Most Agencies Have Tightened Rules On High-Speed Chases That Often End In Gruesome Injuries. Not The Border Patrol, Though.
The Los Angeles Times and ProPublica investigate high-speed chases that occur when the border patrol is trying to chase down people who have entered the country illegally. In other immigration news: San Diego sues the Trump administration over its policy changes that have strained city services; the government's largest holding facility, nicknamed "the kennel," runs out of space; and an autopsy shows that one of the children who died in U.S. custody had the flu.
Los Angeles Times/ProPublica:
Border Patrol Agents Are Granted Wide Latitude When Trying To Catch Drivers Seeking To Enter U.S. Illegally
On a rainy November afternoon last year, eight men held tight to a gray tarp, their bodies pressed against one another as they lay feet to head in the bed of a pickup truck. Most knew one another from Acatic, a Mexican town in the state of Jalisco, where the country’s most vicious cartel has caused the morgue to overflow. Rainwater pooled on the tarp, running in rivulets down the sides and soaking the men underneath. The closeness provided only some warmth, as the men lay shivering, feeling every bump of the rocky scrubland as they crossed into the United States. (Surana, Mejia and Queally, 4/4)
The Washington Post:
San Diego County Board Of Supervisors Sues Trump Administration Over Asylum Seekers After End Of Safe Release
San Diego county’s Republican-dominated board of supervisors filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the Trump administration, claiming that policy changes in the way the federal government treats asylum seekers have strained the city’s finances and health services. The Trump administration ended the so-called “Safe Release” program in October, which gave asylum seekers who had crossed the border assistance in reaching final destinations with family members and friends, the lawsuit noted. (Rosenberg, 4/4)
Los Angeles Times:
Border Patrol’s Largest Holding Area — Known To Migrants As ‘The Kennel’ — Is Overwhelmed
Overwhelmed by an influx of migrant families, the federal government’s largest holding facility for people caught crossing the border illegally has run out of space and exhausted its budget. The Central Processing Center, located in McAllen, Texas, is known to migrants as la perrera, or “the kennel.” Designed for 1,500 people, it now houses 2,400, according to Border Patrol officials, who gave journalists a rare tour on Wednesday. (Hennessy-Fiske, 4/3)
The Associated Press:
Autopsy: Migrant Boy Who Died In US Had Flu Infection
An autopsy report confirmed that an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy who died while in custody of the U.S. Border Patrol on Christmas Eve succumbed to a flu infection — one of two deaths of Central American children in December that raised concerns about the government’s ability to care for minors at the southern border. The New Mexico Office of the Medical Examiner released its autopsy findings for Felipe Gomez Alonzo on Wednesday, two days after Guatemalan authorities said they had received a copy of the report disclosing the boy had a rapid, progressive infection that led to organ failure. (Hudetz, 4/4)
