DHS requires West Africa travelers to arrive at five airports

Bart Jansen, USA TODAY12:07 p.m. EDT October 21, 2014


(Photo: Melissa Maraj, AP)

WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday that all travelers from Ebola outbreak countries in West Africa will be funneled through one of five U.S. airports with enhanced screening starting Wednesday.

Customs and Border Protection within the department began enhanced screening – checking the traveler's temperature and asking about possible exposure to Ebola – at New York's John F. Kennedy airport on Oct. 11.

Enhanced screening for travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea was expanded Oct. 16 to Washington's Dulles, Chicago's O'Hare, New Jersey's Newark and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airports.

Those airports were supposed to screen 94% of the average 150 people per day arriving from the three countries. But lawmakers from other states asked for enhanced screening at their airports, too.

Some lawmakers have also called for more restrictions, such as suspending visas or simply denying entry at ports for citizens from the three countries.

Jeh Johnson, secretary of homeland security, announced that travelers from West Africa must arrive at one of the five airports starting Wednesday.

"We are working closely with the airlines to implement these restrictions with minimal travel disruption," Johnson said. "If not already handled by the airlines, the few impacted travelers should contact the airlines for rebooking, as needed."

The head of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., commended the move, but said a "real solution" is to deny entry to anyone from the three countries under a provision of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act.

"President Obama has a real solution at his disposal under current law and can use it at any time to temporarily ban foreign nationals from entering the United States from Ebola-ravaged countries," Goodlatte said. "The vast majority of Americans strongly support such a travel moratorium and I urge the President to take every step possible to protect the American people from danger."

But Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said steering travelers through the five airports is a sensible precaution.

"As agreed upon by experts in both the public health and transportation communities, issuing a blanket travel ban would not only be counterproductive, but it would also irresponsibly impede getting much-needed supplies and relief to the countries that need it most," Conyers said.

Roger Dow, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, a trade group for all aspects of travel, praised the move to calm travel concerns while avoiding a complete travel ban.

"The Obama administration continues to heed the counsel of an overwhelming consensus of health and security experts, and resist calls for any sort of travel ban on the grounds that it will be counterproductive to efforts to contain Ebola," Dow said.

A Liberian national, Thomas Duncan, who became the first person diagnosed with the disease in the U.S. after arriving in Dallas on Sept. 20, had a temperature of 97.3 degrees, but didn't tell airport officials in Monrovia, Liberia, that he carried a pregnant woman suffering from Ebola. He died Oct. 8 and two nurses who treated him have become infected.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the enhanced screening adds a layer of protection against Ebola entering the country.

"The Department of Homeland Security's policy to funnel all passengers arriving from Ebola hotspots to one of these five equipped airports is a good and effective step towards tightening the net and further protecting our citizens," Schumer said.

President Obama and Johnson each have said they will continue to monitor travel restrictions for possible changes.

"We are continually evaluating whether additional restrictions or added screening and precautionary measures are necessary to protect the American people and will act accordingly," Johnson said.


Enhanced screening for Ebola expanded to four more airports Thursday.The latest are Washington's Dulles, Chicago's O'Hare, New Jersey's Newark and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airports. (Oct. 15) Jani Actman and Abby Sun, Medill News Service for USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...anta/17655889/