HOUSTON, Texas — The U.S. State Department is pushing to bring more Ebola patients to America for medical treatment. A leaked memo obtained by Fox News’ The Kelly File revealed patients will be brought to the U.S. even if they are not American citizens. The White House is attempting to deny these plans.
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte discussed the plans on The Kelly File Monday. He said he received confidential communication which shows the plan in development. Fox News later obtained a copy of the memo (attached below). The memo was written by the State Department’s Ebola Coordination Unit and was approved by Ambassador Nancy J. Powell.
The four-page document recommends “That State and DHS devise a system for expeditious parole of Ebola-infected non-citizens into the United States as long as they are otherwise eligible for medical evacuation from the Ebola affected countries and for entry into the United States.”
It states the United States needs to “show leadership” by admitting certain non-citizens into the country to receive medical treatment for the Ebola Virus Disease during the on-going Ebola crisis. The state department estimated the cost for these evacuees at about $500,000 per patient. That breaks down to $200,000 for the medical evacuation (medevac) and $300,000 for treatment. The document lays out the argument that there will be cases where the United States is “the logical treatment destination for non-citizens.”
The memo also discusses the legal and procedural issues that would be faced while attempting to medevac non-citizens to the U.S. It states, “the mechanism for admission of non-U.S. citizen is not the usual visa process, and normally takes much longer than the time available to an infected Ebola patient, so setting up a mechanism that is ready to move would be essential.” It goes on to specify that the patient would need to be transported during the first five-days of the illness onset to give the greatest opportunity for successful treatment.
A State Department official told Fox News, “There are absolutely no plans to medevac non-Americans who become ill from West Africa to the United States.”
Bob Price is a staff writer and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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