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A Western Union Telegram sent to the Surgeon General urging for a quarantine. It uses xenophobic language to describe Mexicans.
Telegram sent to the U.S. surgeon general urging for a quarantine (June 17, 1916).

The mayor of El Paso calls for quarantine at the U.S.-Mexico border due to a perceived typhus threat.

1916

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Telegram sent to the U.S. surgeon general urging for a quarantine (June 17, 1916).

El Paso Mayor Tom Lea Sr. writes a telegram to the U.S. Surgeon General on June 17, 1916 demanding a quarantine policy to protect his city from the typhus he believes is being spread by the hundreds of "dirty lousey [sic] destitute Mexicans" arriving every day.

A medical inspection will be added to the border crossing protocol the following year and will remain until the "threat" of a typhus spread has passed, well into the 1930s.