Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Dems Accuse Trump Administration Of Blocking Detention Facility Tours; Nearly 900 Cases Of Mumps Reported In Shelters
Reuters: Trump Administration Barring Tours Of Migrant Detention Centers, Democrats Say
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday said the Trump administration is blocking investigators from touring immigrant detention facilities nationwide after recent visits revealed what they called “serious ongoing problems” concerning how detainees are being treated. Representative Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said committee staff were barred from visiting 11 U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities days after previous inspections found conditions that threatened the health and safety of the adult and child migrants being held, writing in a letter to Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. (Oliphant, 8/29)
The Associated Press: House Dems Say Trump Admin Blocking Visits To Border Sites
The department's inspector general has warned that some sites pose "an immediate risk to the health and safety of DHS agents and officers, and to those detained." Cummings says in a letter to McAleenan that it appears the administration "expects Congress to be satisfied with receiving agency tours of facilities" without questioning the department's policies or decisions. He says "that is not the way effective oversight works." (8/29)
The New York Times: Poor Conditions Persist For Migrant Children Detained At The Border, Democrats Say
Migrant children detained at the border continue to sleep in cold cells without proper clothing or adequate food, a top Democratic lawmaker said on Thursday, accusing the Department of Homeland Security of blocking members of Congress from visiting the facilities. Parents were not provided enough diapers for their children, toddlers were fed “burritos rather than age-appropriate foods” and one child was told by an immigration agent to eat food off the floor, according to interviews that House Democrats conducted with detainees during earlier visits. (Kanno-Youngs, 8/29)
The Associated Press: Mumps Sickens Hundreds Of Detained Migrants In 19 States
Mumps has swept through 57 immigration detention facilities in 19 states since September, according to the first U.S. government report on the outbreaks in the overloaded immigration system. The virus sickened 898 adult migrants and 33 detention center staffers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its report Thursday. New cases continue as migrants are taken into custody or transferred between facilities, the report said. As of last week, outbreaks were happening in 15 facilities in seven states. (8/29)
The Hill: CDC Reports 900 Mumps Cases In Migrant Detention Facilities Over Past Year
Most of the facilities that saw mumps outbreaks were run by private companies, while 19 were county jails and four were operated by ICE. Almost 400 of the cases were reported from facilities that house ICE detainees in Texas. The CDC said most detainees caught the virus while in the custody of ICE or another U.S. agency. (Hellmann, 8/29)
BuzzFeed: Mumps Outbreaks In Detention Centers Included Over 900 Cases
Those numbers are “striking” and “noteworthy,” said Marc Stern, an affiliate assistant professor in public health at the University of Washington. Based on the CDC’s data, an ICE detainee had roughly at least a 4,000-fold greater risk of getting mumps than a nondetainee in the United States at large, Stern told BuzzFeed News. “That’s an incredibly huge risk,” he said by email. (Lee, 8/29)
The Associated Press: US: 6-Month-Old Migrant Girl Recovering In Hospital
Authorities say a 6-month-old migrant girl who was hospitalized after being taken across the U.S.-Mexico border illegally has improved to stable condition. The baby was airlifted Saturday to a hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, and listed in critical condition. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Thursday that the infant had been upgraded and transferred to a hospital in Houston. (8/29)
