Thread: 5 migrant kids ill, but none are at Lackland

5 migrant kids ill, but none are at Lackland

By Sig Christenson
Updated 07:01 p.m., Friday, April 20, 2012

Several children in a federal program that cares for underage immigrants were found over the past week or so have come down with chickenpox, but authorities say none of those brought to Lackland AFB are ill.

A group of 121 undocumented children were brought to Lackland this week after they had been screened and vaccinated, said Marrianne McMullen, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In all, just five cases of chicken pox were confirmed, and the victims will be in isolation for 21 days, along with other unimmunized children exposed to them. McMullen said the cases weren't unusual.

Children are immunized against tetanus, pertussis and diphtheria, hepatitis A and B, measles, mumps and rubella, human papillomavirus and polio, among other illnesses.

All remain in isolation.

“They were thoroughly screened,” she said. “Our standard process is that when these children come into our care, they get a thorough health care screening.”

The Air Force and HHS said the children started to arrive on the base Monday, with the rest coming in the next day. They are staying in an unused 1,000-student dormitory with showers and a dining hall.

Joint Base San Antonio, which oversees Lackland and two other installations here, has said little, deferring comment to Health and Human Services.

McMullen said she wasn't sure exactly how many children were on Lackland, home of Air Force basic training, but she added they were free of diseases.

All of them got “a full battery of immunizations because there's no way of knowing” if they had been vaccinated in their home countries, she said.

Those who were sick or not immune and exposed to the children were sent to separate, smaller sites or foster homes with immune adults and they remain separate from other children for the three-week incubation period.

“We would never put a sick child in a general-population situation,” McMullen said.

Around two-thirds of the children come from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Just 12 percent originate from Mexico. Roughly eight in 10 are boys, with 83 percent older than 14. The oldest is 17, HHS reported.

Neither the Air Force nor HHS would grant access to the children. But the agency said they're taking classes on the base that include English as a second language. They're also given counseling, recreation time as well as regular showers and meals.

Health and Human Services' division of Unaccompanied Children's Services, charged with caring for children caught crossing the border, has taken in 7,000 to 8,000 undocumented children annually over the past three years, but has cared for more than 5,000 youngsters since October.

It has recorded a jump of 77 percent in the first three months of 2012, though no one could say why. Meanwhile, Border Patrol reported apprehending a record-low 340,000 people, down from 1 million as recently as 2006.

Those familiar with the problem said the children often flee their homes and towns. Some search for parents and other relatives who already have come to the United States, while others are seeking a job.

Some of them escaped domestic violence and forced gang memberships, and others were targets of political persecution or shipped here by human traffickers. At least as many cross the border without detection as those who are caught, said Lavinia Limón, president and CEO of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

The children who came to Lackland did so in small numbers, not together.

“There was never any one huge group that came in,” said McMullen, the HHS spokeswoman. “There was just a larger flow than usual per day.”

sigc@express-news.net

5 migrant kids ill, but none are at Lackland - San Antonio Express-News