President Obama’s Immigration Accountability Executive Actions are likely to have far reaching political and social implications. They also have serious implications for public health here in the United States and for global health as well. Depending on how this issue is settled in the long run, a reform of the U.S immigration system could mean life or death for millions of people around the world.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on average, more than 50,000 refugees relocate to the United States annually. They come from diverse regions of the world and bring with them health risks and diseases common to all refugee populations as well as some that may be unique to specific populations. The rises in the number of cases of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (TB) along the southern border of the United States exemplifies…