RFK Jr. Blames Immigration for Polio and Tuberculosis in Congressional Hearings

At a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing on April 21, 2024, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that recent U.S. polio and tuberculosis cases are driven by immigration, saying, “the places where it’s occurring are the places where the immigrants are going because they’re not vaccinated.”

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Kennedy’s stance mirrors President Donald Trump’s first-day proclamation calling the southern border an “invasion” and suspending certain entries, a move later ruled unlawful by an appeals court. The White House asked Kennedy to tone down anti-vaccine rhetoric. CDC guidelines require chest X-rays for immigrant visa applicants aged 15 and older, and the administration appealed the court decision halting Kennedy’s vaccine-schedule changes while withdrawing Casey Means’s surgeon-general nomination.

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CDC provisional data for 2025 show 10,260 tuberculosis cases, 7,858 among foreign-born persons, and 876 measles cases reported in February 2024, mainly in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. The last U.S. polio case occurred in New York in 2022. A 2025 Cato Institute analysis found no statistically significant link between immigrant population size and notifiable-disease incidence.

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Infectious-disease experts argue that vaccination, not immigration limits, is the primary tool to curb disease. Paul Spiegel warned against labeling immigrants as “disease vectors,” while José Romero cautioned that aggressive enforcement may deter sick individuals from seeking care. The Cato study finds no correlation between immigration and disease rates, yet CDC data show a higher share of TB among foreign-born persons, leaving the impact of stricter entry requirements unsettled.

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• “you should look at the immigration policies in this country because the places where it’s occurring are the places where the immigrants are going because they’re not vaccinated.” — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., House hearing, April 21 2024

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• “Rather, think about how can we help them to make sure that they reduce their risk by giving them prevention, by giving them proper screening.” — Paul Spiegel, Center for Humanitarian Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

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• “It’s a huge public health policy issue that was created during the Biden administration when you let in millions of people with no tuberculosis screening because it’s a latent disease and there’s no vaccine for it,” — Michael Capuano, Federation for American Immigration Reform

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• “When we have programs that turn them over, and the individuals are afraid to leave their homes because they could be deported, we’re not going to be able to find these cases,” — José Romero, pediatric infectious-disease specialist

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The administration has appealed the court decision, and Congress may weigh tighter immigration-screening measures before the 2024 midterms. Surveillance will shape policy.

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