According to a new report, up to 71 people from countries in West Africa that have seen the most Ebola patients have entered the United States this year, but the Customs and Border Patrol insists it has ways of keeping immigrants with the disease out of the country.

Earlier this week, a CBP report was published on Breitbart.com, Fox News Latino reports. The report showed that between January and July of 2014, a minimum of 71 people from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the three countries Ebola has devastated the most, entered the U.S.

"CBP and the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] have closely coordinated to develop policies, procedures, and protocols to identify travelers that are known by U.S. public health officials to have a communicable disease and to handle in a manner that minimizes risk to the public," Jennifer Evanitsky, a CBP spokeswoman, told FNL.

The report comes as various politicians use the threat of disease as a reason for stricter border enforcement.

Last week, Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul told radio host Glenn Beck that the border "is not only a danger for national security purposes, it is also a danger for a worldwide pandemic should it occur," The Week reported.

Republican Georgia Rep. Phil Gingrey wrote a letter to CDC in September suggesting that the influx of unaccompanied minors from Central America crossing the border have "swine flu, dengue fever, Ebola virus and tuberculosis," FNL reports.

In August, Republican Indiana Rep. Todd Rokita suggested that the unaccompanied minors crisis need to be closely monitored because of "Ebola circulating."

The CBP says, however, that every one of its officers has been trained in identifying a potential Ebola carrier and the agency is on the lookout for symptoms.

"When a traveler or alien is identified with a possible communicable disease or identified from information that is received from the CDC, CBP personnel will take the appropriate safety measures by donning personal protective equipment, to include gloves and surgical masks, which are readily available for use in the course of their duties," Evanitsky said. "The traveler would be isolated from the traveling public while the CDC and local public health authorities conduct an evaluation."

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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