In Congo, the ebola epidemic is back.  Axios has a disturbing chart showing a sharp arc upward based on Congolese government data.  Total cases have gone to from virtually nothing last August to 2,031 now — and the data suggest that the trend has not peaked.

That's news, because right now, Congolese migrants have begun crossing our unguarded southern border in large numbers.  According to the Voice of America:

U.S. Border Patrol agents have apprehended more than 150 African immigrants [sic] attempting unauthorized crossings into Texas at the U.S. southern border within the past week, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

On Saturday, agents arrested a group of 37 undocumented immigrants [sic] from Central Africa who had crossed the winding Rio Grande onto U.S. soil, the CBP said in a news release Tuesday. The agency said the immigrants [sic] consisted of family groups, including small children, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo.

Last Thursday evening, agents picked up a group of 116 African immigrants [sic] crossing the river in the Del Rio sector, the CBP said in a May 31 news release.

Axios, to its credit, is one of the few news agencies that has been keeping tabs on the ebola spread for several months now.  Al Jazeera, of all places, is another.

Previous reports have noted that ebola doctors and nurses have had to brave gunfire and assault by ISIS-linked terrorists as they've tried to treat patients, with that complication enabling the spread of the disease.  Terrorist violence combined with a deadly epidemic of a horrific disease would give people with any means reason to migrate abroad, legally or not.  But with Europe clamping down on illegal migration, and House Democrats refusing to give the U.S. any tools whatsoever (not even diaper money) to halt the ongoing border surge, and states like California offering free health care to illegal aliens, where would you go?  The push and pull factors are on overdrive to head for the U.S.  Political violence and disease are driving flight, and the benefits are acting as a magnet.  And making it all even more likely, the U.S. border is open, and coming to the U.S. without papers is no barrier to entry or being allowed to stay.

Any surprise to see a new wave of migrants coming in from previously unheard-of nations such as Congo?

What's terrible here is that we've already seen what can happen when unvetted people are allowed into the country.  In 2014, an ebola patient from Liberia, Eric Duncan, came to an unprepared Dallas hospital and spread the disease to two nurses, who in turn unwittingly exposed other places to the epidemic.  A wedding gown shop in Ohio was shut down.  The nurses had to undergo extensive treatment at a specialized facility in Maryland.  At least one sued the hospital and now refuses to work as an intensive care nurse.

Duncan, meanwhile, gave conflicting stories to investigators on how he was exposed to the epidemic, and he certainly should not have been traveling after his exposure to previous victims.  Whether he came her for medical care for ebola was unknown, but obviously, people who have this dreaded illness are not always going to be honest because the fact is, they are desperate.

What the Duncan case showed is that all it takes is just one unvetted migrant from the ebola epidemic area to throw the U.S. health system into disorder.  You can bet some of these current Congolese migrants are going to be making asylum claims based on the known political violence from ISIS terrorists in their country.  But any asylum claim based on that raises the possibility that they are coming from the ebola zones, and it's unknown if they are desperately fleeing that or if they have been exposed or if they are going to be honest about it.  Who knows if Customs and Border Protection officers are going to be able to keep them out if they are, anyway?

This is the makings of a public health disaster here in the states, and sadly, we are probably going to have to learn the hard way, after the disease is here and spreading into the population.

This is the work of irresponsible House Democrats, who refuse to admit there's a crisis, refuse to reform asylum laws, refuse to appropriate money for a wall, refuse to give the Border Patrol even money for detention centers, and are doing anything they can to stop President Trump keeping the country safe.

All it takes is one. Are they ready for the consequences of that now? 

Image credit: CBS Evening News screen shot via shareable YouTube.