Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill filed an “emergency lawsuit” against several Harris-Biden administration officials last week after a Chinese migrant with a rare form of tuberculosis illegally entered the US.
The lawsuit seeks to prevent federal immigration officials from releasing “potentially infected detainees” that came in contact with the Chinese national – who has a “rare, aggressive, and drug-resistant form of tuberculosis which carries high mortality rates” – while she was in the custody of immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“ICE has announced its intent to release potentially infected detainees from its two contract facilities [in Louisiana] — without being medically cleared by the Louisiana Department of Health — if an order requires release,” the complaint states.
“By ICE’s telling, its hands are tied once its immigration-based detention authority runs out,” the lawsuit continues, warning that migrants who may have contracted the disease will be released “onto Louisiana streets, its bus stations, and its airports.”
“This is utterly wrong,” Murrill argues. “The Surgeon General’s standing orders require detainees at the two facilities in question to be held unless and until they are medically cleared by the Louisiana Department of Health.”
“That is a quintessential exercise of the State’s sovereign prerogatives, the exercise of its police powers, and its obligation to protect the public health within its borders,” she adds, noting that the two facilities where the infected migrant was held are not owned by ICE.
Murrill estimates that over 200 detainees and “untold numbers of non-detainees” may have been exposed to the disease as the TB-infected migrant was flown by ICE from California to Louisiana and then shuttled between a detention center and processing facility.
The Chinese migrant – a woman whose name is redacted in the lawsuit – illegally crossed the US-Mexico border in April and was apprehended by federal authorities in California in July, according to the complaint.
“At least some of the approximately 40 detainees that arrived at [Richwood Correction Center in Monroe, La.] with [her] have since been deported, transferred, relocated, or released,” the lawsuit states.
The woman was given a TB skin test upon her arrival at Richwood which tested “highly positive” on July 23.
A chest x-ray also showed signs of “active TB,” according to the complaint.
Despite apparently having the contagious disease, “three days later …”ICE moved [her] to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center (‘the Basile facility’) in Basile, Louisiana,” where she was placed in “general population” – potentially exposing even more people to the pathogen.
“There were approximately 174 detainees at the Basile facility that were potentially exposed to [the woman], approximately 60 of which have been deported, transferred, relocated, or released from the Basile facility,” according to the lawsuit.
The woman tested positive at the Basile facility again in September and was hospitalized for “pre-extensively drug-resistant TB,” which Murrill notes “is highly resistant to both first- and second-line anti-TB medications, difficult to treat, and has a high mortality rate [between 34%-39%].”
Louisiana did not learn of the “imminent threat to public health” until Oct. 9.
The attorney general’s lawsuit – filed on Oct. 16 and unsealed Tuesday – names Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ICE Acting Director Patrick Lechleitner, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen and several others as defendants.
A US district court judge in Louisiana will hear arguments in the state’s attempt to keep migrants at the Richwood and Basile facility in ICE custody until they can be medically cleared on Oct. 31.
“The protection of our southern border is paramount to the security of the United States,” Murrill said in a statement. “It is neither political nor unreasonable that Louisiana has time and time again demanded that the Biden-Harris administration defend this nation.”
“Those not legally present should not be in the country – period,” she added. “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.”
“The federal government has put the health and safety of Louisiana and American people at risk. Despite this dereliction of duty by President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary Mayorkas, Louisiana officials acted immediately to protect our people.”