On July 6, 2015, then-candidate for president Donald Trump argued that “tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border. The United States has become a dumping ground for Mexico and, in fact, for many other parts of the world.” Picking up on this new vituperative rhetoric, longtime conservative crusader Phyllis Schlafly warned that unwanted groups of people “invade our country every year, and thereby spread their diseases.” Others identified Zika virus, tuberculosis, dengue fever, Chagas disease, chikungunya virus, and schistosomiasis as immigrant-borne scourges.
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