Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Judge Chastises Government For Missing Deadline To Reunite Separated Families: These 'Are Not Aspirational Goals'
The Associated Press: Government Falls Short Of Deadline To Reunite Kids, Parents
Some immigrant toddlers are back in the arms of their parents, but others remained in holding facilities away from relatives as federal officials fell short of meeting a court-ordered deadline to reunite dozens of youngsters forcibly separated from their families at the border. (Spagat and Householder, 7/11)
Los Angeles Times: Some Migrant Children Are Reunited With Parents As Trump Administration Misses Court Deadline
The Trump administration said only 38 of 102 children younger than 5 had been reunited with their parents by the Tuesday deadline set by a federal judge in San Diego. The same judge has ordered that thousands of older children should be reunited by July 26. (Hennessy-Fiske, Kim and Fawcett, 7/10)
Politico: Judge Demands Trump Administration Meet Deadline To Reunify Dozens Of Migrant Children
U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw called on the administration to join 59 separated children in that age group with their parents “today or within the immediate proximity of today.” “These are firm deadlines,” Sabraw said during a court hearing in San Diego. “They are not aspirational goals.” (Hesson and Diamond, 7/10)
The Hill: Government Set To Reunite 34 Separated Children With Parents
Federal officials said some parents were not eligible to be reunited with children either because they haven’t been verified, they have criminal records, or have otherwise been deemed unfit.(Weixel, 7/10)
Los Angeles Times: San Diego Federal Court Begins Fast-Tracking Border-Crossing Cases. Critics Call It 'Assembly Line Justice'
A separate fast-track court designed to quickly process the steady stream of misdemeanor border-crossing cases under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy rolled out Monday in San Diego in a hearing that was punctuated by moments of confusion, tension and passionate objection. A total of 41 unauthorized immigrants who were arrested over the weekend were seen during the initial hearing. But this was no ordinary arraignment. (Davis, 7/10)
The New York Times: First Wave Of Migrant Children Reunited With Parents
Chris Meekins, a senior official in the Department of Health and Human Services, pointed to safety concerns to explain the delay in the reunions and insisted that the process could not be rushed. “Our process may not be as quick as some might like but there is no question that it is protecting children,” Mr. Meekins, the chief of staff of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, said in a conference call with reporters. (Dickerson and Fernandez, 7/10)
The New York Times: As Migrant Families Are Reunited, Some Children Don’t Recognize Their Mothers
One mother had waited four months to wrap her arms around her little boy. Another had waited three months to see her little girl again. When the reunions finally happened Tuesday in Phoenix, the mothers were met with cries of rejection from their children. “He didn’t recognize me,” said Mirce Alba Lopez, 31, of her 3-year-old son, Ederson, her eyes welling up with tears. “My joy turned temporarily to sadness.” (Jordan, Benner, Nixon and Dickerson, 7/10)
Reuters: 'Imagine The Joy:' Father, Four-Year-Old Son Reunite In U.S. Immigration Crisis
With tears and smiles, Salvadoran asylum seeker Walter Armando Jimenez Melendez reunited with his 4-year-old son Jeremy on Tuesday after six weeks of anguished separation. "(I went) without knowing where he was - if he was eating, how they were treating him,” said Jimenez, 29, as he shared a meal with his child for the first time since May. “Imagine the joy I felt.” (7/10)
Los Angeles Times: 'You Don’t Love Me Anymore?': A Son Is Separated From His Father At The Border, Then Comes A Wrenching Call
On the day the government rushed to reunite dozens of families separated at the border, one immigrant father showed up to a federal appointment downtown fearful that he would be deported without his 6-year-old son. Hermelindo Che Coc came from Guatemala in late May to seek asylum with his son, Jefferson Che Pop, his attorneys said. His son was taken from him with little explanation, he said, and sent to a shelter in New York. (Bermudez, 7/10)
Texas Tribune: This Family Split By “Zero Tolerance” Won’t Try To Cross Again, Mom Says
Though the government is now under a court order to quickly put separated families back together by July 26, their efforts are hampered by bureaucratic disarray and distance. Some parents, like Heyli’s father, are on the brink of being deported or have already been repatriated to violence-torn countries without their children. (Root and Najmabadi, 7/10)
The Associated Press: Test DNA Of Migrant Kids Only As Last Resort, Ethicists Say
The Trump administration's use of DNA testing to match migrant children separated from their parents is justifiable as a last resort, medical experts say, but raises a host of ethical problems. That includes the risk of damaging the family fabric by revealing that an adult thought to be the biological parent really is not. (7/10)
Reveal: Politicians Call For Investigation About Migrant Children Held In Vacant Arizona Office Building
A vacant office building used to hold immigrant children in central Phoenix became a target of political opponents this week, with the Republican governor and two Democrats hoping to win a primary bid to run against him in November all calling for action in response to an investigation by Reveal. Gov. Doug Ducey has ordered the Arizona Department of Health Services to monitor MVM Inc., the private defense contractor that held the children. (Fernández, 7/10)
Meanwhile —
Politico: How The New Face Of The Migrant Crisis Got Stuck With The Job
HHS Secretary Alex Azar, the president’s point man on Obamacare and drug prices, has reluctantly taken on a new role — public explainer and punching bag for the migrant crisis created by Donald Trump’s zero tolerance border policy. Azar — an even-keeled technocrat whom the White House enlisted as the fixer after Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen’s highly criticized press conference last month — has since been attacked by dozens of lawmakers, interrupted by protesters and pilloried on cable TV. Meanwhile, he’s working through a thicket of court orders and red tape to try to reunite thousands of migrant children in his custody with their parents, including 102 under the age of 5. It’s sapped Azar’s time and pulled his agency away from other priorities, such as lowering drug costs and helping solve the opioid epidemic. (Diamond, 7/11)
