Health Crisis at the Border

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Air Date: July 9, 2014

Host: Jim Schneider

Guest: Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet

Listen: MP3 | Order

Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet is a medical doctor with practices in Tucson and Dallas (two border states to Mexico). She is President of International Health Strategies whose mission is twofold: liberty and privacy in treatment options and preservation of the Oath of Hippocrates focus on the individual patient. She is a past board member of AAPS (Association of American Physicians and Surgeons). She has spoken at numerous Health care Town Halls addressing the economic and medical impact of the 2010 healthcare law. She appeared on Crosstalk as an independent physician.

This is the second of a two-day series dealing with the crisis at the U.S./Mexican border. As was mentioned on the July 8th broadcast, the top U.S. General, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Marine Corps General John Kelly who is charged with responsibility for the Caribbean Sea and all lands south of Mexico, claims this is more than just a humanitarian crisis. He believes it’s a threat to the very existence of the United States.

The problems that are developing go well beyond the border states. For example, Fox News has reported that the tiny rural community of Vassar, Michigan, is looking at resettling 60-120 male illegal immigrants into their community without any input from the residents. Yesterday’s Crosstalk discussed the magnitude and scope of the problem while this edition looked at the health crisis being generated at the border and what that could mean for the future.

According to Elizabeth, of the 30,000 illegal aliens crossing the Texas border each month (that’s the average figure), 75% of them are coming from countries other than Mexico and only 3% are actually being apprehended. Scabies, lice,
dengue fever, tuberculosis and chagas disease are the maladies that we know that these immigrants are bringing with them.

Shelley Kais, a congressional candidate from Arizona, dug into the federal budget and found that legislators increased the funding for the current border surge 18 months ago. This information has not gone public because according to Elizabeth, the press doesn’t seem to want to address it. In addition, it was discovered that in January of this year the government’s website was advertising for people to act as escorts (at taxpayer expense) for unaccompanied minors who were coming to the U.S.

Why is our government accepting this dispersal of disease carrying people throughout our nation with minimal screening? Why is the major media reluctant to report the facts on this issue? Why have none of the Republican legislators been allowed to see the containment centers? Why have some border patrol agents been threatened with arrest, prosecution and termination of employment and all benefits if they speak to the media? These are all interesting questions to ponder as you review this vital Crosstalk broadcast.

More Information

To see the open letter to Congress go to www.aapsonline.org.

You can follow Dr. Vliet’s updates via Twitter at @healthandcents.

Centers for Disease Control
800-232-4636

Congressional Switchboard
202-225-3121

Senate Switchboard
202-224-3121`

www.shelleykaisforcongress.com (click on the ‘News’ tab and click on the story titled, ‘Kais Says Influx of Children at Southern Border was Planned.)

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