Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Separating Migrant Children From Parents Can Cause 'Irreplaceable Harm,' Medical Experts Say
The Hill: Doctors Group Warns Of Health Risks For Migrant Children Separated From Parents
Medical experts are cautioning that there are long-term health risks for migrant children who are separated from their parents, including "irreplaceable harm" to those children's lifelong development. “[It can] cause irreparable harm to lifelong development by disrupting a child’s brain architecture,” American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) President Colleen Kraft told BuzzFeed News this week. “Immigration has become so politicized. We would really like people to sit back instead and think of the health of these children.” (Sanchez, 6/16)
The Wall Street Journal: Trump Policy Of Separating Migrant Families Threatens To Engulf Immigration Talks
The administration is facing increasing pressure on existing facilities, even without the possibility of new facilities to detain families together. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement is adding bed space after eclipsing more than 11,000 children in its custody. A temporary, soft-sided structure has been erected in Tornillo, Texas, near El Paso, as part of that expansion. Eric Hargan, deputy secretary of HHS, said in a statement Sunday that the agency had welcomed lawmakers’ tours and that the semi-permanent structures—including at Tornillo—had ventilation and cooling “to ensure appropriate temperature” for the minors placed there, who, he said, were all teenagers. (Radnofsky, Hackman and Caldwell, 6/17)
Politico: 'Grim Sight': Migrants Await Uncertain Future At Strained Border Patrol Facility
The family separations that stem from the Trump policy add a new burden. On top of overseeing the welfare of people housed there, staff at the McAllen facility coordinate sending children to detention centers run by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement while their parents head to court. There are only 10 permanently assigned agents at the facility, though officials would not say how many contract or other staff were on site. (Schor, 6/17)
Los Angeles Times: Texas Border Patrol Center Where Immigrant Families Are Separated Draws Lawmakers, Protest
The center costs about $12.1 million to operate annually, compared with the entire sector’s budget of $15 million. Built for 1,500 people, it has held more than 2,000 recently. It has a staff of 10 but due to the influx, Padilla added 300 more, about 10% of his workforce. There’s a medical unit with three paramedics, two medical staffers and space to quarantine those who have contracted chicken pox, scabies and other communicable diseases. There is no mental health staff, and agents have not received mental health training since the Trump administration “zero tolerance” policy was implemented May 6. (Hennessy-Fiske, 6/17)
Los Angeles Times: Was A Breastfeeding Infant Really Taken From An Immigrant Mother? The Answer To This And Other Questions About Families Separated At The Border
This week, Health and Human Services opened what it called a “soft-sided” and “semi-permanent” shelter for 360 unaccompanied minors outside El Paso in Tornillo, Texas. The tents, however, are air conditioned. Immigrant advocates decried the desert shelter as a “tent city.” Similar facilities were erected after an influx of Central American families arrived in the U.S. in 2014, but were later dismantled. Health and Human Services is also considering whether to open temporary shelters at military bases near the border, as it did in 2012. (Hennessy-Fiske, 6/16)
