Thread: TB TEEN TO BE DEPORTED

TB patient to be deported because of illegal status
Four family members also tested positive but are not contagious

By CRAIG SCHNEIDER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/29/07
The Mexican day laborer jailed in Gwinnett County for refusing tuberculosis treatment is an illegal immigrant and officials have begun the deportation process, officials said Wednesday.

Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway said Francisco Santos acknowledged to agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that he is in this country illegally.

Conway said federal immigration agents placed a "detainer" on the 17-year-old Santos, meaning he will be held and that the deportation process begins. But he said Santos' condition and his status as a minor could complicate a process that can take months.

Because of Santos' age, officials would have to make sure before his return that he has family in Mexico or that the Mexican government would take a role.

Gwinnett County health officials jailed Santos Friday after he refused treatment for an active, contagious case of tuberculosis and threatened to flee to his native Mexico. Santos, who lives in Duluth, has since started taking medicine, but will remain in jail at least until a Sept. 5 hearing in Gwinnett Superior Court on his isolation.

Attempts to reach the ICE agency were unsuccessful Wednesday. Two ICE agents are stationed at the Gwinnett County jail and screen each foreign-born person taken into the jail.

Conway said he does not believe any significant action will be taken to deport Santos until he is "medically clear," meaning that he is no longer contagious. Santos' treatment is expected to last about a year until he is cured, but he is expected to be no longer contagious in about three weeks.

Also on Wednesday, four family members of Santos tested positive for the disease, but they are not showing symptoms, are not contagious and will not be isolated, health officials said.

"They are not actively ill," said Gwinnett health spokesman Vernon Goins. "They've been exposed but they're not contagious."

Health officials have started the four family members on a nine-month regimen of antibiotics, and health workers will be present when every dose of medicine is taken. That will keep them from becoming contagious, Goins said.

One other household relative and three non-household relatives tested negative for exposure to tuberculosis, according to the determinations made Wednesday. Five more came in for testing Wednesday, with results expected Friday. And three more people will be tested Monday, officials said.

Since none of the relatives tested positive for an active, contagious case of tuberculosis, health officials do not plan to expand the testing at this point. In addition, since Santos is responding to the antibiotics, health officials do not plan to test him for the more serious drug resistant type of tuberculosis.








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Can someone explain to me why the rest of the family is not being deported with him?

He is jailed because he is refusing treatment, they are not.

Dixie