Who is to blame for measles outbreak.

• Position: YOUR LIFE

"The focus of the Obama Administration and media in the measles outbreak in the U.S. has been on American parents not vaccinating their children. This overlooks a key issue that other physicians and I warned about in May and June 2014: illegal immigrants coming across the U.S. southern borders in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California were bringing with them many invisible travelers.

"These unwanted guests include viruses, bacteria, and fungal diseases that the U.S. had eradicated or controlled decades ago. Measles was one of the diseases mentioned then, since it is widespread in parts of the world from which the illegal immigration surge is coming-in particular, Central America," says Elizabeth Lee Vliet, a preventive and climacteric medicine specialist with practices in Tucson, Ariz., and Dallas, Texas. She also is CEO of International Health Strategies, Santiago, Chile.

"Fast forward to 2015, and suddenly we have the widespread outbreak of measles that was predicted, but the blame is being placed on 'bad parents' who don't want to vaccinate their children for fear of side effects of the vaccines."

Vliet points out that, because the U.S. declared that it had eradicated measles in 2000, parents were right to wonder why they should take an unnecessary risk. They are not the cause of this current outbreak. Being unvaccinated does not give you measles, Vliet stresses.

"Lawlessness on our borders is the culprit that reintroduced the measles virus to our territory. The same government that broke our immigration laws is now blaming parents for the predictable consequences of its policy. The government both facilitated and encouraged the flood of illegal border-crossers, and assisted their rapid dispersal to cities across the U.S. Now the government that fails to follow its own laws is saying it will mandate that all parents vaccinate their children to protect against the disease it allowed to enter the U.S."

Vliet adds: "Clearly there are risks to the public's health with this measles outbreak. Most children recover quickly, but some patients, particularly adults, may have...