Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Judge's Order On Inhumane Conditions At Detention Centers Stops Short Of Directly Forcing Government To Take Action
The New York Times: Judge Orders Swift Action To Improve Conditions For Migrant Children In Texas
A federal judge has ordered a mediator to move swiftly to improve health and sanitation at Border Patrol facilities in Texas, where observers reported migrant children were subject to filthy conditions that imperiled their health. Judge Dolly M. Gee of the Central District of California asked late on Friday that an independent monitor, whom she appointed last year, ensure that conditions in detention centers are promptly addressed. She set a deadline of July 12 for the government to report on what it has accomplished “post haste” to remedy them. (Jordan, 6/29)
KRGV: Federal Judge Orders CBP To Address Conditions In Processing Centers
The order requested immediate inspections, access for medical professionals to certain facilities, the expedited release of certain children and finding the government in contempt of the court. In a response filed Thursday by the government, attorneys contend they need more time to prepare. They also requested the court deny the plaintiffs who they believe "seek to alter – not preserve – the status quo." By Friday, United States District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee in the Central District of California decided to have both parties enter mediation with a monitor. (Gonzalez, 6/28)
Texas Tribune: No Toothbrushes Or Showers, Kids Coughing All Night: Migrants Describe Conditions Inside Border Facilities
They don’t shower or brush their teeth for days on end. They watch their sick kids cough and cry through the night. And some of them brave toilets so foul, one migrant said, that kids can’t help but throw up inside of them. These are some of the descriptions provided during interviews this week with more than a dozen migrants held by U.S. border officials and then released to a Catholic shelter in the Rio Grande Valley, ground zero in the unprecedented surge of immigrant families crossing the southern border. (Root and Roldan, 6/28)
The Washington Post: Amid Immigration Crackdown, Undocumented Abuse Victims Hesitate To Come Forward
As threats of deportation continue to rattle immigrant communities, advocates and attorneys in the Washington area say they have seen a marked increase in undocumented victims of domestic violence choosing not to pursue legal recourse against their abusers. Many victims are reluctant to even start the legal process, experts say, concerned that police will turn them over to federal immigration authorities or that their partners will retaliate by revealing their immigration status. Others, afraid of being ambushed by federal agents at a courthouse, drop their cases once they realize they have to appear before a judge. (Tan, 6/30)
The Wall Street Journal: In The Arizona Desert, An Elite Border Patrol Unit Responds To Desperate Cases
Shortly after starting their midafternoon shift, Border Patrol agents Timothy McNeil and Jason Pope got their first 911 call: a 27-year-old Mexican man had been walking in the desert for 10 days and needed help. The agents, both part of the elite Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue unit, found Manuel Gutierrez Lopez in a tangle of mesquite trees about 30 miles west of Tucson and some 70 miles north of the border. Mr. Gutierrez, who had called 911 on his cellphone, told them he got separated from a group of eight or nine others a few days before and had been without water for at least two days. The temperature showed 104 degrees in Mr. McNeil’s truck when the call came in last week just after 3:30 p.m. (Caldwell, 6/30)
Los Angeles Times: Migrants Contemplate Dangerous Crossings Despite Border Deaths And Detention Conditions
Some migrant families this weekend contemplated crossing the swirling Rio Grande from Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S. despite several recent drowning deaths. Cuban migrant Viviana Martinez was considering the dangerous crossing with her husband and 1-year-old son. She’s five months pregnant and has been in the northeast border city of Matamoros waiting to cross the border legally into Texas for more than two weeks. (Hennessy-Fiske, 6/30)
