National Center For Infectious Diseases
Division of Global Migration and Quarantine
(formerly the Division of Quarantine)

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Mission

The Division of Global Migration and Quarantine has statutory responsibility to make and enforce regulations necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States.

Some of the tasks undertaken to meet legal and regulatory responsibilities are:

• Oversee the medical examination of aliens in accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act;

• Monitor the quality of medical examinations and documentation of aliens abroad and in the United States;

• Notify State and local health departments of the arrival of refugees in their jurisdiction;

• Oversee the screening of arriving international travelers for symptoms of illness that could be of public health significance;

• Provide travelers with essential health information through publications, automated fax, and the Internet;

• Enforce entry requirements for certain animals, etiologic agents, and vectors deemed to be of public health significance;

• Undertake special projects in response to immigration emergencies and/or threats posed by emerging infections;

• Collect and disseminate worldwide health data;

• Assure timely distribution of investigational drugs and immunobiologics to patients in order to minimize morbidity and mortality; and

• Perform inspections of maritime vessels and cargos for infectious disease threats.

Quarantine Stations are located in the international airports in New York, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Honolulu. Each Quarantine Station has responsibility for all ports, seaports, and international airports in an assigned region. Since quarantine personnel are not located at every port of entry, the Quarantine Stations train Immigration, Customs and Agriculture Inspectors to watch for ill persons and imported items having public health significance.

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This page last reviewed November 26, 2003

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