US Government Releasing Thousands of Sick Children Without Assurances of Treatment
Written by Peter Boykin on July 24, 2023
US Government Releasing Thousands of Sick Children Without Assurances of Treatment
Nearly 2,500 undocumented immigrant children with latent tuberculosis infections are being released into American communities without assurances of treatment.
Nearly 2,500 children with latent infections were released into 44 states over the past year, according to a court-ordered report on how the Health and Human Services Department is treating the children.
About 126,000 total were released, indicating an infection rate of 1 in 50 migrant children.
The government says it can’t treat the children because they are in custody for a short time and treatment requires three to nine months.
HHS releases infected children to sponsors and notifies local health authorities in the hope that they can arrange for treatment before the latent infection becomes active.
The children in the department’s custody, known in government-speak as unaccompanied alien children, or UACs, are a particularly tricky population.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/X9B-UTH3Z3w
Under the law, Homeland Security must discharge most children quickly and send them to HHS. The department holds the children in government-contracted shelters while searching for sponsors to take in the children caught at the border without parents.
In thousands of cases, the government quickly loses track of the children.
Treatment requires knowing where the children are and having sponsors willing to follow through on the lengthy course of care.
The government had to create protocols to handle chlamydia and gonorrhea, according to the court report, written by Aurora Miranda-Maese, the monitor ordered by the court to keep tabs on how the government is treating children in its custody.
Because the government wants to rush the children out of custody, authorities usually don’t feel they have the time to begin treatment.
Virginia’s health department said it focuses on connecting local health officials with sponsors who take in children younger than 5 at high risk of latent infections progressing to active tuberculosis and juveniles who might be infected with HIV. The CDC, which runs the notification portal, didn’t respond to an inquiry from The Times.
The report details the levels of accommodation for the children, including individualized assessments of their educational attainment and daily schooling that is “Sensitive to the cultural differences of the minors in care.” Under new rules, each UAC is allowed at least 50 minutes of phone calls every five days and additional 45-minute calls on birthdays and holidays.
[Source: All Sides, Washington Times, Epoch Times, NY Times]
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