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Democratic Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez said he is concerned city officials have been inattentive to alarms raised about a potential outbreak after health officials confirmed a small number of tuberculosis cases at migrant shelters in the Windy City.
Lopez said he has been warning officials about a possible crisis since August, when ambulance receipts showed people were testing positive for tuberculosis.
Health officials in the city have not disclosed how many migrants have tested positive for the diseases or at what shelters. Migrants have previously tested positive for measles.
“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 said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez sounded the alarm on tuberculosis cases in migrant shelters in the city. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
In 2024, Chicago has reported 56 of 97 measles cases nationwide.
Lopez said one area of concern is the migrant asylum seeker children who enter U.S. public schools have vaccination requirements, which are mandatory for American kids, waived.
“That is putting people, families and communities at risk,” he said.
Lopez noted that concerns he raised about migrant shelters have been met with scorn. When he brought up the issue of tuberculosis and measles to the forefront, Lopez, who is the great-grandson of immigrants, was allegedly told by Chicago government officials he was anti-immigrant and xenophobic.
CHICAGO MAYOR SAYS MIGRANT SHELTER EVICTION IS ‘A PATHWAY TO STABILITY AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY’
People hang around outside of a migrant shelter Wednesday, March 13, in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. Multiple people living at the shelter for migrants have tested positive for measles. (AP/Erin Hooley)
“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,” he said.
Lopez added that Americans are “fed up” with being “leapfrogged over” by migrants coming to the U.S. 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,” he added.
The City of Chicago did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Nikolas Lanum is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.
