‘Potential for a Public Health Disaster’: Illegal Immigrant Surge Leaves Officials With ‘No Idea’ Which Diseases Are Coming Across | TheBlaze.com

MISSION, Texas — Rosalba had spent more than a week traveling from Guatemala to the U.S.-Mexico border with her baby girl, Kendra, in tow.

A group of illegal immigrants turned themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents June 17, 2014, in Mission, Texas, part of the Rio Grande Valley. Communities in Texas have been overwhelmed by the increased number of illegal immigrants. (Photo: Sara A. Carter/TheBlaze)

The 18-month-old clung to her mother as she swept her tongue along the cracks of her tiny parched lips. Both were dehydrated; they had been hiding in the brush across the Rio Grande in 102-degree temperatures. They had waited with about two dozen others, all from Central America, until the coolness of dusk to cross the river into the United States.

The families had traveled from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to reach U.S. federal law enforcement at Anzalduas Park, on the banks of the Rio Grande. Agents there have been overwhelmed with the surge of illegal crossers over the past several months. Border Patrol officials — who were armed with more bottles of water than weapons — would soon send Rosabla’s group to join the 1,000 or so others at the temporary immigrant holding facility in nearby McAllen.

‘Potential for a Public Health Disaster’: Illegal Immigrant Surge Leaves Officials With ‘No Idea’ Which Diseases Are Coming Across | TheBlaze.com