Political Insider
Political Insider

Phil Gingrey: Border kids could spark epidemics in U.S.

In this June 19, 2014 photo, a Central American migrants emerge from side streets to crowd onto the tracks, as a northbound freight train arrives in the station in Arriaga, Chiapas state, Mexico. Tens of thousands of unaccompanied children have been apprehended crossing the U.S. Mexico border since October. Three-fourths of them are from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador and most say they are fleeing pervasive gang violence and crushing poverty. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) In this June 19 photo, Central American migrants emerge from side streets to crowd onto the tracks, as a northbound freight train arrives in the station in Arriaga, Chiapas state, Mexico. Tens of thousands of unaccompanied children have been apprehended crossing the U.S. Mexico border since October. Three-fourths of them are from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador and most say they are fleeing pervasive gang violence and crushing poverty. AP/Rebecca Blackwell

Credit: Jim Galloway

Credit: Jim Galloway

In this June 19, 2014 photo, a Central American migrants emerge from side streets to crowd onto the tracks, as a northbound freight train arrives in the station in Arriaga, Chiapas state, Mexico. Tens of thousands of unaccompanied children have been apprehended crossing the U.S. Mexico border since October. Three-fourths of them are from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador and most say they are fleeing pervasive gang violence and crushing poverty. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) In this June 19 photo, Central American migrants emerge from side streets to crowd onto the tracks, as a northbound freight train arrives in the station in Arriaga, Chiapas state, Mexico. Tens of thousands of unaccompanied children have been apprehended crossing the U.S. Mexico border since October. Three-fourths of them are from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador and most say they are fleeing pervasive gang violence and crushing poverty. AP/Rebecca Blackwell
By Jim Galloway
July 8, 2014

In a letter to Thomas Frieden, director of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control, U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, expressed his fear this week that the undocumented children the U.S. is absorbing at its border could trigger an epidemic.

Now, he doesn’t actually use the word “epidemic.” He just speaks of diseases that “spread too rapidly to control.” Which we think meets the definition.

Read the letter in its entirety here. The gist:

Looks like this could be a boon for the rubber glove industry. Buy your stock now.

About the Author

Jim Galloway, the newspaper’s former political columnist, was a writer and editor at the AJC for four decades.

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