Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is suing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and various security agencies after an illegal immigrant entered the state with a rare, drug-resistant form of tuberculosis.
Governor Jeff Landry joined Murrill on Wednesday to allege U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials shuttled the infected Chinese national around in detention, putting them in contact with at least 200 other detainees and staff.
The lawsuit specifically names Mayorkas and claims “through his official capacity” as security secretary he allegedly allowed the peripatetic detainee to be shared around ICE facilities.
The New York Post reports the lawsuit seeks to prevent federal immigration officials from releasing “potentially infected detainees” that came in contact with the Chinese national – who has a “rare, aggressive, and drug-resistant form of tuberculosis which carries high mortality rates” – while she was in the custody of immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“ICE has announced its intent to release potentially infected detainees from its two contract facilities [in Louisiana] — without being medically cleared by the Louisiana Department of Health — if an order requires release,” the complaint states.
“By ICE’s telling, its hands are tied once its immigration-based detention authority runs out,” the lawsuit continues, warning that migrants who may have contracted the disease will be released “onto Louisiana streets, its bus stations, and its airports.”