East African Man Caught Trying to Cross Texas-Mexico Border

Border Patrol warns of Ebola risk posed by unsecured border

Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector caught a man from an eastern African nation trying to cross illegally into the U.S. Wednesday night, an incident they say highlights the risk posed by the unsecured border particularly in the midst of an Ebola epidemic.

Though the man’s origin country, Etritrea, has experienced no reported cases of Ebola, multiple border agents told TheBlaze that Wednesday’s apprehension is not the first time they have caught illegal immigrants from Africa, nor what they called “special interest aliens,” those coming from countries with known terrorist ties or experiencing outbreaks of infectious diseases.

The problem, one agent explained, is that Border Patrol has been given no clear protocols on handling situations like the Ebola outbreak.

“We just don’t have the training to respond,” agent Albert Spratte told TheBlaze. “I got messages from guys who were scared because a guy from Africa had been apprehended and he was being brought into the station. These agents said that they were not being told what was going on.”