Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Measles Reported At Crowded ICE Site In Texas; Doctors Seek Urgent Action
The Washington Post: Measles Cases Identified At ICE’s Largest Detention Facility For Children
Two detainees at the nation’s main immigrant family detention center, in Dilley, Texas, have tested positive for measles, authorities said, alarming lawmakers and attorneys who fear the virus could spread in the crowded facility. The active cases were confirmed by the Texas Department of State Health Services on Jan. 31. The Department of Homeland Security said officials at the South Texas Family Residential Center moved to quarantine anyone who had made contact with the two people and took steps to limit movement of those inside the facility, which is about 70 miles south of San Antonio. (Paul, Ovalle and Nakamura, 2/3)
San Antonio Express-News: Doctors Demand Action On Measles Outbreak At Texas ICE Center
Doctors at UT Health San Antonio are pressing for coordinated action to prevent the outbreak from spreading beyond an immigrant detention center in Dilley. (Preyor-Johnson, 2/2)
On the immigration crisis in Minnesota —
Bloomberg: Federal Agents To Use Body Cameras In Minneapolis, Noem Says
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that “every officer” in the field in Minneapolis will wear a body camera after a national outcry over the killings of two US citizens in the city, potentially easing the path to pass a government funding deal. “Effective immediately we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis,” Noem said in a post on X. “As funding is available, the body camera program will be expanded nationwide,” Noem added. (Paulden and Woodhouse, 2/2)
MPR News: Some Immigrants In Greater Minnesota Fear Leaving Their Homes
Ahmed Makaraan, the executive director of the Ethnic Self-Help Alliance for Refugee Assistance, said the recent immigration crackdowns across the state have made the people he works with feel fearful and rejected. “They don’t want to feel outcast. They want to feel they belong here,” said Makaraan, who has lived in Moorhead for nearly a decade. Born in Somalia but having grown up in Kenya, he arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 2017. (Bloch, 2/3)
The 19th: ICE Is Taking Mothers Away From Their Babies. These Moms Are Donating Breastmilk.
A newborn in Minneapolis hadn’t eaten for a day and a half. Her mother had risked going into work to get just enough money for more diapers when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stopped her car and took her away. At home waiting for her were her 16-year-old daughter and the baby — just barely 3 months old. (Carrazana, 2/2)
On Haitians and foreign visas —
The Guardian: Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s Stripping Of Haitians’ Protected Status
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from stripping temporary protected status from up to 350,000 Haitians, a status that allows them to legally live and work in the United States amid the turmoil in their homeland. Judge Ana Reyes issued a temporary stay that prevents Kristi Noem, the US homeland security secretary, from implementing her decision to remove the status known as TPS, which was scheduled to expire on Tuesday. (2/2)
Fox 8 Cleveland WJW: Springfield, Ohio, Braces For Possible ICE Operation Targeting Haitian Immigrants
Springfield, Ohio, is bracing for a possible ICE operation as Temporary Protected Status expires for Haitian immigrants. Haitian immigrants make up about one-fourth of Springfield’s population. The community was thrust into the national spotlight during the 2024 presidential campaign. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance helped perpetuate rumors about Haitian residents in Springfield, despite city, county and state officials repeatedly stating the claims were unfounded. (Millard, 2/2)
Al Jazeera: ‘False Narrative’: Families Challenge Trump’s 75-Country US Visa Suspension
A group of United States citizens and immigrant rights bodies has launched a lawsuit seeking to challenge the sweeping suspension of immigrant visa processing for 75 countries by the administration of President Donald Trump. The lawsuit, filed on Monday, argues that the Trump administration has relied on a false narrative to justify the visa processing suspension, one of the most substantial restrictions on legal immigration in the country’s history. (Stepansky, 2/2)
