BATON ROUGE — Louisiana says in a federal lawsuit that a Chinese national detained after entering the country illegally has spread a rare form of tuberculosis in federal facilities in Monroe and Basile.Gov. Jeff Landry scheduled a news conference for Wednesday at 1 p.m. to discuss the situation. In the lawsuit, the state asks that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement not release any detainees unless the Louisiana Department of Health has cleared them.Without the order, the state claims, ICE would “release detainees onto Louisiana streets, its bus stations, and its airports.”The lawsuit says the inmate is infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis, which impacts the lungs. It says the variant is drug-resistant and poses a grave danger. It also says that the inmate has been in contact with about 200 other people — prisoners and non-prisoners.”Studies say the mortality rate is anywhere from 34-39%,” the state says in its lawsuit, which was filed Oct. 16 under seal and released Tuesday.In a highly redacted portion of the lawsuit, it appears the carrier entered the U.S. via Mexico this year and was detained in California in July. The person flew on a plane with 100 other detainees to Alexandria, and then was on a bus with 40 others and traveled to the Richwood Correction Center in Monroe. The inmate, a woman, was diagnosed with TB at Richwood on July 23. Three days later, she was transferred to Basile. The state says that it was told Oct. 15 that ICE would give the state a few hours’ notice of any inmate’s release but would not comply with an order that the state Health Department give each a medical clearance.Louisiana says it received an email from ICE that day saying, “If we encounter a situation involving a detainee that (sic) we are legally required to release, we will contact LDH and provide time to take appropriate action and coordinate any transfer of custody to LDH as needed.”WBRZ reached out to the office of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for comment. Permalink| Comments
BATON ROUGE — Louisiana says in a federal lawsuit that a Chinese national detained after entering the country illegally has spread a rare form of tuberculosis in federal facilities in Monroe and Basile.
Gov. Jeff Landry scheduled a news conference for Wednesday at 1 p.m. to discuss the situation. In the lawsuit, the state asks that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement not release any detainees unless the Louisiana Department of Health has cleared them.
Without the order, the state claims, ICE would “release detainees onto Louisiana streets, its bus stations, and its airports.”
The lawsuit says the inmate is infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis, which impacts the lungs. It says the variant is drug-resistant and poses a grave danger. It also says that the inmate has been in contact with about 200 other people — prisoners and non-prisoners.
“Studies say the mortality rate is anywhere from 34-39%,” the state says in its lawsuit, which was filed Oct. 16 under seal and released Tuesday.
In a highly redacted portion of the lawsuit, it appears the carrier entered the U.S. via Mexico this year and was detained in California in July. The person flew on a plane with 100 other detainees to Alexandria, and then was on a bus with 40 others and traveled to the Richwood Correction Center in Monroe.
The inmate, a woman, was diagnosed with TB at Richwood on July 23. Three days later, she was transferred to Basile.
The state says that it was told Oct. 15 that ICE would give the state a few hours’ notice of any inmate’s release but would not comply with an order that the state Health Department give each a medical clearance.
Louisiana says it received an email from ICE that day saying, “If we encounter a situation involving a detainee that (sic) we are legally required to release, we will contact LDH and provide time to take appropriate action and coordinate any transfer of custody to LDH as needed.”
WBRZ reached out to the office of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for comment.