The United States is facing a major threat of an Ebola outbreak transmitted by Africans entering the country illegally from ports of entry with Mexico, a leading Border Control agent has claimed.
National Border Patrol Council spokesman Gabe Pacheco
told Fox 5 in San Diego that 6 percent of travelers to the U.S. from the region in West Africa hardest hit by the deadly disease will cross the borders on foot without a visa.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has claimed that its agents have been given the proper training to identify Ebola symptoms, and have been equipped with the special protective suits to prevent contagion, Fox 5 reported.
But Pacheco disputed the statement, saying that his members have not had formal instruction on how to spot a person infected with the killer virus.
"We have not been trained," he said. "There are no protocols in place and we haven't seen any protective equipment. We haven't had anyone tell us these are the protocols you're going to be using."
He added: "I'm not a medical physician. I'm not medically trained to identify these things."
Last week 300 people were detained at the busy Otay and San Ysidro entries, with many of them claiming political asylum, sources told Fox 5. But the Border Patrol agency is only capable of dealing with 180 people, sources said, while noting that none of them were screened for Ebola.
"I know we are getting overflow from the San Ysidro Port of Entry," said Pacheco. "Could something slip through? Absolutely. We don't know what's coming across right now."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is involved in monitoring travelers at U.S. airports arriving from West Africa, specifically from Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, where thousands of people have been infected with Ebola.
Fox 5 says that although approximately 94 percent of visitors to the U.S. from that region will arrive by plane, about 6 percent will enter illegally after presumably catching flights to Mexico or Central American countries.
Earlier this month, Marine Corps Gen. and SOUTHCOM Cmdr. John Kelly warned that the White House is ignoring the potential danger of illegal immigrants infected with Ebola entering from the southern border,
according to Breitbart News.
Kelly also noted that there could be a full-scale Ebola crisis in the U.S. if there is an outbreak in neighboring countries.
"If Ebola breaks out in Haiti or in Central America, I think it's literally 'Katie bar the door' in terms of the mass migration of Central Americans into the United States," Kelly said.
"So these populations will move to either run away from Ebola, or in the fear of having been infected, to get to the United States where they will be taken care of."
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