Los Angeles Times - 25.08.2019

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TIJUANA — On her first
day out of quarantine, 6-
year-old Fernanda Martinez
was ecstatic. She raced a
mini-green quad up and
down the hall outside the
dark room where she spent
four weeks separated from
everyone because of a severe
case of chicken pox.
Greeting all the other
children at the Agape Mision
Mundial shelter in Tijuana,
Fernanda announced she
was equally excited to see ev-
eryone.
Her scabs weren’t com-
pletely healed, but a doctor
gave her the green light to fi-
nally leave the room where
people have been quarantin-
ed with varicela, or chicken
pox.
“She cried and cried and
cried because she could not
go around any of the other
children,” said her mother,
Jasmine Martinez, 34, of
Honduras. “I was crying for
her because it was so hard
seeing her suffering.”
Martinez said after flee-
ing gangs, traveling a rough

road from Honduras, spend- ing about a week in U.S. detention and then being returned to Mexico, where she and her two children don’t know anyone, coming down with chicken pox in a crowded Tijuana shelter was the challenge that finally caused Fernanda to break down in tears. Pastor Albert Rivera,

who runs the Agape shelter, said at one point as many as 40 people were sick with the highly contagious virus that causes an itchy rash and small fluid-filled blisters. Around five remain in quarantine. Of the 225 migrants sheltered at Agape, a total of 73 are sick with other illnesses, he said. Rivera said because the incubation period for chicken pox is 10 to 21 days, it’s unclear if migrants are getting sick in crowded con- ditions in U.S. detention or if they are arriving at the border from their home countries with the contagious illnesses. What is clear is that illnesses typically spread very quickly among migrants in Tijuana shelters. “Because they are all in such close quarters, once one person gets it, they all get it,” said Dr. Julie Sierra from UC San Diego Health. Sierra volunteers as a medi- cal consultant to groups as- sisting migrants in Tijuana and has been volunteering in Baja California shelters on Saturdays. Many of the illnesses she’s seen — including upper respiratory infections, scabies and stomach ailments — are typically minor, Sierra said, but they can be serious for pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems. “If you’re in a situation where you’re not getting

enough food or the right food and your body is strained and under stress ... you’re just going to be more susceptible to infections,” she said. She also said because migrants come from different parts of the world, they may expose one another to unfa- miliar illnesses. “People from different countries are exposed to different illnesses through their life, so they build up different antibodies in their bodies,” Sierra said. “So, a virus or infection that one person might be able to resist, another person from a different part of the world might not have had the chance to build up antibodies to that particular illness.” Hector Gutierrez, coordi- nator for migrant services for the incoming state gov- ernment of Baja California, is working to bring enough medicine to all of the shelters. “We are seeing a lot of cases of the flu,” he said. Gutierrez estimated about 1 0% of migrants in Baja Cali- fornia shelters are currently sick and about 2% have chicken pox. Migrants are pushing their bodies to the limit to get from Central America to the U.S.-Mexico border in Baja California, which weak- ens their immune system, Gutierrez said. The climate also could be contributing to some people’s illnesses. “Tijuana’s climate is very hard to adjust to,” Gutierrez said. “We have very cold nights and very hot days. So, especially if you come from a more tropical climate, they’re just not accustomed to it. Also, they are probably very tired from their journey. Their defense systems are already low and they aren’t getting the best nutrition.” One woman from Guate- mala, who did not want to give her name because she feared it could affect her immigration proceedings, said she had been waiting at the Agape shelter for two days

for a doctor to come with more medicine to treat her itchy sores from chicken pox. She said the last time she received any treatment from a doctor had been five days prior. A Baja California state representative told the San Diego Union-Tribune a doctor was coming to Agape with refills of medicine later that day. The woman said she had recently crossed into the United States but was returned under the Migrant Protection Protocols, better known as the “Remain in Mexico” program. She said she didn’t think she could wait in Tijuana until her court date in November, but wasn’t sure if she was going to try to cross illegally back into the U.S. or move some- where else in Mexico after she gets better. “I won’t be going back to Guatemala,” she said em- phatically, but declined to say why. “I cannot go back there.” The Remain in Mexico policy requires migrants to wait for their immigration hearings in Mexico rather than the United States. Gutierrez, who works as a liaison between the newly elected governor and the migrant shelters, said the gov- ernment has not seen such a severe outbreak of chicken pox in other shelters, but they are monitoring each one carefully. Shelters in Baja Califor- nia are privately run, which makes it difficult to get an exact count of how many migrants are sick. The state representative said there was not a count of cases of chicken pox, tuberculosis or other illnesses across the state, but health institutions are regularly checking each shelter. Sergio Tamai, who runs the Hotel Migrante in Mexi- cali and leads a coalition of shelters across the state, confirmed health authorities are visiting the shelters weekly. Pastor Gustavo Banda of the Ambassadors of Jesus church, which operates a shelter in Tijuana, said many people returned under Remain in Mexico have been arriving from the United States very sick. “Fortunately, we do not have the chicken pox, but the flu is always there because people return from the hieleras, but everything is under control because we always have doctors,” said Banda, who also confirmed state health authorities have been readily available. Las hielerasor “the ice- boxes” is a nickname for the frigid, cramped holding cells in U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities. ACBP spokesman for the San Diego sector said when migrants arrive sick at the border they are quarantined on site, medically evaluated and taken to a hospital if necessary. He said numbers were

not immediately available for how many migrants have been treated for illnesses in recent weeks. CBP Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Rodolfo Karisch said agents take about 30 migrants a day to emergency rooms, accord- ing to the Texas Tribune. Since the deaths of sev- eral children, CBP has faced criticism over how sick migrants are treated in U.S. custody. “There are a lot of people that are traveling to the United States that are already ill and infirm. Many times, we won’t know about it — they’re not showing any signs of it,” Karisch said at a news conference this month. “We are seeing every infir- mity that you can name, from mumps to [tuberculosis], scabies. You name it, our agents are seeing it.” In the Agape shelter, the Department of Health in Baja California tested migrants for tuberculosis after a man crossed into the United States with the serious infectious disease that affects the lungs. He had stayed at the Agape shelter, he told U.S. officials, who passed the information on to Baja California authorities, Rivera said. “He didn’t tell them he was sick when he crossed over because he didn’t think they would let him into the United States,” said Rivera, who said the man spent only one night at Agape. A CBP spokesman said the agency does not return migrants based on their health status, but if a migrant has his or her immigration hearing on a day when they have an active contagious illness, that ap- pointment would probably have to be rescheduled. Marivelle Perez, who fled gangs in Honduras, said she was glad her 6-year-old daughter Marissa came down with influenza right when they were returned to Tijuana, months before their scheduled immigration hearing. “I do not want to imagine waiting all these months here and then getting sick before our court date and having to wait many more months,” said Perez, who said she and her family have endured enough. “God will bless us with good health now.” Gutierrez said the shelters in Tijuana are doing their best to care for people, including sick migrants, without receiving any public funds. The international community could help out by donating to shelters in Ti- juana. “There’s 15 to 20 shelters in Tijuana that are doing an excellent job, but they need more help,” Gutierrez said. “Right now, funds will not be available until the end of the year so there is a lot of need of that international help.”

Fry writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Sickness thrives in packed border shelters

Migrants in Tijuana

battle chicken pox and

flu as they await U.S.

immigration hearings.

By Wendy Fry

JASMINE MARTINEZholds her daughter Fernanda, 6, who was quarantined for four weeks during a chicken pox outbreak at a migrant shelter in Tijuana.

Nelvin C. CepedaSan Diego Union-Tribune

Sheryl Crow:In the Cal- endar section in this edi- tion, an article about singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow misspells the last name of Anita Hill — the woman at the center of the 1991 confirmation hearings for future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — as Hall. The error was dis- covered after the section was published.

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Los Angeles Times - 25.08.2019

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