Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Department Plans To End PEPFAR As We Know It, Documents Show
The New York Times: U.S. Quietly Drafts Plan To End Program That Saved Millions From AIDS
The federal program to combat H.I.V. in developing nations earned a reprieve last week when Congress voted to restore $400 million in funding. But that may be short-lived: Officials at the State Department have been mapping out a plan to shut it down in the coming years. Planning documents for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, obtained by The New York Times, call for the organization to set a new course that focuses on “transitioning” countries away from U.S. assistance, some in as little as two years. (Nolen, 7/23)
Supreme Court allows Trump to fire all the Democrats on the CPSC —
The New York Times: Supreme Court Lets Trump Fire Consumer Product Safety Regulators
The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed President Trump to fire the three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a five-member group that monitors the safety of items like toys, cribs and electronics. The court’s brief order was unsigned, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications, though the court’s three liberal justices dissented. (Liptak and Montague, 7/23)
On the immigration crisis —
The New York Times: Appeals Court Blocks Trump’s Attempt To Restrict Birthright Citizenship
A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that President Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship violated the Constitution, affirming a district court judge’s nationwide injunction and bringing the issue one step closer to a full constitutional review by the Supreme Court. In a 48-page opinion, two of the three judges on the panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that Mr. Trump’s executive order “contradicts the plain language of the 14th Amendment’s grant of citizenship to ‘all persons born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’” (Schwartz, 7/23)
The Boston Globe: Health Care Workers Protest Outside Burlington ICE Facility
Around 20 physicians and medical residents stood outside the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office here Wednesday to protest the Trump administration’s enforcement tactics that they say will severely impact health care in Massachusetts. They wore blue scrubs and long, white lab coats with “Protect patients, colleagues, communities. Abolish ICE” written on the back with a marker. In between short speeches, the workers led chants shouting “Hands off” as more than 300 residents from around the Boston area shouted “Heath care!” back to them. (Mathew, 7/23)
The Washington Post: ICE Moves To Shackle Some 180,000 Immigrants With GPS Ankle Monitors
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has directed personnel to sharply increase the number of immigrants they shackle with GPS-enabled ankle monitors, as the Trump administration widens surveillance of people it is targeting for deportation, according to an internal ICE document reviewed by The Washington Post. In a June 9 memo, ICE ordered staff to place ankle monitors on all people enrolled in the agency’s Alternatives to Detention program “whenever possible.” About 183,000 adult migrants are enrolled in ATD and had previously consented to some form of tracking or mandatory check-ins while they waited for their immigration cases to be resolved. Currently, just 24,000 of these individuals wear ankle monitors. (MacMillan and Foster-Frau, 7/24)
The Guardian: How Trump Has Supercharged The Immigration Crackdown - In Data
Revealed: Guardian analysis provides a detailed picture of surging arrests and a detention system that’s stretched beyond capacity. (Singh, Craft and Witherspoon, 7/23)
