Migration Crisis Fueled Rise In Tuberculosis Cases, Study Finds

The migration crisis under the Biden-Harris administration fueled a sharp rise in tuberculosis cases in the United States, a report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) found.

Rates of tuberculosis (TB) in the U.S. have steadily increased since 2021, coinciding with record levels of illegal immigration due to lax border enforcement rules, according to a study published Wednesday by FAIR, a Washington, D.C.,-based organization that advocates for lower levels of immigration. The study found that the TB infection rate rose by 34% between 2020 and 2023, and 76% of TB cases in 2023 occurred in foreign-born patients.

“As migrants move into communities all across the United States, unsuspecting Americans are exposed to a potentially deadly disease,” FAIR president Dan Stein stated. “Of acute concern to many Americans is the risk posed to their children who may find themselves in classrooms with recently arrived migrants who are infected with TB.”

“TB is not only a highly communicable disease, it is also one that poses long-term health consequences to those who contract it,” Stein continued. “The cost of treating each case of TB is not trivial, sometimes exceeding $500,000 if the case is extensively drug-resistant.”

Among the study’s other key findings: states and metropolitan areas with high migrant populations boast higher TB rates than those with smaller migrant populations, some categories of migrants do not even undergo health screenings and some border counties have TB rates that exceed those of high-risk countries, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

There were roughly 2.1 million migrant encounters along the U.S. southern border in fiscal year 2024, according to the latest data revealed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The latest figure puts the total number of migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden-Harris administration at roughly 8.5 million — which does not include the roughly half a million migrants flown into the country via the White House’s CHNV program.

The ongoing border crisis not only left border communities on the brink, but forced many major sanctuary cities to roll back services for migrants.

FAIR’s study was released at the same time Louisiana announced a lawsuit against the Biden-Harris administration over a Chinese illegal migrant who potentially exposed hundreds of inmates to a rare, drug-resistant form of TB, with the state demanding that federal immigration authorities not release detainees until they are medically cleared by the Louisiana Department of Health.

“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,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill stated Wednesday. “Despite this dereliction of duty by President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary Mayorkas, Louisiana officials acted immediately to protect our people.”