Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Homeland Security and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for allegedly mishandling a Chinese detainee infected with tuberculosis, reported WAFB 9.
The lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Louisiana, also names Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other agency leaders.
The suit alleges that ICE transported a Chinese woman infected with tuberculosis to facilities in Monroe, Basile, and Lafayette and says she encountered more than 200 detainees and an unknown number of employees in those facilities.
The woman was taken into custody in California and brought to Louisiana. She reportedly bounced between facilities before being tested for TB. ICE on Oct. 15 told Murrill that they couldn’t make a commitment to release any other inmates without being medically cleared.
The lawsuit is asking that ICE detain all Louisiana inmates from the two facilities pending a medical review. Without the order, the state claims, ICE would "release detainees onto Louisiana streets, its bus stations, and its airports."
"The protection of our southern border is paramount to the security of the United States," said Murrill. "It is neither political nor unreasonable that Louisiana has time and time again demanded that the Biden-Harris administration defend this nation. Those not legally present should not be in the country – period.
"Millions of undocumented illegal aliens continue to pour across the southern border – unidentified, untracked, and untested for diseases that can threaten the lives of American citizens. The federal government has put the health and safety of Louisiana and American people at risk. Despite this dereliction of duty by President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary Mayorkas, Louisiana officials acted immediately to protect our people."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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