While Republicans visited Yuma, a bogus tuberculosis scare on the border

YUMA — Over four days last week, this corner of Arizona seemed, wrongly, to be the epicenter of infectious diseases brought into the U.S. by the waves of immigrants showing up here daily.

On April 16, as Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., led a group of his fellow congressional Republicans on a tour of the border, their guide, Jonathan Lines, told the lawmakers that authorities were dealing with a dozen cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis brought in from the border. 

The information was wrong.

Two days later, the U.S. Border Patrol reported that an 8-year-old Guatemalan child apprehended near Yuma had the measles.

That information was also wrong.

Both matters were corrected, but not before stoking fears of a public-health crisis on top of the other issues brought on by a surge in migrants crossing the Mexican border, often by people seeking asylum from Central America. 

After a question Friday from The Arizona Republic about a tuberculosis outbreak, Yuma County officials sought to set the record straight.

"I can say, after confirming with the Yuma County Health District, there is no drug-resistant tuberculosis in Yuma County," said Kevin Tunell, a spokesman for the county. "Further, there are no cases of tuberculosis involving migrants in Yuma County at this time.

Lines, a former Arizona Republican Party chairman, then sought to clarify the matter, which he had heard from the Yuma County Sheriff's Office.   

By that time, word of the tuberculosis scare had spread.

Rep. John Joyce, R-Pa., a dermatologist, told The Republic on April 16 the disease suggested another layer of concern at the border. He later posted on social media an interview at the border with Lines discussing the matter.

Joyce also discussed both health problems with Pennsylvania media as part of a briefing about his trip to the border.

"It was eye-opening, to say the least. … Trust me: after what I’ve seen this week, the crisis is real," he said of the border-security situation. 

Joyce also cited his concern about the measles case and "even more frightening," according to news accounts, he said, were the tuberculosis cases.

Six hours after the Border Patrol announced the measles case, it backtracked and said the girl had strep throat.

For his part, Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot said he was told about 12 tuberculosis cases at a San Luis detention center by federal authorities in a March 23 briefing. He shared that information with Lines and said he stands by it still.

Wilmot said he is concerned about the health situation because the only people being tested routinely for tuberculosis are those apprehended in California.

Reach the reporter Ronald J. Hansen at ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4493. Follow him on Twitter @ronaldjhansen.

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