Contrary to administration warnings, this does not mean impeding the travel of essential medical personnel to the region to help stamp out the epidemic at its source. Trained medical and other aid experts should be supported in going to West Africa, but as the lesson of New York doctor Craig Spencer makes clear, they need to be more closely monitored in country and upon their return. In particular, they should be restricted in returning to medical or other work involving close physical contact with others in the United States until they are cleared of any risk of infection.
Equally misguided is the contention by Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that a visa suspension would drive affected travelers underground, leading them to sneak into the United States unscreened and unmonitored. Whether a Liberian flies to Europe or drives across Africa to an airport in an unaffected country, he or she would still have to present a Liberian passport to board a plane to the United States. At that point, a visa suspension would result in a denial of boarding. Nor is it realistic to fear that our hypothetical traveler would sneak across our land borders. First, we can and should coordinate a visa suspension with Canada and Mexico. Second, smugglers are unlikely to welcome migrants who may be physically unfit to make an arduous trip while posing a threat to the safety of the smugglers themselves.
To be sure, it is possible to conjure scenarios in which foreign citizens denied visas forge passports from other nations. But in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, we and other countries substantially upgraded anti-counterfeiting protections that can be easily adapted to detect those who seek to evade travel restrictions.
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