Myth: Undocumented Immigrants blamed for bringing communicable diseases into the country
Update: April 30th, 2009: Illegal aliens not to be blamed for the Swine Flu outbreak
Nativists are blaming immigrants for swine flu, while ignoring the fact that the outbreak is spreading worldwide as legal international visitors to Mexico become infected and then return home.
TIME Magazine reports that Anti-immigration groups are asking to shut the US-Mexico border.
The Huffington Post is also reporting about conservative media commentators in their own ranks using swine flu as an excuse to spew out racist hatred.
Sadly, pinning the blame on immigrants for communicable diseases is nothing new. On April 14, 2005 Lou Dobbs stated that there had been "about 900 cases of leprosy [in the United States] for 40 years," and that "there have been 7,000 in the past three years." Dobbs went on to say that "the invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans."
FACT: The nativists' favorite health claim, about the frightening disease of leprosy, is false. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "200-250 new cases" of leprosy, or Hansen's disease, are reported each year.
FACT: In a 2006 report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the number of reported cases of leprosy in the country "peaked at 361 in 1985 and has declined since 1988."
FACT: The source for Dobbs' leprosy claim is the late Madeleine Cosman - an anti-immigration zealot who once publicly stated that "most" Latino immigrant men "molest girls under 12, although some specialize in boys, and some in nuns."
More mythbusting facts on this issue can be found in Immigration: Getting the Facts Straight, a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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