TB Passenger Allowed On Plane By Inspector, Who Waived The No-Fly Warning As "Discretionary"

RCL compares and contrasts:

A globe-trotting Atlanta lawyer with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis was allowed back into the U.S. by a border inspector who disregarded a computer warning to stop him and don protective gear, officials said Thursday. The inspector has been removed from border duty.

The unidentified inspector explained that he was no doctor but that the infected man seemed perfectly healthy and that he thought the warning was merely "discretionary," officials briefed on the case told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is still under investigation.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday defended the immigration legislation winding its way through Congress, saying the measure is needed to protect the country from terrorism.

"People who grew up in London, people who have spent most of their lives in the United States, have somehow become induced to be terrorists and that argues strongly for accounting for and bringing under control a situation where 12 million people are in our country illegally," the Arizona senator said during one of several conference calls with reporters from early voting states where he is vying for support.

Plainly our customs and immigration officials are on the ball when it comes to this sort of thing. I mean, just imagine if this guy had tried to enter the country with an exotic, infectious, and deadly strain of a disease.

Oh wait, that's what did happen.

I guess I have to note the obvious. Readers are emailing me pictures. I suppose when stopped by customs, the fact that his wife looked like this...

... may have swayed customs inspectors. Although I'm not sure it's a good idea for our national security apparatus to have an I'd-hit-that exception to the no-fly list.

Walt Disney must have seriously warped me as a child, because I'm sitting here looking at that duck-bill thinking, Hot.

That's from this ABCNews article in which TB Guy defends putting large numbers of people at risk.

Thanks to genghis and Chad from Kurolounge.

posted by Ace at 09:33 AM

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