Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As Americans Shelter In Place, ICE Transfers Detainees Into Facilities In Vulnerable Rural South
Politico: ICE Detention Centers First Brought Jobs To The Rural South. Now, They’re Bringing Covid-19.
When Dan Gibson, a local pastor and bed-and-breakfast owner, kicked off his current mayoral campaign in Natchez, he ran as a community man—someone with connections, someone who knows people. Natchez, a small town of 15,000 set on a bend of the Mississippi River, is the kind of place where news travels fast, and, in late March, Gibson’s phone began ringing nonstop. Alarmed townspeople all had the same concern: In the midst of a pandemic, the federal government was bringing some 200 people from around the country into their otherwise relatively isolated community. (Del Valle and Herrera, 5/5)
In other news on immigration —
ProPublica: Los New Yorkers: Essential and Underprotected in the Pandemic’s Epicenter
They’ve gotten to know New York City in a way many have not, through the low-wage work of cleaning its skyscrapers, serving its restaurants and crisscrossing its streets on bicycles, through long subway rides very early in the morning and very late at night. The saying goes: You’re not a true New Yorker unless you’ve lived here for a decade. They’ve done their time and felt a deep sense of belonging in this city of immigrants. But, in the epicenter of a pandemic, the undocumented have never felt more alone. (Gallardo and Goodman, 5/2)
The New York Times: Before Covid-19, Trump Aide Sought To Use Disease To Close Borders
From the early days of the Trump administration, Stephen Miller, the president’s chief adviser on immigration, has repeatedly tried to use an obscure law designed to protect the nation from diseases overseas as a way to tighten the borders. The question was, which disease? Mr. Miller pushed for invoking the president’s broad public health powers in 2019, when an outbreak of mumps spread through immigration detention facilities in six states. He tried again that year when Border Patrol stations were hit with the flu. (Dickerson and Shear, 5/3)
Detroit Free Press: Michigan Has More Immigrant Detainees, Inmates With Coronavirus
The number of immigrant detainees in St. Clair County Jail with the coronavirus has more than doubled to seven, and now several immigrant inmates and staff at a federal prison in Baldwin have the virus, officials said. Last month, three Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in St. Clair County Jail tested positive for the coronavirus. (Warikoo, 5/4)
