana attorney general, he warned that having an "open porous border" would allow people to come in with diseases that U.S. health officials have worked to eradicate.
"We are consistently seeing… additional cases of measles, mumps, and now we have a rare form of tuberculosis," he said. "This is the type of crisis that occurs when we let people come into the country unchecked."
In a statement, Murrill, the state attorney general, said the Biden administration has put the health and safety of Americans at risk through its border policies.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, during a briefing at the White House in Washington. Louisiana is suing Mayorkas and various federal agencies after an illegal Chinese immigrant allegedly exposed hundreds to a rare TB strain while in detention. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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"The protection of our southern border is paramount to the security of the United States. It is neither political nor unreasonable that Louisiana has time and time again demanded that the Biden-Harris administration defend this nation," Murrill said. "Those not legally present should not be in the country – period. Millions of undocumented illegal aliens continue to pour across the southern border – unidentified, untracked, and untested for diseases that can threaten the lives of American citizens."
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