Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Federal Health Agencies Ordered To Halt External Communications
The Washington Post: Trump Officials Pause Health Agencies’ Communications, Citing Review
The Trump administration has instructed federal health agencies to pause all external communications, such as health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites and social media posts, according to nearly a dozen current and former officials and other people familiar with the matter. The instructions were delivered Tuesday to staff at agencies inside the Department of Health and Human Services, including officials at the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health, one day after the new administration took office. (Sun, Diamond and Roubein, 1/22)
More updates from President Trump's first full day —
The Guardian: Trump Pardons Ross Ulbricht, Founder Of Silk Road Drug Marketplace
Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he had granted a “full and unconditional” pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the illegal online drug marketplace the Silk Road. Ulbricht has been incarcerated since 2013 and was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for running the underground market where drug dealers and others conducted more than $200m in illicit trade using bitcoin. ... “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous,” the president said in a Truth Social post. (1/21)
The New York Times: U.S. Orders Federal D.E.I. Efforts To Shut Down By Wednesday Night
The Trump administration on Tuesday ordered that officials overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across federal agencies be placed on leave and to take steps to close their offices by Wednesday evening. In a memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the heads of departments and agencies were ordered to purge such officials by placing all D.E.I. staff on paid administrative leave, effective immediately, by 5 p.m. Wednesday, and to make plans for staff reductions by the end of the day on Jan. 31. (Green, 1/22)
On birthright citizenship and immigration —
ABC News: 22 States Challenge Trump's Executive Order Cutting Birthright Citizenship
According to the lawsuit filed by the 18 states, about 150,000 children born each year to two parents who are noncitizens and lack legal status could lose access to basic health care, foster care, and early interventions for infants, toddlers, and students with disabilities. "They will all be deportable, and many will be stateless," the lawsuit said. (Katersky and Charalambous, 1/22)
The New York Times: Undocumented Women Fear For Unborn Children After Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order
Andrea Chavez, who arrived in the United States illegally almost two decades ago, gave birth to a baby girl last year in Maryland. Within days, the child had a Social Security number. Ms. Chavez’s cousin Maria Calderas, who is undocumented and just a few months into her own pregnancy, faces the prospect that her child will not be able to secure the same citizenship rights that her niece now has. (Jordan, 1/21)
The New York Times: Change To Birthright Citizenship Would Affect Visa Holders, Too
President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship declares that babies born to many temporary residents of the United States — not just those in the country illegally — must be denied automatic citizenship, a dramatic rejection of rights that have been part of the Constitution for more than 150 years. If the courts do not block the order, babies born to women living legally, but temporarily, in the United States — such as people studying on a student visa or workers hired by high-tech companies — will not automatically be recognized by the federal government as U.S. citizens if the father is also not a permanent resident. (Shear, 1/21)
The 19th: What Trump's Immigration Executive Orders Could Mean For Domestic Violence Victims
Just a day after Trump issued a slate of executive orders aimed at restricting immigration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it was rescinding protections for “sensitive zones” where undocumented immigrants were protected from deportation. Some immigrant rights advocates are particularly worried that this could deter women experiencing domestic abuse from going to women’s shelters, which will no longer be protected from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). (Kutz, 1/21)
