Ebola - The Deadly Transnational Terrorist Tests US Border Preparedness

The twenty-one day incubation period for the Ebola virus allows it to cross international boundaries with complete impunity. Anxiety about the transnational spread of the Ebola virus shifts the spotlight to border security. This weekend in San Diego a West-African detainee being held in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Calexico complained of abdominal pain and was quickly transferred to a medical center.

Like other Ebola patients in Dallas, Texas, the El Centro Regional Medical Center who received the patient was forced to admit communication failures between ICE and the public medical center when officials left patients and staff in the emergency room exposed to the ICE detainee. According to the public relations officer, Cathy Kennerson, once the correct information was obtained, the facility transferred the unnamed West African to an isolation room where he remains asymptomatic.

Watch Kimberly’s San Diego 6 News TV segment here Watch Kimberly’s One America News TV segment here

Reports that illegal aliens could cross the border with the Ebola virus are adding pressure to a growing list of border security concerns.

Last week it was reported (article link) that several identified terrorists crossed the Mexican border into the Untied States. But how realistic is the concern that terrorists or illegal border crossers could bring the Ebola virus into America? (Watch Kimberly’s border crossing video report here and here)

In fact American’s may be questioning how beltway politicians and the White House are handling the burgeoning Ebola virus, especially when countries like Belize and Mexico refused Carnival Cruise Line’s “Magic” cruise ship because a health care worker handled samples from the first Ebola patient that died in Texas. A British news outlet, UK Mail Online reported that the two countries’ cited “protecting its citizens” as a reason refusing the ship dockage.

The UN commissioned an Ebola Advisory song, which explains the precautions and concerns about the disease further highlighting fears.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has listed specific travel notices to keep travelers informed about current health issues related to specific destinations. Anyone traveling to Western Africa is encouraged to avoid the region and the website offers specific threats for certain regions. Currently CDC defines the Ebola virus this way: When an infection does occur in humans, the virus can be spread in several ways to others. Ebola is spread through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes in, for example, the eyes, nose, or mouth) with blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with Ebola; Objects like needles and syringes that have been contaminated with the virus; Infected animals.

Ebola is not spread through the air or by water, or in general, by food. However, in Africa, Ebola may be spread as a result of handling bush meat and contact with infected bats. There is no evidence that mosquitos or other insects can transmit Ebola virus. Only mammals (for example, humans, bats, monkeys, and apes) have shown the ability to become infected and spread Ebola virus.

Healthcare providers caring for Ebola patients and the family and friends in close contact with Ebola patients are at the highest risk of getting sick because they may come in contact with infected blood or body fluids of sick patients.

Other immigration issues center on the reintroduction of TB, Whooping Cough, and polio into the U.S. by illegal immigrants since most do not undergo health screenings further fueling concerns of possible disease outbreaks. Last year, California schools mandated students to be “re-immunized” for Whooping Cough.

Border security along the Arizona corridor Like other factually questionable reports from the Obama Administration, Border Patrol agents say the chances of contracting transnational Ebola are slim. However, a trip to the Arizona border suggests otherwise.

With Arivaca, Arizona rancher Jim Chilton guiding the way this reporter got a dose of reality about the insecurity of America’s international border with Mexico. The Chilton Ranch is approximately 60,000 acres, and includes roughly 25 miles of U.S/Mexico border fence.

The one thing that Mr. Chilton repeatedly emphasizes is the border isn’t secure. But unlike many border security complainers, Chilton has offered a chunk of his land to the government, for a dollar a year, to build a unit to house agents, horses and gear close to the border in an effort to tackle the Border Patrol agent proximity issue.

Unlike many border sectors in California, New Mexico and Texas, agents in this part of Arizona operate a number of miles north of the border, leaving field agents to detect and apprehend drug cartels, scouts and human trafficker’s in a square mile “defense in depth” scenario rather than a “linear mile” scenario. “If you cover the actual border fence with 10 agents per mile of border fence, Border Patrol would be much more successful in ending the northbound traffic,” Chilton explained.

Also with a proper border fence and frontage road, ranchers in Arizona have said America could really secure its international border, but admitted that politicians and environmentalists have blocked plans using every excuse to continue using a four-string barbed wire fence as a substitute for border security. The latest tactic to dodge building a proper border fence is a jaguar. “Yes it’s true, apparently someone spotted a ‘lone’ jaguar somewhere in southern Arizona and they say a fence would interfere with its habitat,” Chilton says with a grin.

While the talking heads employ their latest two-step, the federal government will leave ranchers to battle illegal border crossers on a daily basis. Most Americans don’t realize the substantial property and environmental damage cartels or illegal aliens cause ranchers as they skirt U.S. immigration law.

“Our fences are cut, they sever our waterlines and leave behind trash, like plastic water bottles,” Chilton explained. “Our cowboys must ride the fence lines every other day to monitor fence damage that could result in missing cattle.” Adding insult to injury the ranchers are responsible for the cost of the repairs. “No, the government doesn’t reimburse us.”

The property damage has become such a problem many ranchers have built small gates on known trafficking routes equipped with signs in Spanish asking the illegal border crossers to please use the gate and to close it after they move through. The Chilton’s have also added water fountains to waterlines for humanitarian reasons, they too post signs in Spanish asking the illegals not to cut the waterlines.

Another humanitarian group looking to help illegal aliens in need of water is Tucson Samaritan’s. Mr. Chilton said the group donated a couple hundred dollars to purchase water fountains to be strategically located on his Ranch. The group also places water in the desert to reduce the deaths of those seeking refuge in the United States. Last year they reported that 194 people died in Arizona crossing illegally into the state.

Like many people the Chilton’s are concerned about the illegal traffic. “We really don’t interfere with the illegal aliens, we just want them to respect our property,” Chilton explains. However, there is a reason many ranchers do not confront illegal aliens or drug traffickers, Larry Krentz (article here) and Larry Link (article here) were both murdered by alleged drug cartel traffickers after the life-long ranchers reported drug loads to Border Patrol.

Other ranchers have made headlines when they interfered with government agents’ lax enforcement policies. Roger Barnett was sued for $32 million for holding illegal aliens on his property at gunpoint until Border Patrol arrived to take custody. Barnett complained that illegal border crossers killed his calves, cut his water lines and fences as well as robbing him of his property.

Now cartel scouts are allegedly paid $2,000 per month to guide lucrative drug loads and “special people” from countries of interest, north of the border in an effort to avoid detection by locals on the ground. However, hidden cameras often capture the illegal traffic and recently SecureBorderIntel.org caught a large group crossing near Arivaca, Arizona (link to video here).

“Smuggling traffic is still moving through this 25 mile long unfenced section of border. Fully camouflaged groups move undetected, except for our cameras, dozens of miles north of the border,” a spokesperson for the group said. “Cartel scouts control the surrounding high points and drug packers can cross this line anywhere, anytime without detection. There is no border road, no security fence, no sensors, no cameras, and no Border Patrol Agents to be found.” Indeed a two-day trip to the region only netted four Border Patrol sightings on paved roads. Border Patrol’s Tucson sector did not respond to an interview request about the U.S/Mexico border strategies in the Arivaca, Arizona region.

Amnesty on the horizon? Another national security concern is the Obama administration’s elusive details as to what the president intends to do via executive action on legalizing a number of illegal aliens. However, the U.S Citzenship and Immigration Services released an “opportunities list” for vendors who can manufacture work authorization/green cards.

The staggering number, 34 million, should capture headlines and turn heads. The entire request reads; “USCIS Contracting will be posting a solicitation for the requirement of Card Stock used by the USCIS Document Management Division. The objective of this procurement is to provide card consumables for the Document Management Division (DMD) that will be used to produce Permanent Resident Cards (PRC) and Employment Authorization Documentation (EAD) cards. The requirement is for an estimated 4 million cards annually with the potential to buy as many as 34 million cards total. The ordering periods for this requirement shall be for a total of five (5) years. This is a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) supply purchase for commercial items, utilizing North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 325211 and Product / Service Code (PSC) 9330. This requirement is for the acquisition of 100% polycarbonate solid body card stock with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and holographic images embedded within the card construction substrate layers, card design service, and storage.”

With world health outbreaks of diseases it’s easy for political entities to point fingers,  but when America doesn’t know who is crossing into the country illegally, national security concerns must trump political correctness and political agendas.

Last story: Congressman says Mexico facilitating terrorists’ entry into U.S. link here This week, California Congressman Duncan Hunter stunned the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by announcing on television that 10 Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists were apprehended trying to illegally enter the U.S. from Mexico. “I know that at least 10 ISIS fighters have been caught coming across the Mexican border in Texas,” Hunter told Fox News. “If you really want to protect Americans from ISIS, you secure the southern border — it’s that simple.” The alleged revelation prompted DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson to respond to a flurry of media requests about the nation’s border security. Previously article: Cluster bomblets smuggled along the Texas border

A troubling storyline is developing along the U.S. southern border—more high-powered weaponry. Law enforcement agencies on America’s southern border have also confiscated a variety of military explosive devices– including sub-munitions. Link here

And Absence of a bold plan for destroying ISIS costs another hostage his life “ISIL is not invincible,” according to the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Director Matthew Olsen. The radical Islamic group that easily crossed borders, disarmed U.S.-trained Iraqi army and successfully terrorized ethnic minorities can be decimated with swift action. But the Director said ISIS “poses a direct and significant threat to us, and to Iraqi and Syrian civilians in the region, and potentially to us here at home.” Link here

Dvorak is a freelance national security investigative journalist based in San Diego. For more than 18 years,  she has focused on homeland security issues including foreign policy, Mexico drug cartels and border security. You can contact her at [email protected]