Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Disturbing Video Contradicts Border Patrol's Account Of Sick 16-Year-Old Boy's Death While In U.S. Custody
ProPublica: Inside The Cell Where A Sick 16-Year-Old Boy Died In Border Patrol Care
Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant, was seriously ill when immigration agents put him in a small South Texas holding cell with another sick boy on the afternoon of May 19. A few hours earlier, a nurse practitioner at the Border Patrol’s dangerously overcrowded processing center in McAllen had diagnosed him with the flu and measured his fever at 103 degrees. She said that he should be checked again in two hours and taken to the emergency room if his condition worsened. None of that happened. Worried that Carlos might infect other migrants in the teeming McAllen facility, officials moved him to a cell for quarantine at a Border Patrol station in nearby Weslaco. By the next morning, he was dead. (Moore, Schmidt, and Jameel, 12/5)
The New York Times: Migrant Teen Lay For Hours In His Cell Before He Was Found Dead
Following Mr. Hernandez Vasquez’s death, a news release stated that he was discovered by federal agents during a welfare check. But a video recording provided by the Police Department in Weslaco, Texas, which initially investigated the case, shows that his death was flagged by his cellmate. Customs and Border Protection officials have not explained why the recording — in which the teenager vomits blood on the floor, his body crumpling and squirming in apparent distress — has a four-hour gap or why the nurse practitioner’s advice was ignored.(Dickerson, 12/5)
CBS News: Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez: ProPublica Video Shows 16-Year-Old Migrant Boy's Death In Border Patrol Cell
According to Border Patrol information, an officer conducted three so-called "welfare checks" on Hernández Vásquez during the four-hour gap in footage. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which oversees Border Patrol officers, has not explained the missing footage.In addition to documenting Hernández Vásquez's last hours, the footage shows that his cellmate, the other migrant boy, was the one who first found his body. In May, CBP said he "was found un-responsive this morning during a welfare check." (Montoya-Galvez and Kates, 12/5)
The Associated Press: Report: Teen Who Died In US Custody Unresponsive For Hours
Already, President Trump has faced withering criticism for the thousands of family separations it conducted under a “zero tolerance” policy at the southern border and the squalid conditions under which it detained parents and children earlier this year. U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a statement Thursday saying it could not discuss specifics of the teen’s death due to an ongoing investigation, but that the agency and the Department of Homeland Security “are looking into all aspects of this case to ensure all procedures were followed.” (12/6)
Meanwhile, in other immigration news —
Politico: Appeals Court Lifts Some Rulings Blocking Trump ‘Public Charge’ Rule For Immigrants
A divided federal appeals court has lifted several injunctions blocking the Trump administration from implementing a rule aimed at limiting immigration benefits for individuals who participate in government programs such as food stamps or Medicaid. In an order Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 9 th Circuit Court of Appeals voted, 2-1, to stay preliminary injunctions issued by federal judges in Oakland, Calif., and Spokane, Wash., against the newly issued “public charge” policy just before it was to take effect in October. (Gerstein, 12/5)
The Washington Post: Pregnant Immigration Detainees Spiked 52 Percent Under Trump Administration
U.S. officials jailed approximately 2,100 pregnant women for immigration violations in 2018, including hundreds who were held for weeks or longer, bringing the increase since President Trump took office to 52 percent, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday. The spike in pregnant detainees came after federal officials terminated an Obama administration order to release most expectant mothers because of health concerns. (Sacchetti, 12/5)
The Washington Post: The Genealogy Boom Has Hit A Roadblock. The Trump Administration Plans Huge Fee Hikes For Immigration Records.
At a time when researching family history is booming, the nation’s immigration and citizenship agency has proposed dramatically hiking fees to access records from the first half of the 20th century. The move has outraged professional and amateur genealogists, who argue that the increase would effectively put valuable immigration information out of reach for many. The fees would nearly triple, and in many cases, they would rise nearly 500 percent, from $130 to $625 to obtain a single paper file. (Trent, 12/5)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Opposition Mounts Against Proposed Shelter For Immigrant Children
Opposition is mounting against a proposal from a Stone Mountain pastor to open a shelter in Marietta to house unaccompanied immigrant children seized at the U.S.-Mexico border.Mitchell Bryant, a pastor and managing partner with the non-profit Freemont Grace Human Services, wants to use a vacant building at 119 Powers Ferry Road to house up to 50 children in custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Bryant obtained approval in October from the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals to use the building as a shelter. (Dixon, 12/5)
