The potential border bomb that nobody’s mentioning

There’s no doubt that America’s southern border is in the midst of what both sides would agree is a crisis. Thousands upon thousands of undocumented immigrants have flooded across our southern border within the short time frame of a few months, leaving our Border Patrol Agents, the local and regional governments, and even the private residents that live near the border exhausted and nearly bankrupt.

There’s been plenty said by both sides regarding the affairs at the border. The conservatives use this opportunity to scream for more enforcement while ignoring the fact that this chaos unleashed regardless of the fact that funding has tripled in the past 10 years (adjusting for inflation), and there are twice as many border agents as there were 10 years ago. Likewise, almost 700 miles of the border has received new fencing at a cost of almost $5 million per mile, and each mile has been augmented by motion detection sensors, surveillance cameras equipped with thermal imaging, and even surveillance drones flying high above. Spending and enforcement isn’t the problem.

The progressives insist that the answer to the border problem is to simply get rid of the border altogether. They believe that if you get rid of the border, this will allow for freer travel and trade between countries and their citizens, thereby cutting down the number of immigrants making their way across via paths made more and more dangerous due to the increased enforcement mentioned above. But what they fail to mention, or even care to talk about, is how such a plan isn’t really about “open borders” at all, but what could more accurately be described as an unchecked one-way turnstile that only empties into the United States. But the real irony, to me, is how the left can manage to lambast the United States and declare it to be the “Great Satan” (right, Sean Penn and Hugo Chavez?) while insisting that young children be stripped away from their families, forced to leave their home countries whose plights are brought on by a truly socialist government, and are then be forced to make the dangerous pilgrimage only to live in this evil country.

But none of this is discussing the real dangers facing America at the border. According to KRGV 5 News out of Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Border Patrol Agents have interdicted immigrants from 143 different countries recently. While most Americans believe the immigrants crossing our border are coming from Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras, Border Patrol states it has detained migrants from China, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and a whole host of other countries. So why does this matter, you might ask? After all, isn’t one immigrant the same as another? Not at a time when the world is experiencing the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus in recorded history.

You see, the real threat to American safety isn’t drug cartels or terrorists—it’s viral. According to the World Health Organization, as of July 31, 2014 there have been over 1,200 cases of Ebola virus in four west African nations alone, with other cases reported in Canada, the UK and elsewhere. And before we begin to think America is safe, three of the reported 1,200 west African cases were United States citizens, one of which died after falling unconscious on a plane making his way back home to the United States.

But what is the worst-case scenario? What is to happen if someone from one of these 143 countries happens to have contracted the Ebola virus and then migrates to the United States? Would we be able to spot any signs or symptoms? Not if it’s within the 21-day incubation period. By that time the Office of Refugee Resettlement could have them screened, processed, and dumped at any number of places in the United States without anyone being the wiser.

You may not be aware, but Alabama has already received 405 immigrants, and Tennessee received over 700, all without prior approval or even so much as a heads up to their respective state governments. When asked for pertinent information regarding these individuals, White House Spokesman Josh Earnest insisted the immigrants’ right to privacy trumps the American citizen’s right to know what’s going on in his or her own backyard.

So while the world faces its greatest health concern in recent history, our southern border continues to spiral out of control, and our administration continues to play Russian Roulette with our entire nation’s health. And all for what? A chance at turning these new immigrants into Democratic voters?

Mike Swims is a political columnist and podcast host. He is also a Demopolis resident and local preacher. His column on politics and current events appears weekly for The West Alabama Watchman.