Louisiana is suing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his responsibility in allowing an illegal immigrant from China to enter the US and expose hundreds of people to a lethal tuberculosis (TB) virus.

The lawsuitclaims that “through his official capacity” as DHS secretary Mayorkas allowed the ill migrant to be housed in several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities.

The suit states that the illegal has created an “emergency situation” in the state because the Chinese national has “a rare, aggressive, and drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, which carries high mortality rates."

The lawsuit also names DHS, ICE and the detention facilities as defendants. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is demanding that ICE give its detainees a clean bill of health before release from its facilities. Local outlet WDSU reported that, according to sources, ICE won’t guarantee any medical clearance, prompting the state lawsuit. The illegal remains in detention on the orders of a federal judge while the lawsuit continues.

Gov Jeff Landry (R-LA) assured the public at a news conference that “at this time, we have no indication that the public is in any danger,” the Daily Mail reported. The migrant with TB had been living in Mexico and crossed the US border illegally before being caught in California in July. DHS then flew the migrant with 100 others to Alexandria, LA, where she was bused along with 40 others to Richwood Correction Center in Monroe, LA. The lawsuit says some of those 40 were either deported, transferred or released.

A TB test at the corrections center was “noted to be highly positive.” TB is a highly dangerous and infectious disease that has been largely eradicated in many parts of the world through vaccines, early diagnosis and effective treatment. The illegal immigrant in Louisiana allegedly had a “drug resistant” variant of the disease, making treatment difficult to impossible.

Illegal immigrants, when not being released into the US, are clogging up some detention centers so much that the Biden-Harris administration is moving them from one state to another by planes and busses. Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris has been contradictory about her views on amnesty and deportation of illegal immigrants, talking of the need for stricter controls but then telling a media outlet this week that she favors a general amnesty and opposes deportations.