3/9/2020 - Matt Pinsker Townhall.com
One
day in the courtroom, while serving as a special prosecutor on the
American/Mexican border, I noticed a strange statistical oddity: 100 percent of
all the defendants were men.
I
queried the US Marshals and was advised that the women’s sector at the
detention facility was under strict quarantine because of a chickenpox
outbreak. Border Patrol and ICE were working diligently to keep the outbreak under
control and provide emergency medical care to the sick, striving to prevent the
disease from reaching the greater American public.
We
were extremely lucky with the chickenpox outbreak (and incidentally, Border
Patrol and ICE —the twin whipping boys of the far-left —deserve an enormous
debt of gratitude for protecting all of us from vast numbers of dangerous
diseases, often at great personal risk). But in an era where a global
coronavirus pandemic seems increasingly probable, it’s critically important to
note that the true “statistical oddity” that day in the courtroom wasn’t the
gender of the defendants, but the fact that we caught them in the first place.
Of every 10 people who cross the border illegally, only three will ever be
caught.
It
was either the grace of God —or a lucky roll of the dice —that we prevented a
larger outbreak. With tens of millions of undocumented migrants spreading all
across America, and large communities of “anti-vaxxers” who eschew modern
vaccinations, it wouldn’t take much for this powder keg to ignite.
There
is a health crisis at the border. Unfortunately, we don’t know how bad it is,
because we have absolutely no idea who is coming and going —or where they’re
going to go once they get here.
It’s
the polar opposite of a quarantine.
Of
the thousands of migrants who illegally cross the border into the US each day,
many carry third-world diseases, parasites, and other deadly contagions.
Sometimes in the courtroom, we’d see defendants with clearly-visible skin
conditions. Often, the detainees were wearing masks while coughing blood. This
was especially true of the Bangladeshi migrants, of whom we were catching about
20 to 30 per week (Bangladesh has one of the world’s highest rates of
tuberculosis).
As
a special prosecutor, I had access to defendants’ files, and contagious
diseases and parasites were commonplace. Sometimes at the courthouse, an
unknown medical condition would emerge, and instead of going forward on the
charges, we would transport the illegal alien directly to the hospital for
emergency treatment instead.
I
always shake hands with prosecutors and defendants in my home state of
Virginia. But while working on the border, I learned to avoid physical contact
for my own health and safety —and for the health and safety of others. After
court each morning (or, sometimes, in between dockets), we would scrub our
hands with soap and antibacterial/viral spray. It’s chillingly foreboding, but
we were basically taking the exact same precautions that the CDC is now telling
us all to take for the coronavirus.
That’s
because life on the border is like always living in the crosshairs of a
potential pandemic. All the ingredients are right there: cramped conditions,
diseases, zero oversight. It will only take one spark. And when that spark
ignites, thousands (or more) Americans will die.
What
happens at the border will eventually happen everywhere. That’s how pandemics
work; it’s literally what “going viral” means.
A
secure border is at the heart of our nation’s health. The proposals of Bernie
Sanders and the “open borders” politicians are sowing the seeds of the next
pandemic. It’s not a question of if, but when—and how many.
***
To
read more about Pinsker's experience at the border, check out his new book, Crisis
at the Border: An Eyewitness Account of Illegal Aliens, Violent Crime, and
Cartels."
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