Dem alderman tells 'Fox & Friends' Chicago officials keeping mum on tuberculosis cases in migrant shelters

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Co-host Lawrence Jones was joined by Democratic Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez to discuss tuberculosis cases being recorded at migrant shelters in the city on Thursday, April 4 episode of 'Fox & Friends.'

"This comes after 56 known measle cases are recorded in the Windy City," noted Jones while introducing the subject, which is more than half of the nationwide total of 97.

The number of persons affected by tuberculosis and the shelters in which they are staying are yet to be disclosed.

Lopez, who claimed to have been warning officials about a possible health crisis since August when ambulance receipts showed people were testing positive for tuberculosis, said that he was concerned with them being inattentive to the alarms sounded.

Raymond Lopez's take on migrants testing positive for tuberculosis

"This is a crisis we could have avoided, just like with the measles, if we had simply instituted the American standard of vaccines upon all those migrants being shipped to the city of Chicago," Lopez told Jones.

He was also concerned about the fact that migrant children seeking asylum in the United States and who join public schools do not have any vaccination requirement, although they are mandatory for American students.

"That is putting people, families and communities at risk," he said.

Raymond Lopez on public officials handling the situation

The Alderman was met with scorn when he tried to voice his concerns on the issue of tuberculosis and measles at the migrant shelters. A great-grandson of immigrants himself, Lopez was allegedly called anti-immigrant and xenophobic over his efforts.

"They can gaslight all they want, but at a certain point, the truth is going to come out and we’re seeing it come out slowly and steadily now," stated Lopez, adding that Americans are "fed up" with being "leapfrogged over" by migrants coming to the country to get services and support.

"This is going to drive a wedge, particularly for the Democratic Party, my party, with our core base of African American and Latino voters who feel as though we have not invested in them the way we’ve been investing in these migrant asylum seekers."

The Chicago Department of Public Health confirmed that a small number of tuberculosis cases have been detected among migrants at city shelters, NBC Chicago reported.

However, they could not share exactly how many cases were found or identify the shelters. But the department said there haven’t been any reports of TB in the city from an exposure to migrants positive for the infection.

Jacob Martin, a spokesperson for the health department, said TB cases pop up in Chicago each year, with about 100-150 infections detected annually, and added the department needs to sort through its data to figure out which cases are new arrivals and which are other city residents.

The numbers will be made public once that analysis is complete, he said.

“I would not characterize this as an outbreak,” Martin said. “It’s relatively inline with what we expect to see.”