title
stringlengths 10
125
| url
stringlengths 49
125
| topic
stringclasses 22
values | camp
stringclasses 3
values | full_stories
stringlengths 1
328
| articles
stringlengths 0
74.6k
| __index_level_0__
int64 0
986
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes to start 11-year prison sentence today
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-30-1052/criminal-justice-theranos-fraudster-elizabeth-holmes-start-11-year-prison
|
Healthcare
|
rights
|
https://nypost.com/2023/05/30/elizabeth-holmes-to-start-11-year-prison-sentence-today/
|
BUSINESS
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
WhatsApp
Email
Copy
105
Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes to start 11-year prison sentence today
By Shannon Thaler
Published May 30, 2023
Updated May 30, 2023, 2:43 p.m. ET
MORE ON:
ELIZABETH HOLMES
Elizabeth Holmes and ‘Real Housewives’ star Jen Shah are prison friends: report
Elizabeth Holmes gets prison term shortened by 2 years, records reveal
Elizabeth Holmes claims she won’t be able to afford $250 a month in restitution payments after prison release
Theranos fraudster cries during first prison visit with husband, parents
Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes is slated to report to prison Tuesday to begin her 11-year sentence after losing a last-ditch appeal to remain free while attempting to overturn her conviction.
She’s expected to serve her time at a minimum security women’s prison camp, FPC Bryan, located in Bryan, Texas, 100 miles outside of Houston, where Holmes grew up aspiring to be a billionaire like Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
If she stays at FPC Bryan, as of tonight, the mother of two will share a bunk bed in her prison cell with at least three other women.
She will live among other famous inmates, including reality TV star Jen Shah and Jenna Ryan, who was convicted for participating in the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol.
Shah, meanwhile, starred on “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” and began her six-year sentence at the prison this year after being convicted for taking part in a telemarketing fraud scheme.
The prison camp can hold about 720 inmates, and most are serving time for white-collar crimes and low-level drug offenses, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Elizabeth Holmes, 39, is set to report to prison to serve her 11-year sentence on Tuesday. She leaves behind her husband and two children — her 1-year-old son and 3-month-old daughter.
AP
Inmates live in one of four housing units, where cells open at 6 a.m. Inmates must then return to their dormitories for a head count at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
SEE ALSO
Feds want to seize pricey jewelry from disgraced ‘RHOSLC’ star Jen Shah
Cells then close for the night at 8 p.m.
Holmes’ family can visit her on weekends and holidays, as stated on the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website.
Children under 10 may sit on their parent’s lap when visiting, and women are allowed to breast feed babies during their visit.
Handshakes, hugs and kisses are allowed at the beginning and end of each visit. Inmates are permitted at least four hours of visiting time per month, the site says.
Holmes, 39, had asked an appeals court to allow her to remain free while attempting to overturn her conviction in a blood-testing hoax that brought her fleeting fame and a peak net worth of $4.5 billion at just 30 years old, according to Forbes.
She will check into a minimum security women’s prison in Bryan, Texas, known as FPC Bryan.
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals shot the plea down earlier this month, ruling that Holmes’ appeal didn’t raise a substantial question of law. US District Judge Edward Davila recommended that Holmes report to FPC Bryan on May 30.
The Post reached out to Holmes’ lawyer for comment.
SEE ALSO
Inmates eagerly await fraudster Elizabeth Holmes ahead of prison arrival: ‘I want to be her friend’
The punishment will separate Holmes from her two children and husband, William “Billy” Evans, who she married in 2019.
Holmes gave birth to her now-1-year-old son, William, in July 2021, which delayed her trial.
Holmes announced she was expecting another child — her daughter, Invicta, now 3 months old — in November 2022 following her conviction earlier that year.
In another ruling, Davila ordered Holmes and her ex-boyfriend and former Theranos COO, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, to pay $452 million in restitution to the investors who bought into Holmes’ claims of a revolutionary diagnostic tool using a finger prick.
However, Holmes is being held jointly liable for the lump sum, as Balwani is already in prison after being convicted on a broader range of felonies in a separate trial.
A $125 million chunk of that payout will go to Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp, which owns The Post.
Who is Elizabeth Holmes and why is she going to jail?
Elizabeth Holmes is the founder and former CEO of Theranos — and a convicted fraudster.
In 2018, Holmes, along with Theranos’ former president Ramesh Balwani, encouraged doctors and patients to use the company’s blood testing services when they knew Theranos was incapable of consistently producing accurate and reliable results, according to the indictment.
The Securities and Exchange Commission pressed fraud charges against Holmes in March 2018, accusing Holmes of defrauding investors of more than $700 million through made-up claims.
Theranos and 34-year-old Holmes ran “an elaborate, years-long fraud in which they exaggerated or made false statements about the company’s technology, business and financial performance,” according to the SEC.
In January 2022, the mother-of-two was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and three counts of committing fraud to individual investors, totaling more than $140 million.
Holmes reported to the women’s prison camp FPC Bryan in Texas on Tuesday to begin her 11-year sentence after attempting to overturn her conviction.
The federal government had previously asked for more than $800 million in restitution, according to court filings.
The disgraced Theranos CEO will share a cell with at least three other women.
BACKGRID
SEE ALSO
Elizabeth Holmes’ ex-lover Ramesh Balwani gets nearly 13 years in Theranos case
Holmes’ house of cards began to fall in 2015, when an investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal revealed Theranos’ false claims in a multi-part exposé.
The reporter, John Carreyrou, revealed that Holmes falsely claimed her startup blood lab, Theranos, could diagnose a slew of conditions with just a single drop of blood.
After dropping out of Stanford University at age 19 to start Theranos in 2003, Holmes went on to attract billions in investments, leading her company to be valued at more than $9 billion at one point.
Carreyou’s book about Holmes’ rise and fall, “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup,” has reportedly been checked out of FPC Bryan’s library and not returned as inmates prepare to welcome Holmes to the facility today.
The disgraced Theranos CEO was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and three counts of committing fraud on individual investors — totaling more than $140 million — in January 2022.
105
What do you think? Post a comment.
She has been free on bail since then, living in a $13,000-per-month, 74-acre estate located in Woodside, Calif.
FILED UNDER ELIZABETH HOLMES FRAUD RUPERT MURDOCH SILICON VALLEY TEXAS THERANOS WIRE FRAUD 5/30/23
READ NEXT
Amazon drivers, including Iraq vet, sue over poor working ...
Conversation105 Comments
Share your stance. Please adhere to our guidelines.
Sort by
Best
BigFree
30 May, 2023
Nice to see everyday fraudsters serving prison time but what about politicians who are ripping off American citizens by lying and cheating. It would be nice to look at all their Financials. They're salaries are paid by our taxes and it seems as though they're supposed to be working for us!
Reply
57
Share
Jay Aye
30 May, 2023
It’s a common practice among politicians so nothing’s ever going to change.
Reply
8
Share
BenThereDoneThat
30 May, 2023
Politicians make the laws for us, the "common folk".
Reply
13
Share
Show 2 more replies
LongIslander
30 May, 2023
High time she went to jail. The people I know who have been convicted of crimes are advised to bring jail-appropriate clothes to their final court session. None of them have been given months or years worth of appeal time. They are carted off to jail.
Reply
18
Share
Kenny B
30 May, 2023
Not completely true.
In the federal corrections system there are different levels of criminals and prisons. White collar criminals are usually sent to minimal security facilities. They are given a few months to get their affairs ready and self-report. It does not take away any time away from thei...
See more
Reply
5
Share
IVrunner undefined
30 May, 2023
Cells then close for the night at 8 p.m, box munching at 8.15
Reply
25
Share
Wabash&Ohio
30 May, 2023
Look at the bright side. If she ever claims that she was starved, I just pray that Im not drinking a beverage when I hear it. They may have to call EMS.
Reply
4
Share
Wabash&Ohio
30 May, 2023
Box lunches at8:15
Reply
5
Share
Show More Comments
Powered by
TermsPrivacyFeedback
29 People Reacted
What's your reaction to this article?
Top Notch
48
So-so
8
Next!
7
AdChoices
Sponsored
AdChoices
Sponsored
AdChoices
Sponsored
| 500
|
The next pandemic ‘even deadlier’ than COVID is coming, warns WHO
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-23-1536/public-health-next-pandemic-even-deadlier-covid-coming-warns-who
|
Healthcare
|
rights
|
https://nypost.com/2023/05/23/pandemic-even-deadlier-than-covid-is-coming-warns-who/
|
HEALTH
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
WhatsApp
Email
Copy
934
The next pandemic ‘even deadlier’ than COVID is coming, warns WHO
By Marc Lallanilla
Published May 23, 2023
Updated May 24, 2023, 5:32 p.m. ET
MORE ON:
PANDEMICS
Now the WHO demands answers from China on COVID? It’s too late
Take these crucial steps to avoid the coming ‘tripledemic’: CDC
Another deadly Nipah virus outbreak: What are the symptoms?
Trump wants credit for COVID response, but how is that possible when he won’t take responsibility?
The head of the World Health Organization warned that the world must prepare for the next pandemic, which could be “even deadlier” than the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a meeting of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday, director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sounded an alarm that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over.
“The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains,” Tedros said. “And the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains.”
However, the WHO recently declared that the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a health emergency.
“When the next pandemic comes knocking — and it will — we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively and equitably,” he added.
“We cannot kick this can down the road,” Tedros said in an address to the WHO’s member states. “If we do not make the changes that must be made, then who will? And if we do not make them now, then when?”
The head of the World Health Organization issued a warning that the next pandemic might be “even deadlier” than COVID-19.
REUTERS
SEE ALSO
What is ‘Disease X’? COVID experts warn it could cause deadlier pandemic
Despite issuing these dire warnings, Tedros applauded the recent decision by WHO member states to draft a pandemic treaty while also approving a budget increase, which was approved after the organization made a commitment to budget and finance reforms, according to Reuters.
Tedros also called for updated negotiations on the International Health Regulations, the treaty outlining preparedness and responses to health crises, “so the world will never again have to face the devastation of a pandemic like COVID-19.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has to date killed almost 7 million people worldwide, according to the WHO, with almost 1.13 million deaths in the United States.
More than 80,000 people died of coronavirus infection in New York alone.
The WHO has identified “priority” contagious diseases — these are likely to cause the next pandemic because of their potential to spread across a region and because there are few, if any, measures in place to counter their spread.
These diseases include Ebola, Marburg, Middle East respiratory syndrome, severe acute respiratory syndrome, COVID-19, Zika and — perhaps most terrifying — something called “Disease X.”
Disease X is the WHO code for a disease caused by a germ that hasn’t even been discovered yet.
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, bodies were moved to a refrigerated truck serving as a temporary morgue at Wyckoff Hospital in Brooklyn, NY.
AFP via Getty Images
“It is not an exaggeration to say that there is potential of a Disease X event just around the corner,” Pranab Chatterjee, a researcher at the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, told the National Post.
Public health experts agree that the next pandemic is likely to be zoonotic, i.e., a disease that originates in animals before “spilling over” to infect humans.
934
What do you think? Post a comment.
Most recent epidemics — Ebola, HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 — have been zoonotic in origin.
International surveillance and communication of emerging disease threats is “a key approach in our ability to detect a spillover event before it becomes too widespread,” Chatterjee said.
FILED UNDER COVID VACCINE MEDICAL CARE PANDEMICS 5/23/23
READ NEXT
'Consumers are gambling their money' on stem cell treatmen...
Conversation934 Comments
Share your stance. Please adhere to our guidelines.
Sort by
Best
Ed Saterstad
23 May, 2023
We should get prepared. We need to put measures in place to prevent the government from hijacking our economy with panic induced shutdowns that end up having a larger psychological effect on the children that are removed from society at an age where they are being shaped by their interactions. We h...
See more
Reply
539
Share
DS
Dexter Smith
24 May, 2023
One of the most important things for the U.S. to do is ensure we are prepared with medicine supplies and medical equipment.
The U.S. needs to ensure it has all of the ingredients needed to make common life-saving medications plus the factory capability to produce mass quantities here, not overseas. ...See more
Reply
54
Share
5 replies
Tina Lima
23 May, 2023
Agreed. Do we also need policy to make sure not to place folks with a deadly virus in with healthy nursing home residents? Or isn't that just common sense now?
Reply
113
Share
1 reply
Show 11 more replies
Wedge Antilles
23 May, 2023
Viruses don't generally mutate to be even more deadly. A virus that is highly transmissible, and extremely deadly is an evolutionary dead end. It's highly unlikely that the COVID-19 virus is going to spawn a variant that is deadly to an otherwise healthy individual, as well as retaining its high tr...
See more
Reply
111
Share
maggie little
23 May, 2023
so so true. all of the variants, while increasingly more contagious, also became increasingly LESS deadly and detrimental. the only way a "deadly variant" would come into play is if they create it in a lab, just like the first time.
Reply
96
Share
1 reply
Pharaoh Chromium
24 May, 2023
The deadly Spanish Flu mutated itself out of existence.
They know there's a more deadly one, because they're cooking it up in a lab somewhere. China? Ukraine?
Reply
72
Share
1 reply
Show 5 more replies
Annie Oakley
23 May, 2023
And exactly what "changes" need to be made? The lock downs, masks, and even the vaccinations in many cases didn't work. How about outlawing "Gain of Function" experiments across the globe? This whole Covid debacle, I believe, was caused by scientists and covered up by governments, and the only thin...
See more
Reply
607
Share
George Tsokanis
24 May, 2023
"We can't kick the can down the road anymore". The WHO still hasn't figured out where the virus originated.Regardless of where the virus came from,when confronted with evidence of a possible epidemic in Wuhan the Chinese governments actions purposely or by sheer incompetence created a pandemic th...
See more
Reply
51
Share
3 replies
Johnathan Galt
23 May, 2023
The only "changes" we need are Hague trials for every single person who violated our rights with nonsensical "emergency measures!"
Reply
299
Share
3 replies
Show 4 more replies
Show More Comments
Powered by
TermsPrivacyFeedback
224 People Reacted
What's your reaction to this article?
Top Notch
30
So-so
3
Next!
264
AdChoices
Sponsored
TOP CONCERTS
Vividseats: Official Ticketing Partner of New York Post
Get seats. Earn rewards. Experience it live.
Queen
23 Shows | Get Tickets
Taylor Swift
71 Shows | Get Tickets
Morgan Wallen
20 Shows | Get Tickets
Aerosmith
37 Shows | Get Tickets
Luis Miguel
73 Shows | Get Tickets
SEE MORE SHOWS
LISTEN NOW
NOW ON
PAGE SIX
UN General Assembly brings ‘hooker convention’ to NYC — high-priced escorts from Vegas, Europe
Shannon Beador tries to cover apparent bruise on her face after DUI arrest
Kim Kardashian attended Odell Beckham Jr.’s 30th birthday party months before dating rumors
SEE ALL
NOW ON
DECIDER
Oprah DELETES Cringeworthy 1986 Cindy Crawford Interview From YouTube After Going Viral For All The Wrong Reasons
SEE ALL
AdChoices
Sponsored
AdChoices
Sponsored
| 501
|
Novavax to cut 25% of global workforce
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-10-0617/healthcare-novavax-cut-25-global-workforce
|
Healthcare
|
rights
|
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/novavax-cut-25-global-workforce
|
HEALTH CARE Published May 9, 2023 12:31pm EDT
Novavax to cut 25% of global workforce
Layoffs will affect 20% of full-time Novavax employees
Facebook
Twitter
Comments
Print
Email
By Daniella Genovese FOXBusiness
video
Layoffs hit highest level in over two years: Jeffrey Sherman
DoubleLine Deputy CIO Jeffrey Sherman predicts that the Fed will 'hike' rates to avoid 'upsetting the market.'
Vaccine maker Novavax announced Tuesday that it's reducing its global workforce by 25% in an effort to significantly cut down on expenses and shift its focus to key priorities.
The cuts will affect 20% of full-time Novavax employees. The rest will of the cuts will impact contractors and consultants, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company has 1,992 full-time employees.
Ticker Security Last Change Change %
NVAX NOVAVAX INC. 7.05 -0.63 -8.20%
The company also plans to trim next year’s costs for research and development as well as selling, general and administrative expenses by about 40% to 50% compared with 2022.
Vaccine makers are preparing for sales to slow this year, particularly in the first half, as they switch from supplying the U.S. government to selling their shots commercially.
JOB CUTS SURGED 15% IN MARCH, AND LARGE-SCALE LAYOFFS 'WILL LIKELY CONTINUE:' REPORT
"We outlined significant measures intended to reduce spend, extend our cash runway, and operate more efficiently," CEO John Jacobs said in its latest earnings report. "Combined with our focus on revenue generation from Nuvaxovid and management of our current liabilities, these measures should strengthen our cash position and our potential for the long-term growth and stability of Novavax."
A vial of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine arranged at a pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 1, 2022. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Jacobs said the workforce reduction was "necessary to better align our infrastructure and scale to the endemic COVID opportunity."
US SPENDING $5 BILLION TO INCREASE NEW COVID VACCINES' SPEED OF DEVELOPMENT
The COVID-19 vaccine is Novavax’s lone commercial product. However, it has only administered about 88,458 doses of the vaccine in the United States, well below the more than 400 million doses of Pfizer’s two-shot original vaccine and updated boosters that have been administered.
A healthcare worker administers a dose of the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine at a pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 1, 2022. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
On Tuesday, the company announced that it made significant progress on key priorities including its efforts to deliver an updated COVID vaccine for the fall.
Novavax is not only updating that vaccine for this fall, but it's also developing a flu shot and a coronavirus-flu shot combination.
The company said it received "positive Phase 2 data that we believe supports the further development of our combination COVID-influenza, standalone influenza, and high-dose COVID vaccines."
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
The company expects to generate revenue of about $1.4 billion and $1.6 billion for 2023, well above analysts' expectations.
Analysts expected a loss of $3.46 per share on $87.6 million in revenue, according to FactSet.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
| 502
|
FDA considering approval of first over-the-counter birth control pill
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-06-0611/healthcare-fda-considering-approval-first-over-counter-birth-control-pill
|
Healthcare
|
rights
|
https://www.foxbusiness.com/healthcare/fda-considering-approval-first-over-counter-birth-control-pill
|
HEALTH CARE Published May 5, 2023 4:48pm EDT
FDA considering approval of first over-the-counter birth control pill
US health regulators meeting next week on request to make Opill birth control pills available without a prescription
Facebook
Twitter
Comments
Print
Email
By Breck Dumas , Daniella Genovese FOXBusiness
video
Drug, pharmaceutical supply chain is a mess: Dr. Marc Siegel
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel discusses a new bill for insured mammograms and an ongoing national drug shortage.
Accessing birth control pills could soon become a lot easier in America.
Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will meet next week to evaluate drugmaker HRA Pharma's application for its decades-old daily birth control pill Opill to be sold in the U.S. without requiring a prescription.
The public meeting is one of the final steps before the FDA makes a decision, but concerns raised by the agency in an initial review published Friday indicate the approval is not guaranteed.
Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration meet next week to review drugmaker Perrigo's application to sell a decades-old pill over the counter. The two-day public meeting is one of the last steps before an FDA decision. (Perrigo via AP / AP Newsroom)
France-based HRA Pharma, owned by Perrigo Co., submitted the application last year to sell Opill as an over-the-counter medication. The company acquired the progestin-only daily birth control pill from Pfizer in 2014, but it is not marketed in the U.S.
FAMILY DOLLAR RECALLS ADVIL STORED OUTSIDE OF TEMPERATIVE REQUIREMENTS
Hormone-based pills have long been the most common form of birth control in the U.S., used by millions of women since the 1960s. They have always required a prescription, generally so health professionals can screen for conditions that raise the risk of rare, but dangerous, blood clots.
But HRA argues that removing the prescription requirement would improve access to the contraceptive method, which is "more effective at preventing pregnancy than all current methods" available over the counter.
A one-month dosage of hormonal birth control pills is displayed in Sacramento, Calif., Aug. 26, 2016. A drug company is seeking U.S. approval for the first-ever birth control pill that women could buy without a prescription. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli / AP Newsroom)
"For many, a birth control pill may be the best option for them but requiring a prescription is an unnecessary obstacle that can put it out of reach," obstetrician-gynecologist Melissa Kottke said in a statement at the time of application last year.
FDA WARNS AGAINST USING EYE DROPS WITH AMNIOTIC FLUID
"Removing the prescription requirement for a progestin-only birth control pill will be a historic advancement for pregnancy prevention and a remarkable achievement in community public health."
A sign for the Food and Drug Administration is displayed outside its offices in Silver Spring, Md., Dec. 10, 2020. The FDA is weighing whether to allow an oral contraceptive to be sold in the U.S. over the counter. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File / AP Newsroom)
But in its review posted Friday, the FDA raised several concerns about studies of Opill, citing problems with the reliability of some of the company’s data and raising questions about whether women with certain medical conditions would correctly opt out of taking it. It also noted signs that study participants had trouble understanding the labeling instructions.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
The panel meeting next week will vote on whether the risks of making Opill available over the counter outweigh the potential risks, but the vote is not binding. The FDA's final decision is expected this summer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
| 503
|
The ‘Loneliness Epidemic’ We All Saw Coming
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-04-0638/healthcare-loneliness-epidemic-we-all-saw-coming
|
Healthcare
|
rights
|
https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/05/the-loneliness-epidemic-we-all-saw-coming/
|
F
or too much of this young decade, social isolation was presented as a virtue — an “ethical duty” even. This week, the horrible consequences of what should have been an option of last resort are being met with some urgency by the very public-health establishment that implored you to keep to yourself.
An 81-page report released this week by Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned of a crisis of loneliness afflicting the American public. His office maintains that, beyond the psychological drawbacks associated with loneliness, solitude contributes to negative health outcomes, too. “Widespread loneliness in the U.S. poses health risks as ...
| 504
|
Sens. Bernie Sanders and Bill Cassidy introduce bipartisan deal to lower drug prices
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-04-25-1244/politics-sens-bernie-sanders-and-bill-cassidy-introduce-bipartisan-deal-lower
|
Healthcare
|
rights
|
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/sens-bernie-sanders-and-bill-cassidy-introduce-bipartisan-deal-to-lower-drug-prices
|
SENATE
Sens. Bernie Sanders and Bill Cassidy introduce bipartisan deal to lower drug prices
by Jack Birle, Breaking News Reporter
April 25, 2023 10:54 AM
Latest
Social Security update: Direct payment worth $914 arrives in eight days
By: Misty Severi
Social Security update: Third round of direct payments worth up to $4,555 to arrive in six days
By: Misty Severi
Recent polls reveal potential ominous signs for Biden’s reelection campaign
By: Christopher Tremoglie
Videos
Merrick Garland hearing: Six takeaways on Hunter Biden investigation
Merrick Garland hearing: Texas representative grilled Garland over whether his department was still targeting parents
WATCH: Dusty Johnson on the farm bill: 'Farmers will fight you if you do anything to damage their land'
Fed holds interest rates steady amid recent upswing in inflation
Newsletters
Sign up now to get the Washington Examiner’s breaking news and timely commentary delivered right to your inbox.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) announced Tuesday they made a deal on a bill to lower drug prices and increase transparency in the pharmaceutical industry.
The two senators, who serve as the chairman and ranking member on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, said the pieces of legislation will "expand the availability of low-cost generic drugs."
BIDEN WILL VETO MCCARTHY'S DEBT LIMIT PACKAGE, WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES
“We are happy to announce that we’ve come to an agreement to consider critical pieces of legislation to reform pharmacy benefit managers and expand the availability of low-cost generic drugs through the HELP Committee. We will hold an official markup of the legislation on May 2nd,” the senators said in a joint statement.
The lawmakers said a markup of four bills will occur on May 2. The bills to be marked up include the Ensuring Timely Access to Generics Act of 2023, the Expanding Access to Low-Cost Generics Act of 2023, the Retaining Access and Restoring Exclusivity Act, and the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Reform Act.
The Ensuring Timely Access to Generics Act of 2023 was introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Michael Bennet (D-CO) last month. The bill aims to "increase competition for generic drugs and lower costs," according to the senators.
The Expanding Access to Low-Cost Generics Act of 2023 was introduced by Sens. Tina Smith (D-MN) and Mike Braun (R-IN) last month. It seeks to speed up the process for generic versions of drugs to reach the market, according to the senators.
The Retaining Access and Restoring Exclusivity Act aims to limit exclusivity for certain drugs, and the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Reform Act aims to provide more oversight over those who "provide pharmacy benefit management services," according to the bill.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Drug price reform has been seen as one of the areas of focus for this Congress, and the scheduled markup appears to pave the way for future legislation.
Politicians from both parties have made a push for increased transparency in how drugs are priced.
Senate Bernie Sanders Bill Cassidy Healthcare News
Share your thoughts with friends.
| 505
|
Biden grants Obamacare access to illegal immigrant Dreamers in DACA program
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-04-13-1414/healthcare-biden-grants-obamacare-access-illegal-immigrant-dreamers-daca
|
Healthcare
|
rights
|
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/apr/13/biden-grants-obamacare-access-daca-dreamers/
|
-
| 506
|
How a Republican president could affect Medicare drug negotiations
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-01-0625/healthcare-how-republican-president-could-affect-medicare-drug-negotiations
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.axios.com/2023/09/01/medicare-drug-price-negotiations-repbulicans
|
-
| 507
|
Adderall shortage could worsen ahead of back to school
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-28-1528/healthcare-adderall-shortage-could-worsen-ahead-back-school
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.axios.com/2023/08/28/adderall-shortage-concerns-back-to-school
|
-
| 508
|
To limit fentanyl supply, Tim Scott wants Title 42-like restrictions. Experts say they won’t help
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-21-0819/public-health-limit-fentanyl-supply-tim-scott-wants-title-42-restrictions
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/aug/17/to-limit-fentanyl-supply-tim-scott-wants-title-42/
|
Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.
More Info
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks at the Republican Party of Iowa's 2023 Lincoln Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, July 28, 2023. (AP)
Title 42, a public health policy that lets border officials quickly expel migrants from the U.S., can be used only to prevent a communicable disease from spreading. Fentanyl does not fall under this category.
Congress would need to pass a law to change the public health policy’s requirements or to codify similar restrictions in immigration law, but it would need at least 60 votes in the Senate.
Experts say Title 42 or Title 42-like restrictions would have little effect on fentanyl supply and overdose deaths because the drug is smuggled in mainly by U.S. citizens at official ports of entry. While Title 42 was in use, fentanyl seizures and overdose deaths continued to rise.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott has floated a plan he says will reduce the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.: reinstating the COVID-19 era public health policy known as Title 42.
Title 42, enacted by the Trump administration in March 2020 and lifted May 11, was used to curb the spread of COVID-19. It gave border officials the power to quickly expel people arriving at the southern border, essentially blocking their ability to apply for asylum.
"The current healthcare emergency we all know ain’t COVID, but it is fentanyl," Scott, of South Carolina, said Aug. 15 at the Iowa State Fair during a "fair-side chat" with Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds. "We can reinstate something like Title 42 to stem the tide of 6 million illegal immigrants crossing our border. We can do that on Day 1 of my administration."
In his immigration plan released Aug. 6, Scott said that in his first 100 days as president, he would "make Congress pass the bill" he wrote codifying asylum restrictions similar to those in Title 42. The bill said that "in response to the fentanyl public health crisis," it would suspend people who are not legally allowed to enter the U.S. from entering the country via Mexico or Canada. Instead, they would be immediately expelled. Under immigration law, people must physically be in the U.S. to seek asylum, whether they entered legally or not. Scott introduced the bill, S. 1532, in May, but no actions have been taken since.
Scott has mentioned his plan in interviews and campaign events, proposing it as a means to solve the "current health care crisis" involving fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
But policy experts say Scott can’t use the fentanyl crisis to restore Title 42. And even if he did seek to enact Title 42-style immigration restrictions, such measures would be unlikely to lower the amount of fentanyl coming into the country or the number of overdose deaths. That’s because although most illegally sourced fentanyl in the U.S. comes from Mexico, the drug is smuggled in mainly by U.S. citizens at official ports of entry.
A homeless person holds pieces of fentanyl in Los Angeles, Aug. 18, 2022. Use of the powerful synthetic opioid that is cheap to produce and is often sold as is or laced in other drugs, has exploded. (AP)
Title 42 gives the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s director the power to stop foreign people or property from entering the U.S. to prevent the spread of a communicable disease. The U.S. code specifies examples of communicable diseases including cholera, smallpox and SARS — which COVID-19 falls under.
But fentanyl does not fall under this category as it is not a disease and cannot be transferred person to person, said David Bier, immigration studies director at the libertarian Cato Institute.
"Fentanyl does not meet those criteria, even if it is a public health crisis. It is not transmissible through contact, said Tony Payan, director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. "It is something that is sold and consumed by the will of the individuals who do so."
This means that Scott would not be able to use the fentanyl crisis as the public health concern that would lead his administration to reinstate Title 42. If he did, "it would be challenged immediately," said Jeremy Slack, a University of Texas at El Paso professor and an expert in drug trafficking and the border.
Congress, however, could change the public health policy’s requirements or pass a law, like Scott’s proposed bill, giving the Department of Homeland Security powers similar to those under Title 42.
But passing such a law "would require hurdles that are not easy to pass," said Adam Isacson, defense oversight director at the Washington Office on Latin America, a research and human rights advocacy group. Those hurdles include getting past a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
Even if Congress did pass a law replicating Title 42 restrictions as Scott described, it likely would not reduce the amount of fentanyl entering the U.S. or lower the number of overdose deaths, experts said.
According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, fentanyl seizures continued to increase after the Trump administration implemented Title 42, going from 257 pounds seized in February 2020 to 3,300 pounds in May 2023.
Synthetic drug overdose deaths, mostly fentanyl, also continued to rise during that time, from around 40,000 between April 2019 and March 2020 to around 72,000 from April 2022 to March 2023, CDC data shows.
"The idea that having an incredibly low rate of illegal immigration is going to somehow stop people from using hard drugs or using fentanyl is just really detached from reality," Bier said.
So why didn’t Title 42 lower fentanyl seizure and overdose numbers?
"Fentanyl is being trafficked by U.S. citizens and permanent residents through ports of entry," Slack said.
About 19,600 of the 22,000 pounds confiscated so far in fiscal year 2023 has been seized at ports of entry, according to CBP data. Last year, 88% of fentanyl arrests were of U.S. citizens who were not expelled from the U.S. under Title 42.
U.S. citizens and permanent residents are able to cross the southern border multiple times and know the territory better, said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, an immigration expert at George Mason University.
Bier said even if all fentanyl were smuggled between ports of entry, Title 42 could actually have the opposite effect. Unlike under immigration law, people caught by Border Patrol and immediately expelled to Mexico via Title 42 do not face legal consequences, so they could drop the fentanyl they’re carrying into the bushes and try to enter the U.S. again after being expelled.
PolitiFact, Title 42 expiration: What's next for migrants applying for asylum at US’ southern border?, May 8, 2023
PolitiFact, Ask PolitiFact: Do rising fentanyl seizures at the border signal better detection or more drugs?, March 20, 2023
Vote Tim Scott, TIM SCOTT: SECURING THE BORDER, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
U.S. Senate, Alan Shao Jr. Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
Vote Tim Scott, post, Aug. 13, 2023
National Institute on Drug Abuse, What is fentanyl?, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
RAND Corp., Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, Feb. 2022
Legal Information Institute, 42 U.S. Code § 265 - Suspension of entries and imports from designated places to prevent spread of communicable diseases, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
U.S. Code, TITLE 42—THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
Sen. Tim Scott, Senator Scott Introduces Legislation to Extend Powers of Title 42 to Combat Fentanyl Crisis, May 10, 2023
National Center for Health Statistics, Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
U.S. Sentencing Commission, Quick Facts — Fentanyl Trafficking Offenses, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Drug Seizure Statistics FY2023, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
Email interview, Tony Payan, Director, Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Aug. 14, 2023
Email interview, Josiah Heyman, anthropology professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, Aug. 14, 2023
Email interview, Jeremy Slack, assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, Aug. 14, 2023
Phone interview, Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, professor at George Mason University, Aug. 14, 2023
Phone interview, David Bier, immigration studies director at the Cato Institute, Aug. 15, 2023
Email exchange, Adam Isacson, defense oversight director at the Washington Office on Latin America, Aug. 15, 2023
The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter
| 509
|
States that protect transgender health care now try to absorb demand
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-15-1536/lgbtq-issues-states-protect-transgender-health-care-now-try-absorb-demand
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://apnews.com/article/transgender-gender-affirming-care-health-texas-630f0a8ff873c33b7258cf0c3f6a2859
|
Dr. Katy Miller, the medical director of adolescent medicine for Children’s Minnesota, sits for a portrait at the hospital in Minneapolis, Thursday, June 29, 2023. The quest for gender-affirming care has been complicated, as bans on such care for minors are taking effect around the country. Clinics in states like Minnesota that have declared themselves refuges for transgender people are feeling the pressure. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
States that declared themselves refuges for transgender people have essentially issued an invitation: Get your gender-affirming health care here without fearing prosecution at home.
Now that bans on such care for minors are taking effect around the country — Texas could be next, depending on the outcome of a court hearing this week — patients and their families are testing clinics’ capacity. Already-long waiting lists are growing, yet there are only so many providers of gender-affirming care and only so many patients they can see in a day.
For those refuge states — so far, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Washington and Vermont, plus Washington, D.C. — the question is how to move beyond promises of legal protection and build a network to serve more patients.
“We’re trying our best to make sure we can get those kids in so that they don’t experience an interruption in their care,” said Dr. Angela Kade Goepferd, medical director of the gender health program at Children’s Minnesota hospital in the Twin Cities. “For patients who have not yet been seen and would be added to a general waiting list, it is daunting to think that it’s going to be a year or more before you’re going to be seen by somebody.”
Appointment requests are flooding into Children’s from all over the country — including Texas, Montana and Florida, which all have bans. Requests have grown in a year from about 100 a month to 140-150. The program hopes to hire more staff to meet demand, but it will take time, Goepferd said.
More than 89,000 transgender people ages 13 to 17 live in states that limit their access to gender-affirming care, according to a research letter published in late July in the Journal of the American Medical Association, though not all trans people choose or can afford gender-affirming care.
Rhys Perez, a transmasculine and nonbinary 17-year-old, is preparing to move this month from Houston to Los Angeles to start college. The teen, who said they’re “escaping Texas in the nick of time,” said California’s protection for gender-affirming care was one of the main factors in their decision on where to go for college.
Perez has just begun their search for a provider in Southern California but already has encountered several clinics with waits for an initial consultation between nine and 14 months. They were disappointed to learn they likely could not begin hormone replacement therapy until their sophomore year.
“Hormones and stuff, that was never something my family fully understood or supported, really,” Perez said. “I figured it was best to wait until I move for college, but now it’s frustrating to know I’m going to have to wait even longer.”
“I wish I could start college as fully me,” they said.
Initial sanctuary laws or executive orders were an emergency step to protect transgender people and their families from the threat of prosecution by more than 20 states that have restricted or banned such health care, advocates say. They generally do not contain provisions to shore up health systems, but advocates say that needs to be the next step.
“That’s what we’re hoping to set up over the next year to two years, is making sure that not only are we making this promise of being a refuge for folks, but we’re actually living up to that and ensuring that folks who come here have access to care when they need it,” said Kat Rohn, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group OutFront Minnesota.
Those efforts will likely need to involve legislators, governors, large employers, Medicaid plans and boards of medicine, said Kellan Baker, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Institute, the policy and education arm of a clinic with the same name in Washington, D.C.
“I would hope that it would be a comprehensive effort, that everyone at every level enacting these shield laws is aware that it’s not just about making a promise of access on paper, but that it needs to be backed up by the availability of providers,” Baker said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, became the first governor to order the investigation of families of transgender minors who receive gender-affirming care, and legislators this year passed a ban on such care.
Whether that law takes effect on Sept. 1 will be decided by a state judge in Austin, who is hearing arguments this week in a lawsuit filed by families and doctors seeking a temporary injunction. The lawsuit argues the bill violates parental rights and discriminates against transgender teens. It is unclear when the judge will rule.
A plaintiff, identified only by the pseudonym Gina Goe, testified Tuesday about her 15-year-old transgender son’s efforts to continue testosterone treatments: “I have reached out to a Colorado facility, but there is, like, a waiting list. ... There is going to be a gap in his medical care.”
Ginger Chun, the education and family engagement manager at the Transgender Education Network of Texas, said she was in contact last year with about 15 families with trans family members. This year already, she has talked to about 250 families, who are asking about everything from clarification on legislation to looking for ways to access care. Those who are looking for care outside Texas are encountering waiting lists.
The research published in JAMA found that Texas youths’ average travel time to a clinic for gender-affirming care increased from just under an hour to over 7 1/2 hours.
“It’s like a daily, ever-changing process to figure out where people can access care,” Chun said.
Minnesota state Rep. Leigh Finke, a Democrat who sponsored a bill to protect gender-affirming care, predicts “thousands” of people will travel to the state for care within two years. She’s also seeking solutions to the provider shortage and expects to take a closer look when the next legislative session begins in February.
“I’m not sure what as a legislature we can do to increase the number of people who provide a certain kind of medical care,” said Finke, a transgender woman who represents part of the Twin Cities area. “I’m not sure as a policymaker what the mechanisms are to say we need more of one kind of specific health care provider, assuming that those exist. I’m certainly going to be interested in looking at them.”
The number of providers nationwide is limited, and for many, it’s not their full-time job. Minnesota, for instance, is home to 91 providers, according to a search on the website of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. The state has 29,500 transgender people 13 and older, according to the Williams Institute, an LGBTQ+ think tank at the UCLA School of Law.
Dr. Katy Miller, the medical director of adolescent medicine for Children’s Minnesota, estimates “probably at least hundreds of families” are moving to the Twin Cities for gender-affirming care.
“People are going to kind of extraordinary lengths, like pulling kids out of school, moving.” Miller said.
In many ways, the quest for gender-affirming care parallels that of abortion access, for which people also cross state borders, sometimes under threat of prosecution. The main difference with gender-affirming care is that treatment is ongoing, generally for the rest of a person’s life, so permanent access is key.
Anticipating long waits, some parents preemptively sought out gender-affirming care providers for a child, like Minnesota activist Kelsey Waits. Her 10-year-old transgender child, Kit, got into the system at a hospital that could eventually provide blockers or hormones so that they wouldn’t have to start puberty without a doctor’s support.
“A lot happens in puberty in one year,” Waits said. “Just the stress of that on a family — the kids, the parents who are trying to find care for their child — it’s a lot.”
Associated Press journalists Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis contributed to this report. McMillan reported from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Schoenbaum from Raleigh, North Carolina.
| 510
|
Everything old is new again? The latest round of health policy proposals reprises existing ideas
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-28-0831/healthcare-everything-old-new-again-latest-round-health-policy-proposals
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/jul/25/everything-old-is-new-again-the-latest-round-of-he/
|
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., has backed the CHOICE Arrangement Act, one of several new measures the GOP has floated that could subtly circumvent the Affordable Care Act. (AP)
Forget "repeal and replace," an oft-repeated Republican rallying cry against the Affordable Care Act.
House Republicans have advanced a package of bills that could reduce health insurance costs for certain businesses and consumers, partly by rolling back some consumer protections. Rather than outright repeal, however, the subtler effort could allow more employers to bypass the landmark health insurance overhaul’s basic benefits requirements and most state standards.
At the same time, the Biden administration seeks to undo some of the previous administration’s health insurance rules, proposing to retighten regulations for short-term plans.
Health policy experts aren’t surprised. Most of the GOP policy ideas have long drawn Republican support, have raised concern from Democrats about reduced consumer protections and could fall under the theme: Everything old is new again.
Association health plans. Self-insurance. Giving workers money to buy their own individual coverage instead of offering a group plan. These are the buzzwords and, ultimately, revolve around one issue, said Joseph Antos, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-learning Washington, D.C.-based think tank. "The real problem is the rising cost of health care. Always has been," he said. And that problem, he added, is larger than the proposed solutions.
"It’s not clear that this kind of an approach would substantially help very many people," Antos said.
The latest round of rules and legislation comes as the Affordable Care Act — passed in 2010 — is now cemented in the system. More than 16 million people enrolled in their own plans this year, and millions more are getting coverage through expanded Medicaid in all but 10 states, leading to an all-time-low uninsured rate.
But even with enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, initially approved in the American Rescue Plan and extended through 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act, some people still struggle to afford deductibles or other costs, and employers — especially small ones — have long wrestled with rising insurance costs and the ability to offer coverage at all.
So, what is on the table in Washington? First, a caveat: Little is likely to happen in an election year.
Although the Biden administration’s proposed regulations on short-term plans are likely to go into effect, either this year or early next, the GOP’s House-passed legislation — dubbed the CHOICE Arrangement Act, for Custom Health Option and Individual Care Expense — is unlikely to win favor in the Democratic-controlled Senate. If Republicans were to retake the Senate and White House, though, it illustrates the health policy direction they could take.
Here are the broad issues on the radar:
These types of plans have been sold for decades, often as a stopgap measure for people between jobs.
They can be far less expensive than more traditional coverage because short-term plans vary widely and "run the gamut from comprehensive policies to fairly minimal policies," said Louise Norris, an insurance broker who regularly writes about health policy.
The plans don’t have to cover all the benefits required of Affordable Care Act plans, for example, and can bar coverage for preexisting medical conditions, can set annual or lifetime limits, and often don’t include maternity care or prescription drugs. Despite notices warning of such policies’ limitations, consumers may not realize what isn’t covered until they try to use the plan.
Concerned that people would choose this option instead of more comprehensive and more expensive insurance offered through the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s administration set rules limiting the policy terms to three months.
President Donald Trump’s administration loosened those rules, allowing plans to again be sold as 364-day policies, and adding the ability for insurers to renew them for up to three years. Now, President Joe Biden, whose representatives have called such plans "junk insurance," proposes reining those in again, restricting policies to four months, at most.
The Biden proposal cites estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation that about 1.5 million people are enrolled in such plans.
Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based libertarian think tank, decried the proposed rule in an opinion piece published by The Hill. He wrote that the Biden proposal removes an important lower-cost alternative and could leave some consumers facing "sky-high medical bills for up to one year" if their policies expire between open enrollment periods for Affordable Care Act plans.
The real fight comes down to defining "short-term," said John McDonough, a professor of public health practice at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, who worked on the original Affordable Care Act legislation.
Progressives and Democrats support the view that "short-term" should end after four months and "then people go into an ACA plan or Medicaid," he said. "Republicans and conservatives would like this to be an alternative permanent coverage model for folks, some of whom legitimately know what they are getting and are willing to roll the dice."
Meanwhile, the House-passed CHOICE Arrangement Act, among other things, would allow more self-employed people and businesses to band together to buy association health plans, which are essentially large group plans purchased by multiple employers.
These can be less expensive because they don’t have to meet all Affordable Care Act requirements, such as covering a specified set of benefits that includes hospitalization, prescription drugs, and mental health care. Historically, some also have had solvency issues and state regulators have investigated claims of false advertising by certain association plans.
Another piece of the legislation would help more small employers self-insure, which also allows them to bypass many ACA requirements and most state insurance rules.
Both proposals represent a "chipping away at the foundation edges of the ACA structure," said McDonough.
The package also codifies Trump-era regulations allowing employers to provide workers with tax-free contributions to shop for their own insurance, so long as it is an Affordable Care Act-qualified plan, a benefit known as an individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement.
The CHOICE Arrangement Act "will go a long way toward reducing insurance costs for employers, ensuring that workers continue to have access to high-quality, affordable health care," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., in prepared remarks as the bill went before the House Committee on Rules in June.
Giving workers a set amount of money to buy their own coverage allows employees to choose what works best for them, supporters say. Critics warn that many workers may be unprepared to shop and that the effort by some employers might prove discriminatory.
"Firms may find strategies to shift sicker workers to HRAs, even with guardrails in the legislation meant to prevent this," according to a blog post from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Not so, said Robin Paoli, executive director of the HRA Council, a nonprofit advocacy organization with members that include insurers, employers and other organizations that support such individual accounts.
Employers have some discretion in choosing which groups of employees are offered such accounts, often based on geography, but cannot create a group made up solely of "people over 65, or a class of sick people," said Paoli. "The rules absolutely prohibit discrimination based on age or health condition."
The other two ideas — associations and the self-insured proposal — have drawn opposition from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which wrote to House leaders that the package "threatens the authority of states to protect consumers and markets" because it affects the ability of states to regulate such plans.
Current law allows businesses in the same industry to band together to buy coverage, essentially creating a larger pool that then can, theoretically, wield more negotiating clout and get better rates.
The House legislation would make changes to allow more self-employed people and businesses that aren’t in the same industry to ally similarly.
Some policy experts said expanding access to association plans and self-insurance to smaller businesses might adversely affect some workers by drawing healthier people out of the overall market for small-group insurance and potentially raising premiums for those who remain.
"The big picture of what these bills do is allow (employers and) insurance companies to get out from under the ACA standards and protections and offer cheaper insurance to younger and healthier employee groups," said Sabrina Corlette, a researcher and the co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University.
But attorney Christopher Condeluci, who worked with GOP lawmakers in drafting the legislation, takes a different view. The entire GOP package, he said, represents "improvements to the status quo" that are needed because small businesses and individuals are confronting "health costs continuing to rise" and "out-of-pocket costs continuing to increase."
See source links in story text.
The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter
| 511
|
Republicans are threatening to sabotage George W. Bush’s greatest accomplishment
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-28-0712/healthcare-republicans-are-threatening-sabotage-george-w-bush-s-greatest
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/7/28/23809119/republicans-hiv-aids-pepfar-george-w-bush
|
FILED UNDER:
FUTURE PERFECT
POLICY
Republicans are threatening to sabotage George W. Bush’s greatest accomplishment
A program that’s saved 25 million lives is at risk of losing its congressional authorization for the first time.
By Zack Beauchamp@[email protected] Jul 28, 2023, 6:30am EDT
Share this story
Share this on Facebook
Share this on Twitter
SHARE
All sharing options
Then-President George W. Bush holds Baron Mosima Loyiso Tantoh, son of South African HIV-AIDS activist Kunene Tantoh, during a White House visit on PEPFAR in 2007. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Zack Beauchamp is a senior correspondent at Vox, where he covers ideology and challenges to democracy, both at home and abroad. Before coming to Vox in 2014, he edited TP Ideas, a section of Think Progress devoted to the ideas shaping our political world.
This story is part of a group of stories called
Finding the best ways to do good.
You may not have heard of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). But you should: It has saved more lives than any other US government policy in the 21st century. And now, for the first time in the program’s history, it is at risk of losing a critical vote in Congress — for reasons that say a lot about today’s Republican Party.
First passed in 2003 under President George W. Bush, PEPFAR is a vehicle for distributing HIV/AIDS drugs to people in poor countries who wouldn’t otherwise have access to them. It has been astonishingly effective: The most recent US government estimates suggest it has saved as many as 25 million lives since its enactment. It is currently supporting treatment for over 20 million people who depend on the program for continued access to medication.
Given its success, PEPFAR has historically enjoyed bipartisan support. In 2018, Congress reauthorized PEPFAR for another five years without a fuss. But this time around, things look different. Some House Republicans, prodded by an array of influential groups, are threatening to block another five-year reauthorization. Their argument is pure culture war: that PEPFAR has become a vehicle for promoting abortion.
In reality, PEPFAR is legally prohibited from funding abortion services, and the argument against the program on anti-abortion grounds is very thin. But in today’s political climate, where the culture war reigns supreme on the right, this is enough to jeopardize the continued good functioning of a program that the Republican Party used to champion.
“This is not a fact-based argument. It’s an attempt to destroy a program,” Asia Russell, the executive director of the global health advocacy group Health GAP, tells me.
The clock is ticking: PEPFAR’s current congressional authorization runs through September 30, and failure to extend it could be quite damaging. The fact that this traditionally uncontroversial program is now under threat says a lot about our current political dysfunction — and the ideological currents reshaping the Republican Party.
How PEPFAR became partisan
The idea of funding antiretroviral treatment in poor countries was developed in the early 2000s by public health specialists like Anthony Fauci and Paul Farmer. Politically, it was championed by some of the country’s most prominent Christian conservatives — like Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson and mega-evangelist Franklin Graham. The evangelicals provided the political muscle on the right, as well as a kind of unvarnished Christian moral argument for healing the sick, that ultimately got Bush and Congress on board — leading to PEPFAR’s creation in 2003.
PEPFAR thus should not be seen only as a great American accomplishment, but also a great evangelical accomplishment — a program that not only saved millions of lives but did so more cost-effectively than most economists expected. On both political and substantive grounds, the case for PEPFAR was airtight: No one in either major party had any interest in undermining the program.
Until recently.
According to Devex, the leading development news outlet, the push against PEPFAR began on May 1, when the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank, published a white paper attacking the program. On the same day, the leaders of 31 conservative groups released an open letter making similar arguments, with Heritage President Kevin Roberts as the first signatory.
The white paper’s author, Heritage fellow Tim Meisburger, is not a public health expert. His career has focused on democracy promotion abroad but has recently taken a turn toward conspiracy theorizing at home.
In 2017, he was appointed by Trump to a mid-level USAID position focusing on democracy — a job he lost in 2021 (per the Washington Post) after saying on a conference call that the January 6 riot was merely the work of “a few violent people.” During the 2022 election cycle, he led a multi-million dollar “election integrity” campaign backed by Michael Flynn and Roger Stone. In January, he wrote an essay for the pro-Trump website American Greatness arguing that there were “many egregious examples of election malpractice and fraud in 2020 and 2022,” including “statistically impossible results” — a seeming reference to long-debunked arguments that Biden could not possibly have won the 2020 election by the margin he did. (Meisburger did not respond to my request for comment.)
Many of the arguments in his anti-PEPFAR paper are of similar quality. He argues that “HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and in developing countries is primarily a lifestyle disease (like those caused by tobacco) and as such should be suppressed though [sic] education, moral suasion, and legal sanctions.” Moreover, Meisburger writes, PEPFAR has become a means for Democrats to promote “their own social priorities like abortion.” The Biden administration, in his view, has used PEPFAR to fund pro-abortion groups internationally.
The evidence offered for this is flimsy. PEPFAR operates primarily through partner groups, funding their efforts to directly distribute antiretroviral drugs and other HIV-AIDS treatments to supported populations. Meisburger notes that some of these partner groups have issued statements supporting legal abortion, and that campaign donations from their staff have leaned left (“PEPFAR is in fact an entirely Democrat-run program,” he writes).
PEPFAR, however, has always been prohibited from funding abortion. The program steers clear of many controversial social issues related to HIV/AIDS by design, a legacy of its bipartisan creation back in 2003. PEPFAR-supported groups that also support abortion services do not use any federal dollars for this purpose.
A young woman being tested for HIV in 2005 at the Naguru Teenage Health Centre in Kampala, Uganda. Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images
Shepherd Smith, an evangelical global health advocate, investigated Heritage’s allegations that PEPFAR supported abortion and found zero evidence of their veracity.
“We have never, in all our years of intimate involvement with PEPFAR, heard of such a thing happening in the program,” he wrote in a memo obtained by Vox. “Without equivocation, all of PEPFAR’s leaders have been focused on the job ahead of them of ending the scourge of AIDS. All have overseen the spending of money, and none have found any dollars spent on abortions or the promotion of abortion.”
Nonetheless, Meisburger’s report has helped fuel the anti-PEPFAR campaign. Heritage Action, the group’s advocacy arm, said it will “score” the upcoming vote to reauthorize it for another five years — meaning that supporting the program will harm Republicans on Heritage’s influential ratings of representatives’ ideology. According to Christianity Today, two other leading conservative groups — the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and the social conservative Family Research Council — have said they will also score the vote.
All of a sudden, a vote to reauthorize PEPFAR looks like a potential problem for Republicans worried about a primary challenge — helping create the conditions for actual legislative movement. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee and longtime PEPFAR supporter who sponsored the 2018 reauthorization, has turned on the program — writing a letter in June criticizing a five-year reauthorization on grounds that the program supports groups who support abortion.
“President Biden has hijacked PEPFAR, the $6 billion a year foreign aid program designed to mitigate HIV/AIDs in many targeted — mostly African — countries in order to promote abortion on demand,” Rep. Smith argues.
Like Meisburger, he did not reply to my request to discuss this claim further.
What the PEPFAR fight says about the GOP — and America
Conservatives differ on what should be done to fix this (fictitious) problem. Some, like Rep. Smith, want to impose the so-called “Mexico City” policy on PEPFAR — which bans the federal government from funding any organization that supports abortion even with non-federal dollars. Others have suggested reducing PEPFAR’s operating window, forcing it to come up for reauthorization every year rather than every five years.
Public health experts generally oppose both changes, arguing that they would cut off effective aid groups from federal dollars and make it impossible for the program to plan for the long term.
Moreover, the mere act of picking a fight on either the Mexico City policy or reauthorization windows risks turning PEPFAR into more of a partisan football — and blowing past the September 30 deadline for reauthorization as a result. This would not lead to PEPFAR’s immediate demise, but it would do real damage to its continued good functioning.
“Failure to reauthorize the program could have significant impacts,” warns Chris Collins, president and CEO of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Among several other problems, Collins warns, “the funds set aside to treat orphans and vulnerable children might be reduced” and “the Global Fund 2:1 match requirement that has for years successfully leveraged investment from other donors would no longer be required.”
Hence why some conservative supporters of PEPFAR are warning against the current attempt to do anything but approve the program for another five years.
“Without a clean authorization, there will be no reauthorization,” Rick Santorum, the former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, warned in a July Newsmax op-ed supporting the reauthorization (co-authored with former Senate Republican Conference staff director Mark Rodgers).
There’s something revealing about a figure like Santorum, a famously hardline culture warrior, acting as the moderate in this dispute — even calling out Heritage and Meisburger specifically for “revisiting the issue of abortion” and thereby putting the “consensus” in favor of PEPFAR support “at risk.”
Santorum, who has not held public office since 2007, represents an older breed of social conservatives: the ones who influenced policy during the Bush administration and helped create PEPFAR in the first place. They were no less conservative on abortion, and arguably more aggressive than today’s right on other issues (just look up Santorum’s comments on same-sex marriage or Islam). But to their credit, they took seriously Christian ideas about the need for charity and helping the weak — leading to support for global health programs like PEPFAR or (in some cases) taking in refugees fleeing conflict and persecution.
The Trump movement, with its “America First” slogan and attacks on “globalists,” undermined the ideological foundations of Republican support for global humanitarian efforts. In power, Trump put foreign aid on shaky political ground and adopted a culture war approach to the field, dramatically expanding the Mexico City policy from what had existed under Bush and other prior Republican presidents.
The idea of a so-called “compassionate conservatism,” a favored slogan of the Bush years, has gone out the window — replaced instead by a conservative movement defined by its obsession with existential struggle against the perceived domestic left-wing enemy. On today’s right, the culture war is not merely a leading concern but the leading concern.
This is not “mere” partisan polarization at work, though that’s certainly an enabling factor. Rather, this is a story about the prevailing ideological mood on the right: a paradoxical sense of both vulnerability and strength. The vulnerability comes from the Biden presidency and the left’s alleged control over leading cultural institutions; the strength from some recent cultural victories, most notably, the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The contemporary right believes it is under siege, but also that the siege can be broken if it fights hard enough in enough places.
The unremitting logic of total culture war means that every issue has the potential to become a flashpoint. PEPFAR shows how remarkably easy it can be in this environment to take what was once a settled bipartisan consensus and blow it up.
Despite these threats, PEPFAR could well make it through the current fight unscathed. The White House, for its part, believes that Congress is on the right track. “We are confident that the supporters of PEPFAR in both parties will find a path forward to get this critical and lifesaving program reauthorized,” an official said.
We can only hope they’re right. Because if PEPFAR becomes yet another casualty of America’s domestic culture wars, tens of millions of people will suffer and potentially die from a disease we already know how to fight.
Keren Landman contributed reporting to this piece.
You've read 10 articles in the last 30 days.
We're here to shed some clarity
One of our core beliefs here at Vox is that everyone needs and deserves access to the information that helps them understand the world, regardless of whether they can pay for a subscription. With the 2024 election on the horizon, more people are turning to us for clear and balanced explanations of the issues and policies at stake. We’re so grateful that we’re on track to hit 85,000 contributions to the Vox Contributions program before the end of the year, which in turn helps us keep this work free. We need to add 2,500 contributions this month to hit that goal. Will you make a contribution today to help us hit this goal and support our policy coverage? Any amount helps.
One-Time Monthly Annual
$5/month
$10/month
$25/month
$50/month
Other
Yes, I'll give $5
/month
We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via
NEXT UP IN FUTURE PERFECT
THE LATEST
A fatal crash shows us everything that’s wrong with traffic enforcement
By Marin Cogan
What climate activists mean when they say “end fossil fuels”
By Rebecca Leber
The Supreme Court will decide if Alabama can openly defy its decisions
By Ian Millhiser
The wild allegations about India killing a Canadian citizen, explained
By Zack Beauchamp
It’s time to replace urban delivery vans with e-bikes
By Liz Scheltens
Lead poisoning kills millions annually. One country is showing the way forward.
By Kelsey Piper
| 512
|
8 people have acquired malaria in the US. They’re the first in 20 years.
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-20-0850/healthcare-8-people-have-acquired-malaria-us-they-re-first-20-years
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.vox.com/science/2023/6/23/23771154/malaria-transmission-florida-texas-mosquitoes-risk-prevention-anopheles
|
FILED UNDER:
SCIENCE
PUBLIC HEALTH
HEALTH
8 people have acquired malaria in the US. They’re the first in 20 years.
The cases, identified in Florida and Texas, raise a lot of questions.
By Keren Landman@landmanspeaking Updated Jul 19, 2023, 11:40am EDT
Share this story
Share this on Facebook
Share this on Twitter
SHARE
All sharing options
The Anopheles mosquito can infect a person with the malaria parasite. Paul Starosta/Getty Images
Keren Landman is a senior reporter covering public health, emerging infectious diseases, the health workforce, and health justice at Vox. Keren is trained as a physician, researcher, and epidemiologist and has served as a disease detective at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In late May, Sarasota County, Florida, health officials confirmed they had identified a case of locally transmitted malaria. In mid-June, they confirmed the second. On June 26, after an additional two cases were confirmed, Florida health officials issued a statewide mosquito-borne illness advisory. So far in July, three more cases have been confirmed.
Meanwhile, Texas has reported one case of local malaria transmission: On June 23, its state health department announced the case was detected in Cameron County.
That’s a total of eight cases so far this summer. This is all highly unusual: Until now, the US hadn’t documented a locally acquired malaria case in 20 years. On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a nationwide advisory to alert health care providers and public health authorities about the possibility of locally acquired malaria in people with fevers of unclear origin.
Although about 2,000 people infected with malaria turn up in the US health care system every year, those cases are all linked to travel outside the US. Neither those involved in the Florida cases nor the Texas case had traveled. That means in both states, the infection was acquired within US borders.
Experts say the cases shouldn’t warrant panic about widespread malaria transmission in the US. But it does warrant asking some questions and being wary of the threat of more local transmission. Mosquitoes can infect multiple people before a full-on outbreak is even identified — so more cases could be out there.
Even if this turns out not to be widespread, it’s a good reminder: Malaria could make a comeback in the US, and we — and our public health infrastructure — ought to be prepared. This is especially true as a changing climate and shifting weather patterns increasingly drive mosquito migration into new places worldwide, allowing malaria to settle in where it hasn’t before.
These cases are not the worst form of the disease — but they’re not benign
Malaria comes in a variety of flavors, all in the genus Plasmodium, and all parasites that infect and kill red blood cells. The anemia that results is the major cause of most of the bodily havoc that follows.
The species that has been identified in both Florida and Texas is P. vivax. It’s not the worst of the malaria species: P. falciparum, the most severe form of malaria, is 10 times more deadly than vivax, according to a study of Americans diagnosed between 1985 and 2011. But vivax is no cakewalk. People with this infection can develop life-threatening brain swelling, lung congestion, and kidney failure.
The infection causes fevers that come and go, along with a wide range of symptoms that can be mistaken for flu, a stomach bug, or liver disease.
Vivax malaria is sneakier than some of its counterparts: The parasite can hang out dormant in the liver for years after the initial infection, rearing its head long after an exposure. (Worldwide, most vivax malaria infections occur in East Africa, South Asia, and the northern parts of South America.)
Malaria was a huge problem in the US until it was eliminated in the 1950s, largely by spraying the insecticide DDT in homes and environmental areas to kill the mosquitoes that spread it. (All forms of malaria are spread by mosquitoes in the Anopheles genus, and the US still has lots of them.)
Also keeping malaria at bay: The mosquitoes that transmit the disease like to bite at night — and as American homes have increasingly incorporated window screens and air conditioning, the people inside them have been better protected from being food for this particular genus.
So malaria is not something you’d expect to catch in the US anymore. But when things line up just right, all the ingredients are there for malaria transmission to happen in the US.
What does it take for malaria transmission to happen in the US?
One big unanswered question right now is: Why are two geographically distant parts of the US seeing local transmission of malaria right now — especially after so many years without it?
Although both states see many travel-related malaria cases each year, those cases don’t usually lead to local spread. Is something different this year? Or is this just a coincidence?
To think through the possibilities, it’s helpful to understand how malaria spreads.
Malaria gets transmitted when a female Anopheles mosquito bites an infected person and then, a week later, bites an uninfected person. In between bites, the mosquito does mosquito business in warm, stagnant water — but it’s fussy about the water it prefers. These malaria-spreading mosquitoes generally like to breed in bodies of water with vegetation growth along the banks, wrote Wade Brennan, a Sarasota County mosquito manager, in an email. In other words, it prefers the forest to puddles of water near human habitation, like the ones you might find in an empty bucket or garbage can outside your house.
To kick off local transmission, a person who’s acquired P. vivax malaria overseas needs to get close enough to an Anopheline mosquito’s habitat to get bitten. For the next few days, the vivax infection brews in the mosquito’s gut. About a week later, it’s ready to infect another person. When the mosquito bites its next victim, particles in its saliva mix with the person’s blood — and before the mosquito lets go, some of those particles get injected into the person.
A few weeks later, that second person gets sick. Meanwhile, the mosquito still has a few weeks to live — and in that time, it’s still feeding on other people, potentially infecting them, too. But even if it dies, its friends might be biting this newly infected person and transmitting the infection onward.
So: The basic elements of malaria transmission are a source (the infected returned traveler), a vector (the mosquito), an uninfected target (the newly identified cases), and an environment that allows them to come in contact. Increasing any of these elements could make local transmission more likely.
A robust public health system helps understand the causes in cases like this and is critical to the response
It’s not yet clear whether any changes in mosquito populations or in human behavior are the reason for this current spate of locally acquired cases. But public health investigations in both states have already identified risk factors for the people who’ve been infected — and environmental reservoirs of the infection.
In an interview on June 23, Michael Drennon, a Sarasota County health department epidemiologist, couldn’t share demographic or location information about the two locally infected people who had been identified at that time. However, he noted both were adults who spend a significant amount of time outside at night, and they hadn’t traveled anywhere outside the US.
The Texas case occurred in a southern Texas county that borders Mexico and the person has been identified as a National Guardsman who was working on a border security assignment shortly before his symptoms started. Although vivax malaria is present in parts of Mexico, the infection is not typically found in the northern part of the country that abuts Texas.
Brennan said his Sarasota County mosquito management team had found malaria-infected mosquitoes in an area swamp and had focused prevention efforts there, applying insecticides that kill both adult and juvenile forms of the mosquito. “We have been able to make sure the mosquito population in that area is extremely low,” he wrote.
It’s unclear whether more Anopheline mosquitoes than usual are circulating in either state. More mosquitoes would increase the chances that an infected person’s parasites could spread to an uninfected person — and would make the disease harder to eradicate.
Overall, the environment of the US is growing more conducive to growing populations of mosquitoes, which may raise the risk of malaria transmission. Climate change is “definitely playing a role in vector-borne disease” broadly throughout the United States, said Estelle Martin, an entomologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville who researches mosquito-borne diseases. Over the last two decades, increasing temperatures and extreme weather have favored mosquito replication — and they also favor the replication of malaria parasites. But it’s not clear exactly what role that dynamic is playing in these three cases.
Colin Carlson, a global change biologist at Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Science and Security who has led research on the rapidly expanding reach of malaria-spreading mosquitoes in Africa, tweeted about the cases over the weekend. Climate change may contribute to malaria risk by increasing the size of mosquito populations, he noted — however, “we know very little, climate evidence is weak, and epidemiological impacts would be tricky to guess.”
A CDC spokesperson wrote in an email to Vox on Friday, “Though we know in general that climate can be one of many factors that can impact vector-borne diseases, in this situation, there is no compelling reason to think so.” More likely at play, said the agency, were the forces of migration: “Today, global travel and trade allow vector-borne diseases to be moved around the world and transmitted by local mosquitoes or ticks, especially in places where those diseases may have once been common.”
RELATED
What could cause a malaria comeback in the US — and what could stop it
It’s not time to panic, but it is time to protect yourself
Even if several people have been infected and there are some mosquitoes out there with the parasite in their bellies, it doesn’t mean the US is headed for an explosive malaria outbreak. “It’s always worrisome that you have local transmission in an area,” said Martin, but added that there’s no need to panic. And there’s a lot people can do to protect themselves.
It’s important for people to do their best to avoid mosquito bites, said Drennon. He advises people to wear long sleeves and cover their legs — which he acknowledges is challenging in the Florida heat — and to use mosquito repellent.
Eliminating mosquito hangout spots is also very important: Although Anopheline mosquitoes typically don’t congregate near houses, he advises people to drain any standing water and eliminate places where water can accumulate, as other mosquitoes that spread other infections can breed there. “It’s not uncommon to see dengue here,” he said; during the Zika outbreak in 2016-17, the state was also one of two US locations where that virus was transmitted locally.
It’s also important for local health care providers to be aware of the local risk for malaria. Mosquitoes can infect multiple people before the outbreak is even identified. So once one case is found, public health officials need to snap into action, alerting health care workers, educating the public on prevention, and coordinating mosquito seek-and-destroy missions.
Sarasota County’s first case was initially diagnosed while the patient was being evaluated for a fever; blood test abnormalities prompted further testing, said Drennon. Area health care providers were alerted to the case, and the second case was reported not long after.
Even if these outbreaks prove to be a blip, the threat of malaria taking a stronger hold in the US remains. “We know that we have individuals who travel all over the world who can wind up here with malaria,” Drennon said. “And we know that we have the vector species here that can transmit it.” It’s critical for the public “to take precautions to prevent not only malaria but other mosquito-borne diseases that we have in Florida.”
Update, July 19, 11:40 AM ET: This story was originally published on June 23 and has been updated multiple times, most recently to include newly identified cases.
You've read 11 articles in the last 30 days.
We're here to shed some clarity
One of our core beliefs here at Vox is that everyone needs and deserves access to the information that helps them understand the world, regardless of whether they can pay for a subscription. With the 2024 election on the horizon, more people are turning to us for clear and balanced explanations of the issues and policies at stake. We’re so grateful that we’re on track to hit 85,000 contributions to the Vox Contributions program before the end of the year, which in turn helps us keep this work free. We need to add 2,500 contributions this month to hit that goal. Will you make a contribution today to help us hit this goal and support our policy coverage? Any amount helps.
One-Time Monthly Annual
$5/month
$10/month
$25/month
$50/month
Other
Yes, I'll give $5
/month
We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via
NEXT UP IN SCIENCE
THE LATEST
A fatal crash shows us everything that’s wrong with traffic enforcement
By Marin Cogan
What climate activists mean when they say “end fossil fuels”
By Rebecca Leber
The Supreme Court will decide if Alabama can openly defy its decisions
By Ian Millhiser
The wild allegations about India killing a Canadian citizen, explained
By Zack Beauchamp
It’s time to replace urban delivery vans with e-bikes
By Liz Scheltens
Lead poisoning kills millions annually. One country is showing the way forward.
By Kelsey Piper
| 513
|
500,000 Texans have been dropped from the Medicaid rolls since April
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-18-1222/healthcare-500000-texans-have-been-dropped-medicaid-rolls-april
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/17/medicaid-texas-removed/
|
500,000 Texans have been dropped from the Medicaid rolls since April
Advocates are calling for a halt to removals until the state can account for why more than 80% of the people who lost Medicaid coverage were eliminated for “procedural” reasons, like not responding to messages from the state.
BY ELEANOR KLIBANOFF
JULY 17, 2023
5 PM CENTRAL
SHARE
Nurse practitioner Anika Barber with a patient at the Legacy Community Health Center in Houston on Aug. 2, 2013.
Credit:
Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune
Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
Half a million Texans have lost their Medicaid coverage since April, mostly for procedural reasons like not responding to messages from the state.
Preliminary data, released Friday by the state’s Health and Human Services Commission, paints a grim picture of Texas’ early efforts to redetermine Medicaid eligibility for the first time since COVID-19 hit three years ago.
Nowhere was this “unwinding” going to be easy. But Texas — with its high uninsured rates, strict rules to qualify for Medicaid and persistent delays in verifying eligibility — was on particularly poor footing to handle the sudden influx of renewals.
Now, hundreds of thousands of Texans are scrambling after suddenly losing health insurance — and the consistent care from trusted health care providers that it enabled them to access. Meanwhile, advocates say many of the people who lost coverage may actually still be eligible, and they’re calling for the state to pause redeterminations until they can ensure low-income children don’t fall through the newly apparent cracks in the renewal system.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
“If the high percentage of procedural denials continues, then Texas is on the verge of knocking a lot of eligible kids off of their health insurance,” said Diana Forester, director of health policy at Texans Care for Children. “If state leaders can’t quickly pivot to a more effective process, then they should consider pausing the Medicaid removals until they can get this right.”
Unwinding after three years
Texas is one of just 11 states that has not expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act, and the state has the highest rate of uninsured residents in the country. Before the pandemic, Medicaid in Texas mostly served children, disabled adults and pregnant women up to two months postpartum.
Once the pandemic hit in March 2020, federal regulations prohibited moving anyone off of the program. The extended coverage allowed about 3 million Texans to continue receiving Medicaid after they normally would have been removed from the program.
Federal funding legislation lifted those protections in April, kicking off a yearlong process for states to determine who should remain on Medicaid and move those who do not onto other state programs or into the public health insurance marketplace.
“Texas’ normal rules are the most restrictive in the United States,” said Anne Dunkelberg, senior fellow at Every Texan, a health care advocacy group. “We were carrying all of these desperately poor parents for the entire pandemic period, and we knew the lion’s share of them would not requalify.”
In the first month of this process, Texas reviewed the eligibility of almost 800,000 people. The state has not released demographic data, but said they are starting with people who likely no longer qualify for the program, like people who have aged out or those who no longer have an eligible child in their home.
Of those initial cases, about 111,000 people were determined to still qualify for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. About 95,000 people were found to no longer qualify.
But an additional 400,000 people were moved off of Medicaid for procedural reasons, meaning the state terminated their coverage without reviewing their eligibility. This includes people who didn’t submit the renewal packet the state sent through the mail or via YourTexasBenefits.com within 30 days.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
“The review process is confusing and frustrating for families,” says Graciela Camarena, child health outreach program director at Children’s Defense Fund Texas, who helps families in the Rio Grande Valley navigate public benefit programs.
Camerana said in a statement that clients have received notices at old addresses, in a language not listed as their primary language or after the deadline had already passed. The state worked with advocates, health care providers and insurers to try to get the word out about the upcoming renewal process, but procedural errors and delays hamstrung the process even when people were aware of the steps they needed to take.
“We have even seen families receive multiple letters at the same time — one saying they qualify, another saying they do not,” Camarena said. “The issue is the process, not the people. These are mostly parents just trying to give their children a chance to stay healthy.”
In a statement, HHSC spokesperson Tiffany Young said the agency used a “multi-pronged” strategy to reach people, including mailing notices, sending text messages, hosting events and collaborating with community partners. The state is also urging everyone who currently receives Medicaid or CHIP benefits to ensure their information is up to date at YourTexasBenefits.com.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
Nationally, 75% of removals were for procedural reasons, compared to 81% in Texas. But researchers worry that Texas’ particularly strict Medicaid regulations mean there’s a greater risk for greater harm.
“Kids’ eligibility doesn’t change as much,” said Gaby Aboulafia, a health policy Ph.D. student at Harvard University who is studying the unwinding. “Because the state hasn’t expanded, we can say with a lot of confidence that many of these people who were inappropriately kicked off were kids who are actually probably still eligible.”
Research shows that any gap in coverage, even just a few months, can have devastating financial and health consequences for families, Aboulafia said.
Texas’ new data also shows the state is not taking advantage of other tools to determine eligibility. Less than 1% of people had their eligibility reviewed through the “ex parte” system, which allows the state to verify eligibility using third-party data like federal benefits information.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
“More people end up achieving coverage through this automatic renewal, because they don’t have to provide any updated information,” Aboulafia said. “It’s the biggest thing Texas can do to ensure that people retain their coverage.”
Some states are relying heavily on this administrative review, with a quarter of states using ex parte data for a majority of their renewals. In the data released Friday, HHSC noted that the rate of approvals with third-party data is expected to increase as the agency begins reviewing cases that are more likely to continue to qualify for Medicaid. But Texas has long lagged the national average in ex parte reviews, due in part to onerous regulations like refusing to accept income data more than two months old, Dunkelberg said.
While the Texas House passed a bill that would have expanded HHSC’s ability to use the ex parte system to verify children’s eligibility for health insurance, the Senate did not pass the measure.
The Legislature also granted only $111 million of the $143 million HHSC requested to support the anticipated surge in Medicaid renewals.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
Young said the state is on schedule to complete the redetermination process as planned. With another 3.6 million cases expected to be up for review in the next three months, including many new mothers, the gap between what advocates hoped for and what Texas is delivering is only expected to widen.
“The Governor can mitigate these harms by pausing to examine why this is happening—and fix it,” said Adrienne Lloyd, health policy manager at Children’s Defense Fund-Texas. “We urge him and Texas leaders to … take advantage of the full timeline and flexibilities offered by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services to complete this process — so that Texas does not continue to wrongfully remove children, seniors, and people with disabilities from their health care.”
Disclosure: Every Texan and Texans Care for Children have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Join us for conversations that matter with newly announced speakers at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, in downtown Austin from Sept. 21-23.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
Texans need truth. Help us report it.
Our Fall Member Drive is underway, and we need your support. The Texas Tribune is a critical source of truth and information for Texans across the state and beyond — and our community of members, the readers who donate, make our work possible. Will you join as a member with a tax-deductible donation of any amount?
YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY
Information about the authors
Eleanor Klibanoff
WOMEN'S HEALTH REPORTER
[email protected]
@eklib
Explore related story topics
Health care
Health And Human Services Commission
Medicaid
READ MORE
Loading recommendations for further reading
Loading indicatorLoading indicatorLoading indicator
Loading indicatorLoading indicatorLoading indicator
Loading indicatorLoading indicatorLoading indicator
Loading indicatorLoading indicatorLoading indicator
| 514
|
Opioids are overrated for some common back pain, a study suggests
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-29-1223/healthcare-opioids-are-overrated-some-common-back-pain-study-suggests
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/06/28/1184885112/back-pain-relief-opioid-painkillers
|
YOUR HEALTH
Opioids are overrated for some common back pain, a study suggests
June 28, 20237:12 PM ET
By
Will Stone
Enlarge this image
Back and neck pain affect millions of Americans. New research suggests that opioids may not make sense for treating certain kinds of acute back pain.
South_agency/Getty Images
Back and neck pain afflicts millions of American adults, driving many to seek relief from their family doctor or even the local emergency room.
When these episodes of pain are acute and nonspecific — meaning there's no clear cause or explanation — it's generally advised to start off with everyday remedies like over-the-counter anti-inflammatories, and alternatives like heat therapy, massage or exercise.
If that's not doing the trick though, doctors may prescribe a short course of opioids, with the goal of relieving pain and improving a patient's function.
But the results of a rigorous clinical trial published Wednesday cast doubt on using opioids even in this situation.
In a study of more than 340 patients suffering from low back or neck pain, a team of Australian researchers found there was no difference in pain severity after six weeks between those who received opioids versus a placebo sugar pill.
"It was quite a surprise to us," says Andrew McLachlan, dean of pharmacy at the Sydney Pharmacy School and an author on the study, which was published Wednesday in The Lancet. "We thought there would be some pain relief, but overall there was no difference."
What's more, the study found those who received opioids had an elevated risk of misusing the drugs a year later, reinforcing the potential harms of turning to opiods for pain relief, even temporarily.
While previous research has focused on treating chronic pain with opioids, this study is notable because it examines garden-variety back pain that lasts a shorter period of time, at most three months.
SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS
CDC issues new opioid prescribing guidance, giving doctors more leeway to treat pain
"It's going to call into question a lot of the major guidelines that we have about how to treat people's back pain," says Dr. Mark Bicket, an anesthesiologist at the University of Michigan and director of research on opioids and pain.
Some experts already worry the surprising results could be misconstrued to suggest that opioids don't work for acute pain more broadly and caution that limitations to the study should be considered before generalizing too much.
"My guess is this will be a landmark study that will be cited a lot," says Dr. Samer Narouze, the past president of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine. "But I'm concerned that it will be used or weaponized to deny patients with acute pain from needed opioids," such as those in pain from severe injuries and post-operative pain.
No meaningful difference from placebo
The results of the new trial draw attention to an unexpected gap in our understanding of how well opioids work in the context of acute back pain.
Patients who had new low back or neck pain for 12 weeks or fewer were recruited from more than 150 primary care clinics and emergency departments in Sydney, Australia, and randomly assigned to either the opioid group or the placebo group. The study took six years to complete.
Patients were excluded from the study if they had serious spinal pathology, which could be related to injuries like a fracture, an illness, or a surgery, among other things.
The study focused on acute-onset back pain, which can be caused by everything from twisting or turning awkwardly to how you sleep, says McLachlan. For this type of nonspecific pain, he says, "you can't really take an X-ray and say, 'This is the problem.' "
Participants didn't know if they were receiving the medication or a placebo. The opioid group received a combination of oxycodone and naloxone, a medication that had the effect of minimizing gastrointestinal side effects related to the opioids, particularly constipation, so that participants wouldn't realize they were in the treatment group.
Naloxone, a drug used to treat overdoses, reverses the effects of opioids when given intravenously, under the skin or as a nasal spray, but not when given orally because it doesn't reach the blood supply, says McLachlan.
SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS
Got neck and back pain? Break up your work day with these 5 exercises for relief
At six weeks, there was no significant difference in the pain scores between the two groups. The same was true after 12 weeks.
McLachlan says they focused on pain severity after six weeks because that would give enough time to gradually increase dosing until patients reached their optimal dose, up to 20 milligrams of oxycodone a day.
Prior research indicates that opioids can have a small but detectable effect on relieving chronic pain, McLachlan says. "This trial fills the gap by showing, even though people may have moderate to severe low back pain, opioids don't seem to be the choice for them because they don't provide any benefit" over this shorter period of time.
And the study showed that taking opioids appeared to confer additional risk.
When participants were surveyed a year later to gauge whether they had certain risk factors for opioid misuse, 20% of those in the opioid group had a score indicating behaviors that a doctor would find problematic when prescribing opioids. That's compared to 10% in the placebo group.
Findings could stir controversy
The results are sure to stir up debate about how to treat patients who are dealing with bouts of acute back pain.
Medical guidelines in the U.S. already caution against using opioids as a first choice when treating patients with acute pain, but opioids can be recommended when those other forms of treatment are not working.
"It's a well-designed trial," says Richard Deyo, a family medicine doctor and an emeritus professor at Oregon Health and Science University. "It's going to ruffle feathers, and I think there'll be a lot of controversy."
The study underscores a significant blind spot in the evidence around the prescribing of opioids for acute back pain, says Deyo, so much so that it's somewhat shocking a study like this hadn't been done sooner.
"We thought we knew the answer," he says, "But as it often turns out, when we actually ask some of the most fundamental questions and go after a rigorous answer, we sometimes discover a surprise."
The results should not be applied to acute pain more broadly and should be replicated before decisions are made about modifying guidelines and "changing the care for thousands, if not millions of people," says Dr. Mark Sullivan, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle.
SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS
Back pain shouldn't stop you from cooking at home. Here's how to adapt
"This is just one trial, but if its findings are true, then it looks like the benefits of opioid treatment for a back pain episode are less and the risks are higher than we've assumed," he says, noting the increased risk of opioid misuse among those who received opioids in the study.
A 'good' study, but how relevant?
Even with trial's careful design — considered the gold standard for studying treatment outcomes — the results don't necessarily reflect the full reality of treating acute pain in the U.S., says Dr. Narouze, chair at the Center for Pain Medicine at Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
Rather than being offered short-acting opioids to take as needed, the treatment group received long-acting opioids in the trial and were instructed to take them twice a day, which he says "defeats the purpose for acute pain" because the goal is to give the patient pain relief quickly and when needed.
"The regimen they used was really unorthodox, at least in the United States," he says. "We do not treat acute pain with long-acting opioids."
Whether short-acting opioids would have made a difference isn't clear, but Narouze says the study's design doesn't make the findings applicable to situations when patients are on other opioid regimens.
The study also only applies to a very specific patient population — those with nonspecific back pain that started recently — which tends to be related to musculoskeletal issues, he says. "We cannot generalize this data to other pain groups," he says. "This is only one study, although it's a very good study."
University of Michigan's Bicket says it's clear that opioids work very well at relieving pain for short periods of time, for example after serious physical trauma or when recovering from surgery.
"Most of our questions are about is that benefit continuing and going to extend for pain that lasts beyond just a couple of days?" he says.
This study shouldn't be taken as the final word, but Bicket says it does add further weight to the idea that other treatments besides prescription opioids should be emphasized for low back pain.
"This one study won't rewrite the guidelines entirely," he says." I think it will motivate many future studies to be done both for back pain as well as for other conditions where we think prescription opioids may be appropriate."
neck pain
opioid painkillers
pain relief
back pain
opioids
Facebook
Flipboard
Email
| 515
|
The next president's $4 trillion problem
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-26-1519/politics-next-presidents-4-trillion-problem
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.axios.com/2023/06/26/president-2025-trump-biden-tax-health-care-debt
|
-
| 516
|
Documents show how conservative doctors influenced abortion, trans rights
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-15-1541/abortion-documents-show-how-conservative-doctors-influenced-abortion-trans
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/06/15/abortion-transgender-christian-doctors/
|
More than 10,000 confidential files from the American College of Pediatricians were exposed after the organization left the contents of its Google Drive publicly accessible. (Washington Post illustration)
Listen
15 min
Share
Comment
A small group of conservative doctors has sought to shape the nation’s most contentious policies on abortion and transgender rights by promoting views rejected by the medical establishment as scientific fact, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post that describe the group’s internal strategies.
The records show that after long struggling to attract members, the American College of Pediatricians gained outsize political influence in recent years, primarily by using conservative media as a megaphone in its quest to position the group as a reputable source of information.
The organization has successfully lobbied since 2021 for laws in more than a half-dozen states that ban gender-affirming care for transgender youths, with its representatives testifying before state legislatures against the guidelines recommended by mainstream medical groups, according to its records. It gained further national prominence this year as one of the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit to limit access to mifepristone, a key abortion drug.
With Roe v. Wade overturned, the legality of abortion has been left to the states. Some worry that access to certain types of contraception could be next. (Video: Julie Yoon, Hadley Green, Sarah Hashemi/The Washington Post)
Despite efforts to invoke the credibility of the medical profession, the American College of Pediatricians is viewed with skepticism by the medical establishment. For years, the group has presented statistics and talking points to state legislators, public school officials and the American public as settled science while internal documents emphasize how religion and morality influence its positions. Meeting minutes from 2021 describe how the organization worked with religious groups to “affect the idea makers through the high courts, professional literature, and legislatures.”
Advertisement
It promotes conversion therapy, a discredited practice intended to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ people that most medical societies warn can result in harm. Pediatric experts deemed a June 2022 report crafted by the group that undergirds a new Florida policy banning transgender care for Medicaid recipients as “unscientific.” Francis Collins, former longtime director of the National Institutes of Health, accused the group in 2010 of distorting his research to “make a point against homosexuality.”
play
Play now
NaN min
Follow on
Podcast episode
Jill Simons, executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, disputed criticism that her organization promotes policies that do not follow science. “Our recommendations are based on the medical research and what is best for children,” she said.
Her organization exists to represent “all the good pediatricians out there who agree with us who maybe are afraid to step forward,” Simons, a Minneapolis pediatrician, said in an interview with The Post. “Very smart people in the field of medicine have disagreed with a lot of the so-called consensus that is out there.”
Advertisement
Sam Wineburg, a Stanford University psychologist who studies online disinformation, highlights the American College of Pediatricians in his research as an example of a group that uses its name and scientific jargon to convey authority.
“It looks like an official medical organization, and you’re easily duped into thinking that this is the umbrella organization for pediatricians in the United States,” Wineburg said, noting the group has “all of the superficial bells and whistles of credibility.”
The records of the American College of Pediatricians — a cache of more than 10,000 confidential files including strategic plans, meeting minutes, membership rosters, financial statements and email exchanges spanning at least 15 years — were exposed after the organization left the contents of its Google Drive publicly accessible, according to two people who individually accessed the material following the inadvertent breach and shared copies with The Post. The Post examined the documents’ metadata, including the dates of each file’s creation and modification, to determine that they have not been recently manipulated. The document breach was first reported by Wired.
Advertisement
Simons characterized the exposure as a “malicious cyberattack and hate crime” that was “intended to intimidate and incapacitate.” She would not comment on the contents of the documents.
“Those who are against us know that they can’t beat us in debate about the facts of science or the research,” Simons said. “This deliberate attack on us shows that the American College of Pediatricians is having a huge impact, and that they’re afraid of us.”
The organization’s quest to ban the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors has culminated in a string of recent legislative wins following lobbying in at least eight states, internal documents show.
Arkansas first enacted such a law in 2021, after Michelle Cretella, then executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, described such care as “experimental and dangerous” to legislators. A federal appeals court temporarily blocked it.
Advertisement
Versions of the law have since passed at least 20 other state legislatures, including Florida, Idaho, Indiana, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Missouri, Montana, Texas, North Dakota and Louisiana this spring alone; some face court challenges and one was vetoed by a governor. Similar bills are making their way through legislatures in North Carolina and Ohio.
At the federal level, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), an OB/GYN, recently reintroduced legislation endorsed by the American College of Pediatricians that would prevent doctors from performing “gender transition procedures” on minors and bar federal funds from being used for such procedures. Marshall’s spokesperson said he is not a member of the group.
The American College of Pediatricians formed in 2002 after dozens of conservative doctors split from the nation’s leading interest group of pediatricians, the 67,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics, over the academy’s support for same-sex parenting. The academy had determined from its review of scientific literature that children with same-sex parents fare as well as those with heterosexual parents in emotional, cognitive, social and sexual functioning.
Advertisement
Joseph Zanga, founder of the American College of Pediatricians, who had led the American Academy of Pediatrics in the late 1990s, described the splinter organization as “a Judeo-Christian, traditional-values organization” in a 2003 interview with the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, which promoted conversion therapy. His organization’s core beliefs are “that life begins at conception, and that the traditional family unit, headed by an opposite-sex couple, poses far fewer risk factors in the adoption and raising of children,” he said at the time. Zanga declined a Post request for an interview.
Internal records from 2010 show how the group tied homosexuality to health risks — even death — in a letter campaign to educators, citing a 1991 study to demonstrate that for each year adolescents delay “self-labeling as ‘gay’,” the risk of suicide decreases by 20 percent.
According to more recent research, suicide risk rises with therapy directed at changing sexual orientation. Lesbian, gay and bisexual people who experienced conversion therapy were almost twice as likely to think about suicide and to attempt suicide compared with peers who had not experienced conversion therapy, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
Advertisement
The 2010 letter from the American College of Pediatricians to 14,800 public school superintendents urged school officials not to affirm any student expressing homosexuality. It directed them to a website operated by the group that pushed “sexual reorientation therapy” for those with “unwanted homosexual attractions.”
Share this article
Collins, the former NIH director who led the international Human Genome Project, said in a written statement at the time that the American College of Pediatricians pulled language out of context from his 2006 book to “support an ideology that can cause unnecessary anguish and encourage prejudice.” The group’s characterization of homosexuality in its letter to superintendents is “misleading and incorrect, and it is particularly troubling that they are distributing it in a way that will confuse school children and their parents,” Collins said.
In recent years, the group has trained its focus on transgender care.
Advertisement
Records show the American College of Pediatricians launched a campaign against a St. Louis-based Catholic health system’s transgender care policy in 2017 after SSM Health outlined guidance that included hormone therapy and potential referrals for “gender assignment surgery.”
Cretella, then president of the American College of Pediatricians, urged the archbishop of St. Louis at the time, Robert Carlson, to issue a statement “that will denounce SSM Health’s embrace of transgender ideology over science and sound medical ethics, and demand that they rescind this policy,” according to a Feb. 8, 2017, letter.
Carlson, in his March 31, 2017, response, informed Cretella that he had contacted other bishops who had SSM hospitals in their diocese or archdiocese. Carlson also included a copy of a letter to SSM Health requesting the system cease the implementation of the transgender treatment policy within the next 30 days and revise it in accordance with Catholic moral theology.
Advertisement
SSM Health, which operates hospitals in Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, told The Post it changed its transgender care policy in 2018 to comply with Catholic directives, but it would not say how the policy changed.
Kellan Baker, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Institute, a D.C.-based research, policy and advocacy center focused on LGBTQ health, accused the American College of Pediatricians of “intentionally and aggressively laundering pseudoscience through this veneer of respectability.”
“At first blush without knowing what’s actually behind it, you would think it is a pediatric medical professional organization,” Baker said. “It’s not. It’s a tiny group of fringe conservatives who didn’t like the fact that the field was leaving them behind.”
The group serves as a “vital counterweight” to the “ideological capture” facing medical societies, said Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank that he said relies on the American College of Pediatricians for scientific expertise.
“They have had the courage to take stands in court and to speak as medical professionals in relating their experience when it comes to questions of human dignity in unborn life, freedom of conscience, and the protection of children,” Severino said.
But Mark Del Monte, chief executive of the American Academy of Pediatrics, noted the vast differences in membership size and policies between his more established, widely respected organization and the similarly named American College of Pediatricians.
“To the extent that people would be confused about who was presenting evidence-based science, that is a concern for us,” Del Monte said. “Every policy statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics represents a rigorous review of the available scientific evidence and an extensive writing process that includes extensive peer review — and a unanimous vote by the board.”
The academy, which said more than 95 percent of its members are physicians, has pointed to “strong consensus among the most prominent medical organizations worldwide that evidence-based, gender-affirming care for transgender children and adolescents is medically necessary and appropriate.”
Records from early 2022 show membership of the American College of Pediatricians at about 700 people — just over 60 percent of whom self-identified as possessing medical degrees, including some holding prominent positions as hospital chiefs and a state health commissioner. The group, citing privacy, would not comment on the size or makeup of its membership.
Documents show the American College of Pediatricians worrying about its finances and trying to expand its reach in recent years. The group, supported by membership fees and donors, reported $123,131 in available funds as of January 2022, according to its financial spreadsheets.
The organization sent 15,000 mailers to “conservative” physicians between 2018 and 2019, according to postal receipts and spreadsheets of names and addresses. One 2018 planning document instructed the group to “TARGET CHRISTIAN MDs” in red letters as well as recruit pediatricians in “red states.” It also suggested contacting academics who have doctorates in sociology, epidemiology and bioethics.
Among the most prominent names listed on its internal membership records: John Hellerstedt, the Texas health commissioner from 2016 until 2022. Hellerstedt, in two phone conversations, declined to be interviewed.
Other members run departments at major hospitals in Ohio, Tennessee and Texas, as well as a school health service in California, according to a Post analysis of the group’s membership list.
While agendas show the group opened and closed its meetings with prayer, Simons said, “We’re not a religious organization. Many of our members are people of faith.”
The group found an eager audience through conservative media, including the Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham shows on Fox News, the documents detail. Since 2016, the American College of Pediatricians has been mentioned in more than 200 articles published by conservative news sites such as Breitbart, Daily Wire, the Epoch Times, the Washington Examiner, the Blaze and the Gateway Pundit, according to a Post analysis. Its profile has continued to rise. The volume of articles mentioning the group during the first four months of 2023 was five times that of the same period in 2020, according to GDELT’s online news database.
“They’re part of a coordinated, politically motivated anti-science ecosystem,” said Peter Hotez, dean of Baylor College of Medicine’s National School of Tropical Medicine and an expert in misinformation.
Cretella, whose Rhode Island medical license expired in 2020, according to state medical board records, equated transgender care to child abuse during an appearance on Carlson’s show in July 2017. Neither Cretella nor the American College of Pediatricians responded to questions about the circumstances leading to the expiration of her medical license.
A senior booker on Carlson’s show contacted Cretella and other doctors affiliated with the group in August 2017 to respond to a Denver Post story about a transgender professional cyclist, according to emails in the documents. “How would a male who is now a female not be at an advantage?” the booker wrote.
“Scientifically speaking, all we can say is that a man dressed in chemical drag is still a man who should not be allowed to compete in women sports,” replied Cretella, who was unable to appear on the show that night.
She suggested the booker contact another member, Paul Hruz, a pediatrics professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who voiced concern about children seeking hormone therapy during his appearance on the show. In a 2022 opinion on a North Carolina lawsuit over state coverage of gender-affirming care, a U.S. district judge excluded some of Hruz’s testimony on transgender care after deeming it “unreliable” and lacking scientific basis. After initially agreeing to an interview, Hruz did not respond to subsequent outreach from The Post.
Despite its prominence in conservative circles, the group was concerned it had an image problem, documents show. The Southern Poverty Law Center had designated the American College of Pediatricians as a “hate group” in 2012 for its anti-LGBTQ positions — a label that Amazon said prevented the American College of Pediatricians from receiving donations through the company’s now-defunct charity program, AmazonSmile. The group complained to Amazon, calling its policy unfair, according to emails to the company between 2014 and 2017. The company denied the group’s appeals, writing “that decision is final” in its September 2017 response. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Post.)
Slides for a 2018 American College of Pediatricians board meeting focused on recruiting featured an image of Ku Klux Klan members titled “Perception” as well as an image of Justice League superheroes titled “What Our Friends Think of Us,” illustrating how drastically opinion about the group varied, with some viewing them as villains and others as heroes.
Since 2006, the group has partnered with other conservative organizations to file amicus briefs across at least 30 high-profile cases pertaining to same-sex marriage, gay parental rights, abortion and, in later years, transgender issues, according to a 2021 “funding request prospectus.” The group had also submitted an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade last year, emphasizing the group’s belief in the “sanctity of human life.”
The recent release of internal documents has only amplified its cause, said Simons, the group’s executive director. The group is now fundraising for “cyberattack recovery efforts.”
“There’s a silent majority out there that stands with us,” she said. “This act has awoken a sleeping giant.”
The Heritage Foundation sent out a fundraising appeal on behalf of the American College of Pediatricians following the exposure of its internal documents: “It’s more important than ever for us to stand together — and support our pro-life, pro-American ally, American College of Pediatricians.”
Kevin Crowe contributed to this report.
Share
Comments
View more
| 517
|
How long you breastfeed may impact your child’s test scores later, study shows
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-06-0507/family-and-marriage-how-long-you-breastfeed-may-impact-your-child-s-test-scores
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/05/health/breastfeeding-test-scores-wellness/index.html
|
While there are many potential benefits to breastfeeding, it won't work for everyone, experts said .
thianchai sitthikongsak/Moment RF/Getty Images
CNN
—
Whether children were breastfed as infants and for how long may have an impact on their test scores when they are adolescents, according to new research.
The report, published Monday in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, followed about 5,000 British children from their infancy in the early 2000s to their last year of high school, according to lead study author Dr. Reneé Pereyra-Elías, a doctoral student and researcher in the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford.
Careful hygiene with powdered formula and breast pump equipment can help prevent dangerous bacteria infection, CDC report warns
The children were divided into groups based on how long they were breastfed: not at all, a few months, or for a year or more, according to the study. Researchers then compared the children’s results in the UK’s General Certificate of Secondary Education testing in their final years of secondary school.
What the study team found was that there was a modest improvement in test scores associated with being breastfed longer, Pereyra-Elías said.
Compared with those who never had breast milk, children who were breastfed for at least 12 months were 39% more likely to have a high pass for both math and English GCSE exams and were 25% less likely to fail the English exam.
But that does not mean that every family must breastfeed their child, Pereyra-Elías said.
It isn’t possible for every family to breastfeed, and those who don’t should not be shamed or feel guilty that they might be putting their children at a disadvantage, he said.
The analysis is careful and especially strong due to the size of its sample, said Dr. Kevin McConway, professor emeritus of applied statistics at the Open University in England.
McConway was not involved in the research.
“Though the results are certainly interesting, you have to bear in mind the limitations that inevitably arise in research using observational data from major cohort studies,” McConway added.
The link between breastfeeding and test scores
The fact that the study was observational means it followed people’s behavior rather than randomly assigning the behavior in question, McConway noted.
Consequently, the results only show a correlation between breastfeeding and test scores — not causation.
“It’s not possible to be certain about what’s causing what,” he said.
In the United Kingdom, mothers who have a higher socioeconomic position are more likely to breastfeed their children, and their children are more likely to do well in school, McConway said.
“That doesn’t mean that it’s the breastfeeding that causes the children to do well at school — obviously it could be some other aspect of the fact that their family is relatively well off,” he added.
It could be that something about breastfeeding causes children to be more likely to do well on their exams, but it could also be that another independent factor influences both the chances that the child will be breastfed and do well on their tests, McConway said.
The researchers tried to control for many factors that might influence their results, like the mother’s cognitive ability, but they couldn’t account for everything in an observational study, Pereyra-Elías said.
“There may be some confounding factors,” he said. “We did the best we could.”
The benefits of breastfeeding
The study showed test results as one of many possible benefits of breastfeeding, said Dr. Andrew Whitelaw, professor emeritus of neonatal medicine at the University of Bristol in England. Whitelaw was not involved in the research.
Health experts call for an end to exploitative baby formula milk marketing tactics
The difference this study showed was modest, Pereyra-Elías added, meaning that it does not make a big enough difference on the test scores that it should cause parents worry, Pereyra-Elías said.
The takeaway is that families in general should be encouraged to breastfeed because of multiple possible benefits, but that it still may not be best for each individual family, he said.
And more studies need to be done to confirm the findings — especially ones that account for the variables among families, Pereyra-Elías said.
“Even though these questions have been around for almost a century, we still do not have a definitive answer,” he said.
| 518
|
Revealed: The secret push to bury a weedkiller’s link to Parkinson’s disease
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-04-0752/healthcare-revealed-secret-push-bury-weedkiller-s-link-parkinson-s-disease
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/02/paraquat-parkinsons-disease-research-syngenta-weedkiller
|
A tractor sprays chemicals on a field. Photograph: Leonid Eremeychuk/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Internal documents from chemical giant Syngenta reveal tactics to sponsor sympathetic scientific papers and mislead regulators about unfavorable research
by Carey Gillam
Supported by
About this content
Fri 2 Jun 2023 13.00 CEST
Last modified on Fri 2 Jun 2023 16.20 CEST
The global chemical giant Syngenta has sought to secretly influence scientific research regarding links between its top-selling weedkiller and Parkinson’s, internal corporate documents show.
While numerous independent researchers have determined that the weedkiller, paraquat, can cause neurological changes that are hallmarks of Parkinson’s, Syngenta has always maintained that the evidence linking paraquat to Parkinson’s disease is “fragmentary” and “inconclusive”.
But the scientific record they point to as proof of paraquat’s safety is the same one that Syngenta officials, scientists and lawyers in the US and the UK have worked over decades to create and at times, covertly manipulate, according to the trove of internal Syngenta files reviewed by the Guardian and the New Lede.
The files reveal an array of tactics, including enlisting a prominent UK scientist and other outside researchers who authored scientific literature that did not disclose any involvement with Syngenta; misleading regulators about the existence of unfavorable research conducted by its own scientists; and engaging lawyers to review and suggest edits for scientific reports in ways that downplayed worrisome findings.
A detail from a Syngenta internal document about its Swat team.
The files also show that Syngenta created what officials called a “Swat team” to be ready to respond to new independent scientific reports that could interfere with Syngenta’s “freedom to sell” paraquat. The group, also referred to as “Paraquat Communications Management Team”, was to convene “immediately on notification” of the publication of a new study, “triage the situation” and plan a response, including commissioning a “scientific critique”.
A key goal was to “create an international scientific consensus against the hypothesis that paraquat is a risk factor for Parkinson’s disease,” the documents state.
In another example of a company tactic, an outside lawyer hired by Syngenta to work with its scientists was asked to review and suggest edits on internal meeting minutes regarding paraquat safety. The lawyer pushed scientists to alter “problematic language” and scientific conclusions deemed “unhelpful” to the corporate defense of paraquat.
Syngenta’s decision to involve lawyers in the editing of its scientific reports and other communications in ways that downplayed concerning findings potentially related to public health is unacceptable, said Wendy Wagner, a law professor at the University of Texas who has served on several National Academies of Science committees. “Clearly the lawyers are involved in order to limit liability,” she said.
“It happens regularly in cases where a corporation’s internal research puts it at a high risk of expensive lawsuits. Regrettably, this kind of effective legal ghostwriting of scientific reports happens far too often in the chemical industry. Scientifically it doesn’t seem acceptable,” Wagner said.
When asked to comment about the contents of the documents, a Syngenta spokesperson said: “We care deeply about the health and wellbeing of farmers and are dedicated to providing them safe and effective products. As a responsible company, we have spent millions of dollars on testing our products to make them safe for their intended use.”
Syngenta further said there had been more than 1,200 studies of paraquat and none have “established a causal connection between paraquat and Parkinson’s disease”.
Q&A
Syngenta’s response - at length
Show
Many scientists disagree with that position, however. Paraquat has been shown in some research to increase the risk of Parkinson’s by 150% and is cited in a 2020 book, Ending Parkinson’s Disease, by four of the world’s leading neurologists as a causal factor for the disease.
The documents revealing Syngenta’s efforts to influence science build on other evidence of questionable corporate practices with regard to paraquat. A set of internal documents revealed last year by the Guardian and the New Lede made clear, among other things, that Syngenta had evidence 50 years ago that paraquat could accumulate in the human brain.
Those documents showed that Syngenta was aware decades ago of evidence that exposure to paraquat could impair the central nervous system, triggering tremors and other symptoms in experimental animals similar to those suffered by people with Parkinson’s.
They also showed that Syngenta worked covertly to keep a highly regarded scientist studying causes of Parkinson’s from sitting on an advisory panel for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the chief US regulator for paraquat and other pesticides.
The new documents have emerged at a sensitive time for Syngenta. In less than six months, the Swiss chemical giant faces a first-ever trial in litigation brought by US farmers and others who allege the company’s paraquat weedkiller causes Parkinson’s.
‘Influence future work’ by researchers
It was 2003, and Syngenta officials should have been celebrating: the company’s self-proclaimed “blockbuster” paraquat herbicide product, sold under the brand name Gramoxone, was considered one of the world’s top weedkillers, used by farmers across the globe. Sales of $420m were forecast for steady growth.
But at the same time, multiple independent researchers were increasingly reporting evidence that the herbicide might be a cause of rising levels of Parkinson’s, a disease particularly seen in farmers. Roughly 90,000 Americans are diagnosed each year with Parkinson’s. Symptoms include tremors, rigidity of the muscles, a loss of coordination, and difficulty speaking.
In the face of the developing research, the new documents show, Syngenta decided that it needed a “coherent strategy across all disciplines focusing on external influencing, that proactively diffuses the potential threats that we face”, according to the minutes of a June 2003 company meeting.
To achieve that goal, the company set several objectives, including attempting to “influence future work by external researchers where possible”.
A key strategy was the engagement of scientists outside the company who could write papers that supported Syngenta’s defense of paraquat.
Similar strategies have been pursued by other chemical companies and in other industries when safety questions arose about profitable products. Monsanto, for example, was found to have ghostwritten scientific studies about a widely used chemical called glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide.
Syngenta signage is displayed outside the company’s booth during the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois, in August 2017. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
The newly uncovered records show that among the scientists with which Syngenta had a consulting arrangement was the prominent British pathologist Sir Colin Berry, who in 2003 became president of the British Academy of Forensic Sciences.
According to testimony given in a deposition by the top Syngenta scientist Philip Botham, and other records, Berry became a participant in Syngenta’s “extended health science team”, attending company meetings on paraquat. The company had several similar relationships with outside scientists who authored papers to submit to scientific journals, the records show.
Berry co-authored a paper published in 2010 titled “Paraquat and Parkinson’s Disease” in Cell Death & Differentiation, a journal owned by the Nature Portfolio, It concluded that the link between paraquat and Parkinson’s was weak and evidence linking the chemical to the disease was “limited” and based on “insufficient” data. Along with Berry, two other external scientists were listed as authors.
The paper’s ethics declaration did not disclose that any of the three had a relationship with Syngenta specifically. It only stated that “the researchers have worked with pharmaceutical and chemical companies as external advisors. This work reflects their scientific experience and independent views.”
But a memorandum from a lawyer advising Syngenta suggests that the work was not independent. The memo stresses the “importance of proactively publishing research studies that discredit the alleged connection between paraquat and Parkinson’s disease” – and cites, in this context, the “continuing (Syngenta-sponsored) work” by Berry and the other two authors of the 2010 paper.
Part of an internal document describing the ‘Syngenta-sponsored’ work of three scientists.
The same memorandum noted that public knowledge of “Syngenta-sponsored” work could have “adverse consequences”.
Syngenta cites the study on its “Paraquat information center” website.
When asked about his work for Syngenta, Berry acknowledged an ongoing relationship, but said the 2010 paper was not “sponsored” by the company. He said he currently served as chair of a Syngenta “ethics committee”.
Another author of the paper, Pierluigi Nicotera, scientific director and chairman of the executive board of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, said that his consultant arrangement with Syngenta ended in 2008 and he was not paid to write the 2010 article. He said the paper “reflected the views of the authors based on the available data at the time”. He said he did not know why Syngenta would refer to work by him and Berry and the other author as company sponsored.
“As of today, I do remain strongly skeptical about the link between use of paraquat and Parkinson,” Nicotera said. “A link between exposure and disease is only suggested by epidemiological studies, which as you know, do not establish a cause effect relationship, but only generic risks.”
The third author did not respond to a request for comment.
Animal experiments
Though it worked to publicize research that supported paraquat safety, Syngenta kept quiet about a series of in-house animal experiments that analysed paraquat impacts in the brains of mice, according to company records and deposition testimony.
Scientists who study Parkinson’s disease have established that symptoms develop when dopamine-producing neurons in a specific area of the brain called the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) are lost or otherwise degenerate. Without sufficient dopamine production, the brain is not capable of transmitting signals between cells to control movement and balance.
The Syngenta scientist Louise Marks did a series of mouse studies between 2003 and 2007 that confirmed the same type of brain impacts from paraquat exposure that outside researchers had found. She concluded that paraquat injections in the laboratory mice resulted in a “statistically significant” loss of dopamine levels in the substantia nigra pars compacta.
Empty containers of herbicide at a farm in San José de la Esquina, Argentina, in January 2023. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Syngenta did not publish the Marks research, nor share the results with the EPA. Instead, the documents show that when Syngenta met with EPA officials in February 2013 to update the agency on its internal research on the potential for paraquat to cause Parkinson’s disease, there was no mention of the adverse findings of the Marks studies. Instead, Syngenta told the EPA that internal studies showed high doses of paraquat did not reduce the dopamine-producing neurons, directly contrary to Marks’s conclusions.
In a follow-up “Paraquat Research Program Update” presentation to EPA officials in February 2017, Syngenta held to that position. The presentation stated that a series of Syngenta animal studies found no “statistically significant effect of [paraquat] on dopaminergic neuronal cell numbers”. Again, the company did not mention the study findings by Marks to the EPA, according to deposition testimony from the Syngenta executive Montague Dixon, who acts as the company’s main liaison to the EPA.
The presentation to the EPA concluded that paraquat had “no effect” in the brain and that a “causal relationship between paraquat and Parkinson’s was “not supported”.
Sign up to Down to Earth
Free weekly newsletter
The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
When asked in the deposition if the information presented to the EPA was “a lie”, Dixon said that Syngenta was not hiding the results of the Marks studies from the EPA, but was instead choosing to focus on other studies. The presentation to the EPA was “not geared to the Dr Marks studies”, Dixon said in the deposition.
It was not until 2019 that the company told the EPA about the Marks research – and only after being pressured to do so by an attorney who was by then suing the company on behalf of people with Parkinson’s disease.
A Syngenta communication describing the work of its Swat team.
While Syngenta determined which studies to share with the EPA, company officials were also on alert for outside research related to paraquat and Parkinson’s. Part of that involved the internal unit Syngenta referred to as its “Swat team”.
The work of the Syngenta Swat team included not just scientists but representatives from the company’s legal department and corporate affairs, and involved a variety of potential tactics for responding to independent scientific papers, the records show. In a 2011 email, designated “CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION”, flagged an epidemiology study analysing risk factors for causes of Parkinson’s by non-Syngenta scientists to be addressed by the Swat team for a response.
Suggested actions included production of a company “position statement” or a “broader critical review of the approach” used by the outside researchers in their paper.
Bringing in the lawyers
It was early 2008 when Syngenta scientists gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, to discuss the latest research looking at paraquat and Parkinson’s disease. A corporate defense lawyer named Jeffrey Wolff attended the meeting.
Part of a Syngenta communication about labeling ‘study work’ with confidentiality markings.
Though the meeting was ostensibly called as a “Scientific Review”, Wolff spent 30 minutes advising the scientists on how they should be taking notes and managing their communications in ways that might allow the company to later keep the work from public view by claiming “attorney client privilege” in the event of litigation, according to deposition testimony of a top Syngenta scientist, and internal documents.
Wolff “was giving us guidance on how to communicate”, the scientist Philip Botham said in his deposition.
“Action notes” from that meeting stated “Study work should be labelled Work Product Doctrine Material Confidential, and carry the Attorney Client Privilege statement.”
Wolff then became more deeply involved, records show. The lawyer was asked to comment on a paraquat science strategy document detailing a plan for certain paraquat studies to be carried out, and sent back comments “directed at improving it in the event it falls into the hands of adversaries”.
In July 2008, an in-house Syngenta lawyer emailed Wolff for his “review and comment” on notes and minutes of internal meetings related to a risk assessment of paraquat exposure. The in-house lawyers told Wolff that there were “a number of statements in the paper which taken out of context would potentially be unhelpful”.
An email from lawyer Jeffrey Wolff in which he expresses concerns about ‘blunt statements’ in a Syngenta presentation.
For example, Syngenta scientists had written that, in laboratory tests with paraquat, “The one consistent finding from the body of animal studies is the loss of dopaminergic neurones in the substantia nigra pars compacta (of male mice.) This finding is judged to be real, to be related to treatment and to be adverse in nature. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is prudent to assume that this finding is potentially qualitatively relevant to man.”
Wolff wrote back suggesting the removal of the words “and to be adverse in nature”, questioning the phrasing of the relevance to humans, and other changes, agreeing with the in-house attorney that the statement overall was “unhelpful”.
Among other instances, in 2009, records show that Wolff worked with an in-house company lawyer to edit a presentation by a company scientist for Syngenta’s leadership team titled “Paraquat and Parkinson’s Disease”.
Wolff expressed concerns about “blunt statements” and the “sensitive nature of the subject”, and advised that only a single electronic copy be presented because it was “not in Syngenta’s interest for multiple copies of this document to be in circulation”.
In one key edit, Wolff suggested deleting a statement that read: “The combination of experimental data and epidemiological data provides plausibility to the claim that PQ [paraquat] is implicated in PD [Parkinson’s disease].”
Wolff also took issue with a statement that said only a small percentage of Parkinson’s cases were genetic, with the “majority resulting from gene-environment or environmental causes”. Wolff suggested, instead, that the presentation say “The great majority of PD cases are idiopathic or of unknown cause.”
Today it is well-established that the vast majority of Parkinson’s cases are not caused by genetics, and that environmental factors, including air pollution and pesticides, play an important role.
In another round of edits to a scientific slide show, Wolff recommended the deletion of a statement that said “We can show loss of cells” in the substantia nigra pars compacta. The statement was “an unhelpful admission verifying unhelpful claims which have been made in the literature” about paraquat. He said the observation could be made verbally.
He additionally asked the scientists to revise a slide that he said “suggests that [paraquat] exposure leads to cell death and direct damage to neuronal cells”. The records show revised slides were created.
In 2009, Wolff went a step further, discussing legal involvement in the production of research. He advised the company about using outside legal counsel in preparing for an epidemiology study, which would involve discussions with former workers about their exposure to paraquat at a company plant in Widnes, north-west England.
A communication from lawyer Jeffrey Wolff in which he discusses if interviews with former Syngenta workers in Widnes would be confidential.
A company scientist planned to do the interviews. But Wolff wrote in the memo that if the scientist did the interviews “it is highly likely that any information he learns or written interview summaries he prepares would not be protected by either the attorney-client or the work-product privileges”.
Interviews performed by a lawyer, on the other hand, could be kept confidential more easily. “The highest level of protection would be provided if the interviews were conducted by outside counsel.”
Wolff did not respond to a request for comment.
‘Revolving door’
The involvement of lawyers with the scientists at Syngenta appears similar to highly criticized practices by the tobacco industry in the 1970s and ’80s that downplayed the dangers of smoking, said Thomas McGarity, former EPA legal adviser and co-author of the 2008 book titled Bending Science: How Special Interests Corrupt Public Health Research.
“It looks like the paraquat maker has adopted nearly every strategy we outlined in our book about bending science,” McGarity said.
“Science matters. We have to be able to depend on science,” he said. “When it is perverted, when it is manipulated, then we get bad results. And one result is that pesticides that cause terrible things like Parkinson’s remain on the market.”
A tractor sprays pesticide over a green field. Photograph: fotokostic/Getty Images/iStockphoto
When he worked at the EPA, pesticide lobbyists were so persistent in trying to influence officials, that agency staffers referred to them as “hall crawlers”, McGarity said.
The agency has a history of close relationships with industry, and critics say there is a “revolving door” of employees who move between the two, resulting in lax regulation.
Indeed, the trove of Syngenta documents reveal that its law firm hired a retired top EPA official as an expert witness to help defend the company in the litigation. Jack Housenger, director until February 2017 of the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs, which is the main regulator of paraquat and other pesticides, agreed to do so for $300 an hour.
Housenger did not respond to a request for comment. In a report that he wrote for Syngenta’s defense, he said that the EPA had conducted an “in-depth look” into the association between paraquat and Parkinson’s and found there is “insufficient evidence” of a relationship between the weedkiller and the disease.
Q&A
The Syngenta documents
Show
* This story is co-published with the New Lede, a journalism project of the Environmental Working Group. Carey Gillam is managing editor of the New Lede and the author of two books addressing glyphosate: Whitewash (2017) and The Monsanto Papers (2021)
Explore more on these topics
America's dirty divide
Medical research
Farming
features
Reuse this content
| 519
|
'I'll lose my family.' A husband's dread during an abortion ordeal in Oklahoma
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-01-1607/abortion-ill-lose-my-family-husbands-dread-during-abortion-ordeal-oklahoma
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/01/1172973274/oklahoma-abortion-ban-exception-life-of-mother-molar-pregnancy
|
DAYS & WEEKS
'I'll lose my family.' A husband's dread during an abortion ordeal in Oklahoma
Updated May 1, 202310:44 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
Selena Simmons-Duffin
6-Minute Listen
PLAYLIST
Enlarge this image
Dustin and Jaci Statton in an engagement photo from 2021. Jaci found out she had a partial molar pregnancy and couldn't get the abortion she needed in Oklahoma. They traveled to Kansas for care.
Rachel Megan Photography
Before February, Jaci Statton wasn't particularly focused on Oklahoma's abortion bans. "I was like, 'Well, that's not going to affect me. I won't ever need one,' " she says.
She's 25 and lives in central Oklahoma with her husband, Dustin, and their three kids — two 7-year-olds and an 8-year-old. They are a blended family with two kids from Jaci's previous marriage and one from Dustin's.
"And I have two dogs — I gotta throw that in there, too," she laughs. She's a stay-at-home mom, and Dustin is an oil field technician. They also have a fishing guide business — she says she and her family go fishing every day.
6 weeks: Picking out baby names
Jaci and Dustin were using birth control but took an "if it happens, it happens" attitude towards pregnancy, she says.
Then, in mid-February, she started to feel really sick — nauseous and dizzy and weak. The first few pregnancy tests came back negative, but after several trips to the hospital, a blood test confirmed it: She was pregnant.
"We got excited — picked out baby names, bought baby stuff," she says.
8 Weeks: 'You could bleed out'
Jaci Statton was in her kitchen, weeks later on Feb. 28, when she felt like she was going to faint. "I just looked down and there is blood everywhere," she says. "My husband grabbed the kids, grabbed me, went to the emergency room."
The hospital staff did her blood work several times and told her the results were confusing. They said she was probably having a miscarriage, and that she should follow up with her doctor.
She soon learned her situation was even more complicated. At an appointment with her OB-GYN the next day, she was told she actually had a partial molar pregnancy. Jaci says her doctor told her: "It is non-viable. It is potentially cancerous."
On the ultrasound, the doctor showed Jaci how the pregnancy tissue was bean-shaped and surrounded with cysts. "One of them had ruptured, causing me to bleed, and she explained, 'If more rupture, you could bleed out,'" Jaci recalls.
Cancer risk
Partial molar pregnancies happen when something goes wrong during fertilization — either two sperm fertilize the same egg or an egg is fertilized by one sperm that later duplicates. A nonviable embryo with too much genetic material develops, along with abnormal placental tissue. In a complete molar pregnancy, there's no embryo at all, only abnormal placental tissue. With both types, there is a risk of heavy bleeding, infection, and a life-threatening condition called preeclampsia that can lead to organ failure. There's also a risk that cancer will develop.
In Jaci's case, there was a problem. The treatment is a dilation and curettage or D&C — a procedure that clears tissue out of the uterus. A D&C is the most common type of surgical abortion. Even though Jaci's pregnancy was not viable and the embryo would never develop into a full-term infant, there was cardiac activity. Jaci's doctor said she couldn't treat Jaci at the Catholic hospital where she works.
Jaci was transferred to the University of Oklahoma Medical Center. Doctors there confirmed the partial molar pregnancy diagnosis and were ready to do a D&C, but Jaci says an ultrasound tech from the emergency department objected because he detected fetal cardiac activity. The D&C didn't happen. Instead, she was transferred yet again, this time to Oklahoma Children's Hospital.
Jaci says, through all of this, sometimes it was hard for her to follow what was happening — she was so sick and weak. "At this point, I had not eaten in about three weeks," she says, due to terrible nausea she was having. With molar pregnancies, patients have extremely high levels of the pregnancy hormone hCG, which can cause debilitating nausea — Jaci's levels were at one point 400,000, much higher than the level during a normal pregnancy at that stage. "Whenever I could eat, I would eat two or three bites and pray it would stay down, and most of the time, it wouldn't."
'Wait in the parking lot.'
At Oklahoma Children's Hospital, she says the medical staff told her that her condition was serious. "You at the most will last maybe two weeks," she remembers them telling her. But still, cardiac activity was detectable, and the doctors would not provide a D&C.
"They were very sincere, they weren't trying to be mean," she says. "They said, 'The best we can tell you to do is sit in the parking lot, and if anything else happens, we will be ready to help you. But we cannot touch you unless you are crashing in front of us or your blood pressure goes so high that you are fixing to have a heart attack.'"
I've never seen him just come apart and cry – he had his head in his hands, this huge six-foot guy.
Jaci Statton speaking of her husband, Dustin
At the hospital, Dustin was beside himself, Jaci says. He requested a meeting with the hospital ethics board, she says, but was refused. "I've never seen him just come apart and cry — he had his head in his hands, this huge six-foot guy," she says. "He was like, 'I'm going to lose you. I'm going to lose our baby and I'm going to lose my other two kids'" — the children from Jaci's previous marriage. "He's like, 'I'll lose everything — I'll lose my family,'" she remembers him saying.
Enlarge this image
Jaci and Dustin Statton have have been married for two years. Dustin asked for a hospital ethics board to consider Jaci's need for an abortion to safeguard her life. The hospital refused, Jaci says.
Rachel Megan Photography
Jaci says Dustin was also trying to argue with the hospital that the family shouldn't be sent home because they live an hour away from the hospital and might not be able to make it back in time in an emergency.
OU Health, which runs both University of Oklahoma Medical Center and Oklahoma Children's Hospital, did not respond to NPR's questions about the hospitals' policies on abortions for life-threatening conditions. The institution did not confirm or deny specific questions about whether doctors told Jaci she would need to be in more danger of imminent death before intervention or if an ultrasound technician's objection changed the course of her treatment.
In a written statement, spokesperson David McCollum said:
"OU Health remains committed to providing the highest quality and compassionate care for women and children of all ages and stages of life. The health care we provide complies with state and federal laws along with health care regulatory and compliance standards. OU Health will continue to monitor state and federal legislation and ensure full alignment with the law while ensuring patients get the care they need."
9 Weeks: The long drive to Wichita
The days wore on. Jaci says, by March 8, one doctor at the hospital began to talk about the need for her to travel out of state — to Kansas, Colorado, or New Mexico. Someone connected the family to Trust Women, which runs a reproductive health clinic in Wichita, and she was able to get in for an appointment two days later, on Friday, March 10.
She drove there with her husband and mother-in-law, hoping she wouldn't bleed on the drive. "It was probably the longest three hours of my life, in that vehicle," she says.
At the clinic, after being in so many hospitals, her veins were difficult and painful to access. "There was a lady in there, and she came over there and just held my hand while they were trying to find [a vein for the] I.V. because it hurt so bad," she says. Jaci was grateful for that.
"They took me back to the procedure room," she says. "I sat in there by myself, and I think that was the first time that I had cried. Finally, all the emotions, all my thoughts, caught up with me right there, and I sat in there by myself and just cried and cried."
When the doctors and nurses came in, they sat with her, held her hand, and assured her that the D&C was her only option. "I knew that, but they made me feel comfortable," she says. "I'm really appreciative of all of them."
The physician who treated her that day was Dr. Shelly Tien. "I remember that she is a lovely, sweet patient with great sadness because this was a desired pregnancy," she says. "She was navigating the loss of a very much wanted child, the complexities of a rather rare medical diagnosis, and then also the insult of not being able to be cared for by her own physician in her own home and familiar surroundings."
Jaci was sedated for the D&C procedure. She also had an intrauterine birth control device placed, since it's very dangerous to get pregnant in the months after a molar pregnancy.
After the staff made sure she was stable enough to leave, she went back out to the car where Dustin and her mother-in-law were waiting. As they drove past the front of the clinic, they covered Jaci's face with a blanket so she wouldn't see or hear the anti-abortion protesters. "My husband still has nightmares about it," Jaci says.
Confusion remains even after state Supreme Court rules
Most states that ban abortion have exceptions for medical emergencies or the "life of the mother." But in the months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, there have been many examples of cases where doctors weren't sure how to apply those exceptions.
In Oklahoma, the legal picture is especially confusing. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt pledged to sign "every piece of pro-life legislation that came across my desk." He has kept that promise, and there are currently three overlapping abortion bans, each with different and sometimes contradictory definitions and exceptions. One of the bans comes with criminal penalties including felony charges and up to five years in prison for anyone who administers, prescribes, or "advises" a woman on an abortion, so the stakes for interpreting the laws correctly are high for doctors and hospitals.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said he believes doctors can use abortion to protect a pregnant person's health and his office said that doctors should have "substantial leeway" as they make these decisions, The Oklahoman reported.
Additionally, at least 15 bills directly related to abortion, some that would have clarified the exceptions, did not advance ahead of Oklahoma's legislative deadlines, according to The Oklahoman.
SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS
How has your state's abortion law affected your life? Share your story
It can be hard for physicians to keep track of it all, says Dr. Dana Stone, an OB-GYN in Oklahoma City who was not involved in Jaci Statton's care, since new laws that regulate abortion are being introduced and passed by the Oklahoma legislature all the time. Physicians in the state also have to navigate laws that allow people to bring civil charges against doctors for "aiding and abetting" abortion, which can make it hard to know what doctors can say about abortion in the exam room. "It really keeps us from giving full information to our patients," she says.
One big issue has been how to understand the exception for when someone's life is in danger. The Oklahoma Supreme Court in late March struck down a law that required a patient's life to be in danger and for there to be a medical emergency, bringing the number of abortion bans down from four bans to three. Jaci Statton's situation happened two weeks before that decision.
"The court said [in its ruling], you can't force doctors to wait until a patient is crashing or going into sepsis to provide care," explains Rabia Muqaddam, a senior attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which brought the court challenge.
The problem, she says, is that the same "emergency" exception language is in two other Oklahoma abortion bans that were not struck down by the state's high court.
"While those two other bans remain in effect, the decision doesn't have a practical impact," she says, in terms of allowing doctors to intervene earlier, providing abortions when someone's life is in danger but they are not yet in crisis. "What happened to Jaci could be happening right now to other patients."
Stone thinks that strict "emergency" exception language in Oklahoma's abortion laws is probably why doctors at OU Health felt they could not provide an abortion procedure until Jaci became sicker. "Which is just a horrible thing to tell someone," she says. "We would never tell someone with a heart attack, 'It might not be that bad, come back when you're really in bad trouble.'"
An obligation to act?
Doctors are bound not only by state law, but also by federal law. That includes the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA, which requires that patients be stabilized in an emergency. On Monday, the federal Department of Health and Human Services announced investigations into two hospitals that denied an abortion to a patient who was at risk of infection after her water broke at 18-weeks pregnant. Investigators determined that a hospital in Joplin, Missouri, and another in Kansas City, Kansas violated the law, according to the Associated Press. A spokesperson for HHS told NPR the office would not comment on whether Jaci Statton's case would be investigated.
Physicians also have professional ethical obligations not to harm patients. Some bioethicists have argued that — even when state laws provide very narrow or confusing abortion exceptions — if a patient is in danger, doctors have an ethical obligation to act.
Stone says that is a hard thing to ask of physicians. "You have studied for years, you've trained through specialty training, you have an established practice, you have obligations to your family — it's hard to say, 'I'm going to put all that on the line and possibly go to jail and possibly get sued by her family for doing the right thing,'" she says.
SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS
Study shows Oklahoma hospitals give conflicting information on abortion
Hospitals also don't seem to know how to navigate these laws. The Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure provided guidance in September for doctors in the state on how to navigate the abortion bans, but declined NPR's interview request, citing ongoing litigation.
Oklahoma has one of the highest maternal mortality rates within the United States.
Dr. Dana Stone
The state legislature has considered new exceptions to the abortion ban, and more court challenges are underway. Stone says some groups are trying to organize a voter petition to change the abortion laws in Oklahoma, but she does not think significant changes to the state's abortion laws are coming soon.
"Already, the United States has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world, and Oklahoma has one of the highest maternal mortality rates within the United States — all of these things that we do that further endanger pregnant women are only going to increase that," Stone observes. "We're already bad at this. We don't need anything that ties our hands and keeps us from caring for our patients."
'This needs to change'
Seven weeks after her ordeal, Jaci Statton is still recovering. She will have to keep having her hCG levels checked for weeks — maybe as long as six months — to make sure no cancer is developing. Physically, she still feels weak and tired, and mentally it's been rough, she says.
So, at the age of 25, when she has her IUD removed, she's decided to get a tubal ligation this month. "I don't think mentally I would be okay if I were to get pregnant again."
She says she is "pro-life," but she's decided to speak publicly about her experience because she doesn't want anyone else to have to go through it. "I think something needs to be done" about the state abortion laws, she says. "I don't know how else to get attention, but this needs to change."
Update
May 1, 2023
This story was updated to add the perspective of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond that doctors should have substantial leeway to protect the life of a patient.
molar pregnancy
abortion bans
abortion rights
oklahoma
pregnancy
Facebook
Flipboard
Email
| 520
|
Kicked off Medicaid: Millions at risk as states trim rolls
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-04-28-1235/healthcare-kicked-medicaid-millions-risk-states-trim-rolls
|
Healthcare
|
lefts
|
https://apnews.com/article/medicaid-enrollees-removed-review-health-insurance-pandemic-bffc3c67ab2767e4e3cea8250683ea7a
|
Alicia Celaya, David Cardenas and their son Adrian, 3, are shown at their home, Thursday, April 27, 2023, in Phoenix. Celaya and her family will lose their medicaid coverage later this year, a result of a year-long nationwide review of the 84 million Medicaid enrollees that will require states to remove people whose incomes are now too high for the program. Advocacy groups say beneficiaries are finding the process confusing and at times riddled with errors, leaving some of the country’s poorest people suddenly without health insurance and unable to pay for necessary medical care. (AP Photo/Matt York)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Days out from a surgery and with a young son undergoing chemotherapy, Kyle McHenry was scrambling to figure out if his Florida family will still be covered by Medicaid come Monday.
One form on the state’s website said coverage for their sick 5-year-old son, Ryder, had been denied. But another said the family would remain on Medicaid through next year. Still, a letter from the state said McHenry now makes too much money for him, his wife and their older son to qualify after the end of the month.
Three phone calls and a total of six frustrating hours on hold with Florida’s Department of Children and Families later, the McHenrys finally got the answer they were dreading on Thursday: Most of the family is losing Medicaid coverage, although Ryder remains eligible because of his illness.
“I’m trying not to go into panic,” McHenry’s wife, Allie McHenry, told The Associated Press earlier in the week. The state agency did not respond to AP’s request for comment.
The McHenrys are among the first casualties in an unprecedented nationwide review of the 84 million Medicaid enrollees over the next year that will require states to remove people whose incomes are now too high for the federal-state program offered to the poorest Americans.
Millions are expected to be left without insurance after getting a reprieve for the past three years during the coronavirus pandemic, when the federal government barred states from removing anyone who was deemed ineligible.
Advocacy groups have warned for months that confusion and errors will abound throughout the undertaking, wrongly leaving some of the country’s poorest people suddenly without health insurance and unable to pay for necessary medical care.
Medicaid enrollees are already reporting they’ve been erroneously kicked off in a handful of states that have begun removing people, including Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Dakota, according to data gathered by the AP.
Trevor Hawkins is seeing the problems play out firsthand in Arkansas, where officials told the AP that the state is moving “as fast as possible” to wrap up a review before year’s end.
Hawkins spends his days driving winding roads across the state providing free legal services to people who have lost coverage or need help filling out pages of forms the state has mailed to them. In between his drives, he fields about a half-dozen phone calls daily from people seeking guidance on their Medicaid applications.
“The notices are so confusing,” said Hawkins, who works for Legal Aid of Arkansas. “No two people have had the same experience with losing their coverage. It’s hard to identify what’s really the issue.”
Some people have been mailed pre-populated application forms that include inaccurate income or household information but leave Medicaid enrollees no space to fix the state’s errors. Others have received documents that say Medicaid recipients will lose their coverage before they’ve even had an opportunity to re-apply, Hawkins said. A spokesman for Arkansas’ Department of Human Services said the forms instruct enrollees to fill in their information.
Tonya Moore, 49, went for weeks without Medicaid coverage because the state used her 21-year-old daughter’s wages, including incomes from two part-time jobs that she no longer worked, to determine she was ineligible for the program. County officials told Moore she had to obtain statements from the businesses — about an hour’s drive from Moore’s rural home in Highland, Arkansas — to prove her daughter no longer worked there. Moore says she wasn’t able to get the documents before being kicked off Medicaid on April 1.
By last week, Moore had run out of blood pressure medication and insulin used to control her diabetes and was staring down a nearly empty box of blood sugar test strips.
“I got a little panicky,” she said at the time. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get my insurance.”
Moore was reinstated on Medicaid as of Monday with Legal Aid’s help.
The McHenry family, in Winter Park, Florida, also worries the state has mixed up their income while checking their eligibility for Medicaid.
After their son Ryder was diagnosed with cancer in September 2021, Allie McHenry quit her job to take care of him, leaving the family with a single income from Kyle McHenry’s job as a heavy diesel mechanic. She signed the family up for Medicaid then but says they were initially denied because the state wrongly counted disability payments for Ryder’s cancer as income. She’s concerned the state included those payments in its latest assessment but has been unable to get a clear answer, after calling the state three times and being disconnected twice after staying on hold for hours.
“It is always a nightmare trying to call them,” Allie McHenry said of her efforts to reach the state’s helpline. “I haven’t had the heart or strength to try and call again.”
Notices sent to the McHenrys and reviewed by the AP show they were given less than two weeks’ warning that they’d lose coverage at the end of April. The federal government requires states to tell people just 10 days in advance that they’ll be kicked off Medicaid.
The family’s experience isn’t surprising. Last year, Congress, so worried that some states were ill-equipped to properly handle the number of calls that would flood lines during the Medicaid process, required states to submit data about their call volume, wait times and abandonment rate. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will try to work with states where call wait times are especially high, a spokesperson for the agency said.
Some doctors and their staffs are taking it upon themselves to let patients know about the complicated process they’ll have to navigate over the next year.
Most of the little patients pediatrician Lisa Costello sees in Morgantown, West Virginia are covered by Medicaid, and she’s made a point to have conversations with parents about how the process will play out. She’s also encouraging her colleagues to do the same. West Virginia officials have sent letters to nearly 20,000 people telling them that they’ll lose coverage on Monday.
Some people might not realize they no longer have Medicaid until they go to fill a prescription or visit the doctor in the coming weeks, Costello said.
“A lot of it is educating people on, ‘You’re going to get this information; don’t throw it away,’” she said. “How many of us get pieces of mail and toss it in the garbage because we think it’s not important?”
Every weekday, about a dozen staffers at Adelante Healthcare, a small chain of community clinics in Phoenix, call families they believe are at risk of losing Medicaid. Colorful posters on the walls remind families in both English and Spanish to ensure their Medicaid insurance doesn’t lapse.
That’s how Alicia Celaya, a 37-year-old waitress in Phoenix, found out that she and her children, ages 4, 10 and 16, will lose coverage later this year.
When she and her husband were laid off from their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, they enrolled in Medicaid. Both have returned to working in the restaurant industry, but Celaya and her children remained on Medicaid for the free health care coverage because she’s unable to come up with the hundreds of dollars to pay the monthly premiums for her employer-sponsored health insurance.
The clinic is helping her navigate the private health insurance plans available through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace and trying to determine whether her children qualify for the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, known in Arizona as KidsCare. Celaya said she’d never be able to figure out the marketplace, where dozens of plans covering different doctors are offered at varying price points
“I’m no expert on health insurance,” she said.
Snow reported from Phoenix. Associated Press correspondents Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, Anthony Izaguirre in Tallahassee, Florida, and Leah Willingham in Morgantown, West Virginia, contributed to this report.
| 521
|
Covid, RSV and flu vaccines are now available — here’s how to decide whether to get them together
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-15-0654/healthcare-covid-rsv-and-flu-vaccines-are-now-available-here-s-how-decide
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/15/covid-rsv-flu-vaccines-how-to-decide-whether-to-get-them-together.html
|
-
| 522
|
New Covid vaccines are on the way as 'Eris' variant rises
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-14-1522/coronavirus-new-covid-vaccines-are-way-eris-variant-rises
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/new-covid-vaccines-are-way-eris-variant-rises-2023-08-14/
|
Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals
COVID-19
Healthcare Providers
Public Health
Health
New Covid vaccines are on the way as 'Eris' variant rises
By Michael Erman
August 14, 20238:22 PM GMT+2Updated a month ago
A vial labelled "VACCINE Coronavirus COVID-19" is seen in front of a stock graph in this illustration taken on January 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Companies
BioNTech SE
Follow
CVS Health Corp
Follow
Moderna Inc
Follow
Show more companies
NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) - A new COVID vaccine is due out next month, but health experts and analysts say it is likely to be coolly received even as hospitalizations from "Eris", a variant of the Omicron form of the coronavirus, rise around the country.
Some public health experts hope that Americans will welcome the new shot as they would a flu jab. But demand for the vaccine has dropped sharply since 2021 when it first became available and more than 240 million people in the U.S., or 73% of the population, received at least one shot.
In the fall of 2022, by which time most people had either had the COVID virus or the vaccine, fewer than 50 million people got the shots.
Healthcare providers and pharmacies such as CVS Health (CVS.N) will start next month to offer the shot, updated to fight the Omicron version of the virus that has been dominant since last year.
They will be fighting declining concern about the virus, as well as fatigue and skepticism about the merits of this vaccine, Kaiser Family Foundation Director of Survey Methodology Ashley Kirzinger said.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
"Public health officials, if they want to see a majority of adults get these annual vaccines, they're going to have to make the case to the American public that COVID isn't over and it still poses a risk to them," Kirzinger said.
Reuters Graphics
The top reason vaccinated people gave in KFF surveys earlier this year for eschewing annual shots was they believed they had protection from the virus because of previous shots or infections, she said.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
COVID-19 vaccine makers have pared back expectations for this fall's vaccination campaign, with Pfizer – the largest maker of mRNA shots with BioNTech – recently warning that it might need to cut jobs if it does not do well. Its biggest rival, Moderna, conceded demand could be as few as 50 million shots.
Last year, Pfizer and Moderna's vaccine sales topped $56 billion worldwide; analysts project around $20 billion for this year.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said he does not expect the autumn campaign to reach last year's.
"Take a look at what happened last winter. It was 50 million in the US, and it seems likely to be lower than that, given that there's less concern about COVID this year than last year," Yee said.
POST PANDEMIC VACCINE
The COVID public health emergency ended in May and the government has handed much of the duty of vaccinating America to the private sector. Over 1.1 million people in the United States have died from COVID, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
CDC Director Mandy Cohen said last week in a podcast that she expects the shots - which still need to be authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommended by the CDC - to be rolled out in the third or fourth week of September. She suggested Americans should view these shots as an annual measure to protect oneself, in line with the annual flu shot.
As with the flu, Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE), Moderna (MRNA.O) and Novavax (NVAX.O), have created versions of the COVID vaccine to try to match the variant they believe will be circulating this fall. The shots are aimed at XBB.1.5, a subvariant that is similar to EG.5 and also a sub-lineage of the still dominant Omicron variant.
COVID-19 related hospitalizations are up more than 40% off of recent lows hit in June, but are still more than 90% below peak levels hit during the January 2022 Omicron outbreak, according to CDC data.
THE EVIDENCE
Some doctors suggest that annual shots should be targeted at the elderly and other high risk people, who are most likely to have dire outcomes if they catch COVID-19.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University and a liaison to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization practices, said it is possible that the ACIP could make a weaker recommendation for younger, healthier people. That could also affect demand.
"Should children really receive this booster?" Schaffner said. "Should the average person with no underlying illness who is a younger adult receive this vaccine or should this vaccine now be a more targeted vaccine?"
The CDC recommended children get a single dose of last year's updated vaccine for those aged 6 and older.
Dr. David Boulware, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Minnesota, said that according to research he has published, people who are boosted have less severe symptoms for a shorter duration.
"When you look at what you can do to reduce your duration of illness, even if you do get sick, being boosted is going to be the best way to do that," he said.
Reporting by Michael Erman; editing by Caroline Humer and Diane Craft
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Acquire Licensing Rights
, opens new tab
Read Next
Breakingviews
category
Anti-obesity drugs can shrink more than patients
Starry-eyed venture capitalists love to talk about how promising startups might capture a chunk of a giant total addressable market (TAM). This concept can also work in reverse, though. New anti-obesity drugs have the potential to transform public health, while obliterating demand for products and services from the medical, food and fitness industries. Think of them as total unaddressable markets (TUM).
Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals
category
US government restarts delivery of free COVID tests
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Wednesday it will deliver COVID-19 tests for free to households across the country.
Regulatory Oversight
category
U.S. FDA found lapses at Novo's main U.S. factory in May 2022 -report
U.S. drug regulators issued a report detailing quality control lapses at Novo Nordisk's main factory in North America as early as May last year, according to the report obtained by Reuters via a Freedom of Information Act request.
World
category
Australia to hold independent inquiry into handling of COVID pandemic
Australia's centre-left Labor government on Thursday said it would hold an independent inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic to better prepare for future health crises.
Sustainable Finance & Reporting
category
US employers to see biggest healthcare cost jump in a decade in 2024
U.S. employers are bracing for the largest increase in health insurance costs in a decade next year, according forecasts from healthcare consultants, but workers may be somewhat spared this time around in a tight labor market.
World
category
Thai lawmakers plan fresh push to tighten use of cannabis
Thailand's legislators will renew a push for an overarching law on use of cannabis for medical and research purposes, a senior lawmaker said on Wednesday, more than a year after the narcotic was legalised without proper regulations.
| 523
|
Seniors’ medical debt soars to $54 billion in unpaid bills
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-10-0551/healthcare-seniors-medical-debt-soars-54-billion-unpaid-bills
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4146137-seniors-owe-54-billion-unpaid-medical-bills/
|
-
| 524
|
Bipartisan Price Transparency Reforms Will Improve Outcomes
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-03-0655/healthcare-bipartisan-price-transparency-reforms-will-improve-outcomes
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.forbes.com/sites/waynewinegarden/2023/08/02/bipartisan-price-transparency-reforms-will-improve-outcomes/?sh=6536e12f43c3
|
-
| 525
|
Uninsured Americans pay high costs for an insulin Eli Lilly vowed to price at $25, Sen. Warren says
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-13-1423/public-health-uninsured-americans-pay-high-costs-insulin-eli-lilly-vowed-price
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/13/insulin-costs-uninsured-pay-high-prices-for-eli-lilly-product-warren-says.html
|
-
| 526
|
Is Aspartame Bad for Your Health? What to Know About Diet Coke’s Key Ingredient
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-13-1217/healthcare-aspartame-bad-your-health-what-know-about-diet-coke-s-key-ingredient
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.wsj.com/articles/aspartame-health-risks-44fc5d03?mod=wknd_pos1
| 527
|
|
EU investigates Ozempic, weight-loss drug Saxenda after suicidal thoughts reported
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-10-1522/healthcare-eu-investigates-ozempic-weight-loss-drug-saxenda-after-suicidal
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eu-probes-novos-weight-loss-drugs-reports-suicide-risks-bloomberg-news-2023-07-10/
|
Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals
Regulatory Oversight
Regulatory
EU investigates Ozempic, weight-loss drug Saxenda after suicidal thoughts reported
By Ludwig Burger and Maggie Fick
July 10, 20238:33 PM GMT+2Updated 2 months ago
A pharmacist displays boxes of Ozempic, a semaglutide injection drug used for treating type 2 diabetes made by Novo Nordisk, at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, U.S. March 29, 2023. REUTERS/George Frey/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
| 528
|
Could psychedelics become a bipartisan issue?
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-30-1141/healthcare-could-psychedelics-become-bipartisan-issue
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/could-psychedelics-become-a-bipartisan-issue/
|
-
| 529
|
US health alert over malaria cases in Florida and Texas
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-27-1536/healthcare-us-health-alert-over-malaria-cases-florida-and-texas
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-66018630
|
US health alert over malaria cases in Florida and Texas
Published
27 June
Share
IMAGE SOURCE,
GETTY IMAGES
By Michelle Roberts
Digital health editor
Florida and Texas are seeing some locally acquired cases of malaria - the first spread of the mosquito-transmitted disease inside the US in 20 years, officials warn in a health alert.
Active surveillance for more cases is continuing, the Centres for Disease Control says.
The risk of catching malaria in the US remains extremely low, it says.
All five patients - four in Florida, one in Texas - have now had treatment.
Malaria is caused by being bitten by an infected mosquito. People cannot catch it from each other. But the insects catch it from infected people - and the cycle continues.
It is common in large areas of Africa, Asia and Central and South America but not the US.
However, Anopheles mosquitoes, found throughout many parts of the US, can transmit malaria, if they have fed on an infected person.
The risk is higher in areas where:
the climate means insects survive during most of the year
travellers from malaria-endemic areas are found
Infected people can suffer fever, sweats and chills. Malaria is an emergency and must be treated quickly with drugs to kill the parasite that causes the infection.
Using insect repellent and covering up can help protect against mosquito bites.
The CDC says it is working with the Florida and Texas health departments and those recently diagnosed and treated "are improving".
US doctors are being advised to consider malaria in any person with an unexplained fever, regardless of international travel history, particularly if they have visited or live in the affected areas of Florida or Texas.
Florida has issued a mosquito-borne illness alert after cases were discovered in Sarasota County and Manatee County, warning residents to drain standing water where mosquitoes can breed and wear long-sleeved shirts and pants.
Related Topics
Florida
Texas
Malaria
More on this story
Mosquito-borne diseases risk increasing in Europe
Published
22 June
Related Internet Links
CDC
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
| 530
|
Aaron Rodgers opens up on ‘radically life-changing’ psychedelics experience with teammates: ‘I found a deeper self love’
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-23-0758/healthcare-aaron-rodgers-opens-radically-life-changing-psychedelics-experience
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://fortune.com/well/2023/06/22/aaron-rodgers-psychedelics-ayahuasca-life-changing-trip-denver-conference/
|
An eclectic crowd of thousands — podcasters, vendors, startups, seekers — swarmed a psychedelics conference in Denver this week to experience everything from a dimly lit hall packed with kaleidoscope art and a wide-ranging lineup of speakers from a former Republican governor to NFL star quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The conference, put on by a psychedelic advocacy group, took place months after Colorado’s voters decided to join Oregon in decriminalizing psychedelic mushrooms. While it’s a sign of growing cultural acceptance for substances that proponents say may offer benefits for things like post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism, medical experts caution that more research is needed on the drugs’ efficacy and the extent of the risks of psychedelics, which can cause hallucinations.
Rodgers, who’ll soon debut with the New York Jets after years with the Green Bay Packers, spoke Wednesday night with podcaster Aubrey Marcus. Rodgers described taking ayahuasca with his teammates as “radically life-changing,” and claimed many other pro athletes have reached out to him.
“I found a deeper self love,” said Rodgers of his ayahuasca experience. “It unlocked that whole world of what I’m really here to do is to connect, to connect with those guys, and to make those bonds and to inspire people.”
The organization hosting the conference, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, is the largest U.S. advocacy group. It has strategized to reach the full political spectrum, said Nicolas Langlitz, a historian of science who’s researched the boom and bust of psychedelic movements.
“At the time when any topic gets politically polarized, ironically, these super-polarizing substances now get bipartisan support,” Langlitz said. Still, he added, the conference is “purely designed to promote the hype.”
“Any kind of overselling is not good for science because science should be accurate rather than pushing things,” he said. “It’s a tradeoff. (The conference) generates interest, it generates ultimately more research, even though the research might be skewed toward positive results.”
Psychedelics are illegal at the federal level, though acceptance and interest in studying their potential benefits has grown. For example, some researchers believe psilocybin, the compound in psychedelic mushrooms, changes the way the brain organizes itself and can help users overcome things like depression and alcoholism.
The drugs themselves — and the interest in them — are not new. Mid-last century, Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey helped spur the use of psychedelics during the counterculture movement, and optimism brimmed among some psychologists over the drugs’ potential.
But the Nixon administration criminalized psychedelics, pushing them underground.
“In both cases you have this upwelling of exuberance that may or may not be irrational,” said author Michael Pollan, who wrote a book on psychedelics and will be speaking at the conference. “But I think a big difference (now) is that the enthusiasm for the potential of psychedelics cuts across a much more representative slice of the population — it’s not about a counterculture.”
Republican strongholds, including Utah and Missouri, have or are considering commissioning studies into the drugs, partly inspired by veterans’ stories. Former Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry spoke Wednesday about helping get a bill passed in the Texas legislature in 2021 to fund a study of psilocybin for veterans, though he doesn’t support recreational use. In Congress, similar veteran-focused proposals brought progressive Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York and far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz from Florida into an unlikely alignment.
Public interest also appears to be growing. Just six years ago in Oakland, California, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies held a conference with roughly 3,000 attendees and a smattering of lesser-known speakers and die-hard proponents.
This time, organizers estimate at least 10,000 attendees. Other famous speakers will include former NHL player Daniel Carcillo, who owns a company specializing in psychedelic therapies; Olympic silver-medal figure skater Sasha Cohen; rapper and actor Jaden Smith; comedians Reggie Watts and Eric Andre, top-10 podcaster Andrew Huberman; and Carl Hart, the chair of Columbia University’s psychology department.
Recruiting that celebrity support for psychedelics is part of MAPS’ public relations strategy, founder Rick Doblin said. When asked whether platforming a non-expert like Rodgers could mislead the public, Doblin demurred, adding it would be “dangerous” for anyone to claim that there are no risks to taking psychedelics.
Doblin said taking MDMA should happen “only under the direct supervision of a therapist, it’s never a take-home medicine.” He also emphasized what many speakers echoed during the first day about psychedelics being paired with mental health professional: “The treatment is not the drug, it’s the therapy that the drug makes more effective.”
That was a more tempered approach than his introductory speech, when, to an overflowing theater, Doblin espoused grandiose goals such as “net-zero” trauma by 2070 through the use of psychedelics.
The American Psychiatric Association has not endorsed the use of psychedelics in treatment, noting the Food and Drug Administration has yet to offer a final determination. The FDA did designate psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy” in 2018, a label that’s designed to speed the development and review of drugs to treat a serious condition. MDMA, often called ecstasy, also has that designation for PTSD treatment.
Both Pollan and Langlitz believe further research is key — especially as the nation faces an unprecedented mental health crisis and people struggle to find adequate treatment. But, Langlitz said, it’s important to let research shape the narrative.
“I would just try to keep my mind open to the possibility that in retrospect we will tell a very different story from the one that the protagonists of psychedelic therapies are currently predicting,” he said.
___
Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
| 531
|
Biden to sign executive order expanding access to contraception
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-23-0635/abortion-biden-sign-executive-order-expanding-access-contraception
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/biden-sign-executive-order-expanding-access-contraception-2023-06-23/
|
Future of Health
Biden to sign executive order expanding access to contraception
Reuters
June 23, 20239:59 PM GMT+2Updated 3 months ago
[1/2]U.S. President-elect Joe Biden talks about protecting the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as he speaks to reporters with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at this side about their "plan to expand affordable health care" during an appearance in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., November 10, 2020. Acquire Licensing Rights Read more
WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday will sign an executive order designed to protect and expand access to contraception, after a Supreme Court ruling last year overturning the constitutional right to abortion raised fears that birth control could also face restrictions.
Biden senior adviser Jen Klein told reporters that the order will increase ways for women to access contraception and lower out-of-pocket costs.
Klein said the order directs federal departments to consider requiring private insurers to offer expanded contraception options under the Affordable Care Act such as by covering more than one product and streamlining the process for obtaining care.
Biden's order comes as reproductive rights advocates say rising barriers are leaving millions of women without easy access to contraception.
Contraceptives have been in focus since the Supreme Court on June 24 of last year overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are expected to make remarks on Friday marking the one-year anniversary of the landmark decision, Klein said.
"This action will build on the progress already made under the Affordable Care Act by further reducing barriers that women face in accessing contraception prescribed by their provider," a White House fact sheet on the order said.
While the Affordable Care Act, the signature domestic policy achievement of former President Barack Obama, requires coverage of contraception, health plans provided by certain exempt religious employers do not have to cover it.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Biden’s order will also direct the government to consider ways to make affordable over-the-counter contraception, including emergency contraception, more accessible, the fact sheet said. This could include convening pharmacies, employers, and insurers to explore the issue.
Improving access to family planning services and supplies for people covered by the government's Medicaid and Medicare programs is another goal of the order.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
The U.S. House of Representatives last July, when it was still controlled by Democrats, passed a bill to protect access to contraception, but it was blocked in the Senate by Republicans.
Two U.S. senators last week introduced a new bill to protect access to contraception. To become law, the bill would need to pass in both the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House.
Leading reproductive rights groups - EMILYs List, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund - on Friday announced their endorsements of Democrats Biden and Harris for reelection in 2024.
Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Mark Porter
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Acquire Licensing Rights
, opens new tab
Read Next
Future of Health
category
Exclusive: Rotavirus childhood vaccine shortage hits four African countries
Supplies of a vaccine to prevent the deadly rotavirus infection in children have either run out in Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal and Cameroon or are close to doing so, officials close to the roll-out told Reuters, after disruptions at drugmaker GSK.
Future of Health
category
Focus: Climate change puts Lyme disease in focus for France's Valneva after COVID blow
With climate change spurring more cases of tick-borne Lyme disease, drugmaker Valneva is betting big on a vaccine as it looks beyond disappointing sales of its COVID shot.
Future of Health
category
U.S. FDA declines to approve expanded use of Acadia's antipsychotic drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve expanded use of Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc's antipsychotic drug for treating psychosis related to Alzheimer's disease, the company said on Thursday.
Future of Health
category
CanSinoBIO's inhaled COVID booster stronger against BA.1 Omicron subvariant than Sinovac shot
Chinese vaccine firm CanSino Biologic's inhalation-based candidate elicited a better antibody response as a booster against the BA.1 Omicron sub-variant than Sinovac's shot, but the antibody level dropped in months, clinical trial data showed.
Future of Health
category
Shionogi sinks in Tokyo trade after panel again delays COVID pill approval
Shares in Shionogi & Co posted their steepest fall in three months on Thursday after a health ministry panel again delayed emergency approval for the Japanese drugmaker's oral treatment against COVID-19.
Future of Health
category
Biogen leans on new Alzheimer's drug to calm investor worries
Biogen Inc on Wednesday tried to assuage investor worries by laying out a plan for its Alzheimer's disease drug being developed with Eisai Co Ltd and promising to draw lessons from the setbacks to its treatment Aduhelm.
| 532
|
Merck sues government over drug price negotiation
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-06-0933/healthcare-merck-sues-government-over-drug-price-negotiation
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://rollcall.com/2023/06/06/merck-sues-government-over-drug-price-negotiation/
|
POLICY
Merck sues government over drug price negotiation
Drugmaker seeks injunction against parts of last year's reconciliation law
Prescription drugs are pictured in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
By Jessie Hellmann
Posted June 6, 2023 at 10:42am
Drugmaker Merck & Co. Inc. sued the federal government Tuesday, seeking an injunction against parts of last year’s reconciliation law that allow the Health and Human Services Department to negotiate for lower prices on drugs.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that the negotiation program is “extortion” and violates the Fifth Amendment by not paying the company “just compensation” for its products.
“By coercing Merck to provide its drug products at government-set prices, the Program takes property for public use without just compensation in violation of the Fifth Amendment,” Robert Josephson, Merck’s executive director of global media relations, said in a statement.
The reconciliation law passed by congressional Democrats in 2022 allows Medicare to negotiate for lower prices for a certain subset of drugs.
As implemented by the federal government, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services develops an initial offer and drugmakers can submit a counteroffer. That process has not yet started.
But Merck argues that drugmakers are coerced into accepting the offer or must pay “draconian” daily penalties.
The law “uses severe penalties to requisition medicines while refusing to pay their fair value — and then coerces manufacturers to smile, play along, and pretend it is all part of a ‘fair’ and voluntary exchange. This is political Kabuki theater,” the complaint states.
Merck said it “intends to litigate this matter all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.”
HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But Democratic lawmakers lambasted the lawsuit, with House Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., calling it “outrageous.”
“Empowering Medicare to negotiate fair prescription drug prices for seniors is not only plainly constitutional, but it’s also necessary if life-saving drugs are to continue to be available to all Americans,” he said, adding, “The only rights that are being violated here are those of the American people who have been getting ripped off by Big Pharma companies like Merck for years.”
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, said, “Merck is doing everything it can to protect its profits at the expense of patients who need their prescriptions to stay healthy and get treatment for everything from cancer to diabetes.”
RECENT STORIES
Capitol Police agents strained to probe increasing threats against lawmakers
Progress seen in House GOP spending talks
Democrats rap FEC gridlock that Republicans say is a feature
As House panel backs RFK site redevelopment, DC inches closer to a football future
Senate confirms Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs
Garland stresses independence of prosecutor leading Hunter Biden probe
| 533
|
Baby-Formula Makers Face FTC Investigation for Collusion
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-24-0640/healthcare-baby-formula-makers-face-ftc-investigation-collusion
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.wsj.com/articles/baby-formula-collusion-ftc-864aeb94?mod=hp_lead_pos1
|
WSJ NEWS EXCLUSIVE
By
,
and
Updated May 24, 2023 9:38 am ET
The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether baby-formula makers colluded on bids for lucrative state contracts.
| 534
|
U.S. Covid public health emergency ends, leaving behind a battered health system
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-11-0826/healthcare-us-covid-public-health-emergency-ends-leaving-behind-battered-health
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/11/us-covid-public-health-emergency-ends.html
|
-
| 535
|
Republicans Push Back on Democratic Claims of Veterans’ Health Care Cuts in GOP Debt Limit Bill
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-04-0631/facts-and-fact-checking-republicans-push-back-democratic-claims-veterans-health
|
Healthcare
|
centers
|
https://www.factcheck.org/2023/05/republicans-push-back-on-democratic-claims-of-veterans-health-care-cuts-in-gop-debt-limit-bill/
|
House Republicans narrowly passed a bill late last month that would temporarily suspend or raise the federal debt limit while significantly reducing caps on discretionary spending for the next 10 years. The legislation does not identify which discretionary programs would or would not see future spending cuts under the proposal.
However, some Democrats have claimed that the bill would lead to deep cuts in several areas, including health benefits for military veterans.
“It makes a series of deeply devastating and unpopular cuts to things like veterans’ health benefits,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on May 2, adding that the Department of Veterans Affairs would be “gutted.”
But some GOP lawmakers have called such Democratic claims a “lie” and argued that congressional Republicans do not intend to scale back spending on services for veterans.
“Joe Biden and the Democrats are yet again shamelessly lying to the American people,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican Conference, wrote in a May 1 tweet. “There are absolutely NO cuts to veterans benefits, or the VA in the Limit, Save, and Grow Act.”
It’s true that the bill does not mention spending cuts for veterans, but it does not exempt them either. The specific cuts would be determined later, during the appropriations process — if the House-passed bill became law, which is unlikely to happen.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill is dead on arrival in the Senate, which is controlled by the Democratic caucus. The White House also opposes the bill and has said President Joe Biden would not sign it even if it reached his desk.
Here we’ll explain why Democrats claim that the legislation is a threat to veterans, as well as why Republicans claim that those opposing the bill are simply using fear tactics.
The House Republicans’ Bill
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen informed Congress in a May 1 letter that the U.S. could default on its $31.4 trillion debt as soon as June 1, if Republicans and Democrats fail to reach an agreement to lift the debt limit before that time.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to the media at the U.S. Capitol on April 26. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images.
On April 26, House Republicans passed their proposal — the Limit, Save, Grow Act — by a vote of 217 to 215. It would extend the borrowing limit through March 31, 2024, or until the debt increases by $1.5 trillion, whichever comes first.
In exchange, starting in fiscal year 2024, the bill would cap discretionary budget authority at about $1.47 trillion — similar to fiscal year 2022 levels — and then restrict future growth in spending to 1% per year for a decade. (Discretionary spending refers to spending that is authorized in annual appropriations legislation and is separate from mandatory spending for programs such as Medicare and Social Security.)
According to summaries of the GOP bill, it also would repeal certain renewable and clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, block Biden’s executive actions canceling student loan debt, reclaim some of the unspent COVID-19 funding, rescind funds designated for the Internal Revenue Service, as well as create new work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries and expand work requirements for those enrolled in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would reduce budget deficits by a total of about $4.8 trillion through 2033, compared with CBO’s baseline projections under current law. Nearly $3.2 trillion of that amount would come from savings in discretionary spending, the nonpartisan budget analysts said.
Democratic Claims
The White House budget office has said that if Defense Department funding is exempted from the discretionary spending cuts, as Republicans have indicated, the GOP bill would initially require a 22% cut to funding for all other discretionary programs, assuming the cuts are applied across the board.
“The legislation proposed by Congressional Republicans would set the FY2024 topline at $1.471 trillion, equal to the FY 2022 level,” says an April 20 blog post written by Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget. “Under the assumption that funding for defense in FY 2024 will at least match the baseline level of $885 billion, non-defense funding would total $586 billion, which is 22 percent lower than the currently enacted level of $756 billion.”
Among other things, those cuts would “undermine medical care for veterans,” leading to “30 million fewer veteran outpatient visits, and 81,000 jobs lost across the Veterans Health Administration,” Young’s blog post said.
An April 30 tweet from Biden’s presidential Twitter account similarly claimed that “217 House Republicans Voted to Undermine Veterans’ Health Care,” and other Democratic lawmakers, like Sen. Chris Coons, claimed that the GOP bill “would cut veterans’ health care.”
Veterans groups also have raised concerns about the potential impact of the legislation, and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs has warned that discretionary spending cuts could affect additional benefits for veterans — not just health care.
In responding to these comments, Republicans have said they would not reduce funding for defense or veterans.
Republicans Push Back
On ABC’s “This Week” on April 30, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who was interviewed after Coons, disagreed with the claim about cuts to services for veterans.
“We talk about protecting veterans,” Scalise said. “We’ve heard this lie over and over again. The speaker himself has said we’re protecting veterans. My boss, the chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, is a veteran himself. The only person talking about cutting veterans’ benefits is Joe Biden. And I’ll tell you, as the majority leader, I will not bring a bill to the floor of the House, even if President Biden wants it, I will not bring a bill that cuts our veterans.”
In an April 21 statement released before the vote on the GOP bill, Rep. Mike Bost, the veterans committee chairman whom Scalise mentioned, said Democrats had “spread false claims” about House Republicans trying to cut veterans’ benefits.
“This commonsense bill will grow the economy and save American taxpayers money, all while protecting veterans’ benefits, Social Security, and Medicare,” he said. “Republicans have always prioritized veterans in our spending to ensure veterans have access to the care, benefits, and services they have earned, and as the Chairman of this Committee, that is my number one priority. Anyone who questions our commitment to the men and women who have served should find new talking points.”
In an email to FactCheck.org, Chad Gilmartin, deputy spokesman for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, said, “Democrats should point to where in the bill it says any of the claims that they make.”
As we said, the text of the bill does not specify which parts of the discretionary budget would be cut — but it also does not say which parts would be shielded from future cuts, which is a point the White House made to us.
“Congressional Republicans could have protected veterans’ medical care” in the bill “but they chose not to — which is why 24 veterans organizations opposed this bill,” a White House spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
We would note that the bill also does not state that defense spending will be spared. However, Democrats seemingly have accepted Republican assurances that it would be, while now dismissing similar assurances that funding for veterans also would not be cut.
But if Republicans were to exclude defense and veterans’ health care from cuts, as they say they would do, that means other discretionary programs would have to be cut by larger percentages.
“If they protect both defense and veterans’ health care from cuts, then all other non-defense discretionary programs would have to be cut 33 percent in 2024 and 59 percent in 2025,” the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated in an April 24 analysis.
Discretionary funding also pays for programs for homeland security, transportation, education, housing, social services and more.
Ultimately, specific spending cuts, or exemptions from those cuts, would be addressed during the regular appropriations process — if the GOP bill somehow became law.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, 202 S. 36th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Categories FactCheck Posts Featured Posts
Issue Debt Ceiling Veterans
People Chris Coons Elise Stefanik Joe Biden Karine Jean-Pierre Steve Scalise
| 536
|
Mayor Adams warns migrant crisis will ‘destroy’ NYC, rips Biden for failing to help
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-07-0701/immigration-mayor-adams-warns-migrant-crisis-will-destroy-nyc-rips-biden
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://nypost.com/2023/09/07/nyc-mayor-adams-says-migrant-crisis-will-destroy-the-city-during-town-hall/
|
METRO
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
WhatsApp
Email
Copy
2407
Mayor Adams warns migrant crisis will ‘destroy’ NYC, rips Biden for failing to help
By Nicholas McEntyre
Published Sep. 7, 2023, 5:34 a.m. ET
MORE ON:
ERIC ADAMS
Why won’t Gov. Hochul let Joe Biden hear her ‘roar’?
City Hall freezes most discretionary spending for NYC agencies in latest migrant crisis crunch
Adams urges Biden to visit Roosevelt Hotel’s migrant shelter while visiting Big Apple
NYC’s top GOP councilman praises Adams’s criticism of Biden during DC hearing
Mayor Eric Adams warned that the raging migrant crisis will “destroy” New York City and tore into President Biden for ignoring his pleas for help, saying the White House has given “no support” for the thousands of asylum seekers arriving each month.
“I’m gonna tell you something, New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I didn’t see an ending to. I don’t see an ending to this,” Adams said at a town hall on the Upper West Side Wednesday night. “This issue will destroy New York City. Destroy New York City.”
Hizzoner took aim at Biden for not stepping in with federal assistance as the city has received more than 110,000 migrants in the past year.
“Month after month I stood up and said this is gonna come to a neighborhood near you. Well, we’re here, we’re getting no support on this national crisis, and we’re receiving no support,” Adams said.
Adams also blasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a “madman” for busing illegal border crossers to New York and other liberal cities.
Speaking at a town hall Wednesday night, Adams said the migrant crisis will destroy New York City and he doesn’t see an ending.
NYC Mayor's Office / Twitter
In his opening remarks, Hizzoner boasted about his administration’s accomplishments in the 20 months since he took office.
Christopher Sadowski
“Go item for item on what Eric Adams ran for as a candidate and look at what we accomplished in 20 months: We turned this city around in 20 months, and then what happened?” Adams said.
“Started with a madman down in Texas who decided he wanted to bus people up to New York City.”
The first migrant-filled bus from Texas arrived at Midtown’s Port Authority on Aug. 5, 2022, and thousands more migrants have shown up in the rest of the five boroughs in the following months.
A large majority of New Yorkers share the mayor’s feelings on the migrant crisis, as 82% say it is a serious problem, while 58% want to stop the flow from the southern border.
Steve White for NY Post
Texas has sent over 13,000 migrants to New York, according to data shared by Abbott earlier this week.
CBS NEW YORK
“One hundred ten thousand migrants we have to feed, clothe, house, educate the children, wash their laundry sheets, give them everything they need, health care,” Adams said.
Robert Mecea
“One hundred ten thousand migrants we have to feed, clothe, house, educate the children, wash their laundry sheets, give them everything they need, health care,” Adams said.
Texas has sent over 13,000 migrants to New York, according to data shared by Abbott earlier this week.
The mayor said the Big Apple receives around 10,000 migrants a month, at first from Venezuela, but then Ecuadorian nationals and Russian-speaking individuals came up from Mexico as time went on.
The mayor said the Big Apple receives around 10,000 migrants a month, first from Venezuela, and then Ecuadorian nationals and Russian-speaking people came up from Mexico.
Christopher Sadowski
Staten Islanders attend an anti-migrant rally outside the former St. John Villa Academy, which has been turned into a migrant housing center.
Paul Martinka
“Now we’re getting Western Africa, now we’re getting people from all over the globe that made their minds up that they’re gonna come through the southern border and coming to New York City,” Adams added.
The financial cost alone has reverberated throughout the city as the government is spending millions to house the migrants.
The Department of Homeless Services has given $35 million to two NYC hotels to house migrants.
The financial cost alone has reverberated throughout the city as the government is spending millions to house the migrants.
G.N.Miller/NYPost
“Everyone is saying it is New York City’s problem. Every community in this city is going to be impacted. We have a $12 billion deficit that we’re going to have to cut. Every service in this city is going to be impacted, all of us,” Adams said.
“All of us are going to be impacted by this. I said it last year when we had 15,000 and I’m telling you now with 110,000. The city we knew, we’re about to lose, and we are all in this together, all of us,” he added.
A large majority of New Yorkers share the lawmakers’ feelings on the crisis as 82% say it is a serious problem for the city while 58% want to stop the flow from the southern border, according to a recent Sienna College survey.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) on Wednesday also ripped the Biden administration for the “dangerous” impact that its border policies are having on the entire Empire State.
2407
What do you think? Post a comment.
“Joe Biden’s Far Left open border policies have caused our Northern Border to see an unprecedented and historic surge in illegal immigration and Kathy Hochul’s ‘Sanctuary State’ policies have further incentivized this dangerous surge,” Stefanik said.
“Now we have reports of murder and rapes committed by illegal immigrants in Upstate New York. Enough is enough. It is time for Joe Biden to secure our Southern and Northern Border and the quickest way to do that is for [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer [D-NY] to pass and Biden to sign into law House Republicans’ Secure the Border Act, which is the strongest border security bill in history and would put an end to the Biden border crisis.”
FILED UNDER ERIC ADAMS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS MIGRANTS NYC TOWNHALL UPPER WEST SIDE 9/7/23
READ NEXT
Upstate NY grandmother killed after wrong-way driver fleei...
| 537
|
Biden's border crisis roars back after brief Title 42 reprieve: Leaked DHS data
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-01-1349/immigration-bidens-border-crisis-roars-back-after-brief-title-42-reprieve
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/immigration/biden-border-crisis-roars-historic-highs-august-numbers
|
BORDER CRISIS
Biden's border crisis roars back after brief Title 42 reprieve: Leaked DHS data
by Anna Giaritelli, Homeland Security Reporter
September 01, 2023 04:05 PM
Latest
Social Security update: Direct payment worth $914 arrives in eight days
By: Misty Severi
Social Security update: Third round of direct payments worth up to $4,555 to arrive in six days
By: Misty Severi
Recent polls reveal potential ominous signs for Biden’s reelection campaign
By: Christopher Tremoglie
Videos
Merrick Garland hearing: Six takeaways on Hunter Biden investigation
Merrick Garland hearing: Texas representative grilled Garland over whether his department was still targeting parents
WATCH: Dusty Johnson on the farm bill: 'Farmers will fight you if you do anything to damage their land'
Fed holds interest rates steady amid recent upswing in inflation
Newsletters
Sign up now to get the Washington Examiner’s breaking news and timely commentary delivered right to your inbox.
EXCLUSIVE — Border Patrol agents arrested nearly twice as many illegal immigrants in August as in June, spelling disaster for the Biden administration that had touted declining border numbers as a policy success.
Initial numbers from inside Customs and Border Protection showed 182,401 people were apprehended after illegally entering the country last month. Roughly 179,000 of the 182,401 came across the southern border with Mexico, according to three U.S. officials who shared information with the Washington Examiner ahead of its normal release weeks after the month's end.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS BACKING COLLEGE LOAN FORGIVENESS OWE BOATLOADS IN STUDENT DEBT
Since President Joe Biden took office, Border Patrol agents have apprehended more than 7 million people who illegally entered the country between ports of entry nationwide. The surge in August is unusual because illegal immigration has historically declined during the summer months when it is extremely hot near the border. The increase could mean even higher illegal immigration when temperatures drop in the fall.
The unchecked border crisis not only raises national security concerns after the FBI determined a smuggler affiliated with the Islamic State had helped a group of immigrants from Uzbekistan illegally enter the United States earlier this year, but also highlights a political vulnerability for the White House just 14 months out from Election Day.
The 182,401 apprehensions nationwide in August is nearly double the 100,611 non-U.S. citizens apprehended in June, the first full month after Title 42, a pandemic public health policy, was out of effect and Border Patrol agents were no longer permitted to turn back illegal immigrants immediately.
(U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
At the southern border alone, the estimated 179,000 apprehensions were far above 99,539 in June and 132,652 in July.
The numbers speak to the challenges that the Biden administration has had managing America's borders since first taking office nearly 32 months ago. Illegal crossings surged from roughly 75,000 per month in each of the final months of President Donald Trump's administration and swelled to more than 200,000 after Biden took office and reversed Trump's immigration policies.
The new numbers confirm a prediction that former Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz made in early June during a private briefing with lawmakers in which he said that the Biden administration's success getting illegal crossings to drop after Title 42 ended would only be short-lived.
It also spells trouble for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was given a short-lived reprieve from congressional Republicans' fury over the high number of border crossings after arrests dipped earlier this summer. The House Homeland Security Committee is halfway through a six-part hearing series examining the state of the border under Mayorkas's tenure.
Despite the undeniable increase, as recently as Thursday, the White House continued to call its border policies a success.
"The president has done more to secure the border and to deal with this issue of immigration than anybody else. He really has," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing Thursday.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Aside from the increase in total arrests, the number of families crossing was the biggest shift in demographics. Nationwide, 93,403 immigrants crossed the border and claimed to be part of a family — the highest number seen in Border Patrol's 99-year existence.
The 93,403 family members represented more than half (or 51%) of the 182,401 total immigrants apprehended. In the first 10 months of fiscal 2023, which will end later this month, 25% of all Border Patrol apprehensions were families. The change in demographics shows that human smugglers and Mexican cartels that facilitate the smuggling of people may be shifting in who they are recruiting.
The DHS defended its handling of the border crisis and touted that 200,000 people were sent back outside the country since May, including 17,000 family members. The 17,000 family members are only 5% of the more than 184,000 people who crossed the border since May, meaning the remaining 167,000 people were released into the U.S. or remain in custody.
“This Administration continues to lead the largest expansion of lawful pathways in decades, which has reduced irregular migration while facilitating safe, orderly, and humane management of our borders," a DHS spokesperson said in an email Friday that did not dispute the leaked border numbers. "But as with every year, the U.S. is seeing ebbs and flows of migrants arriving fueled by seasonal trends and the efforts of smugglers to use disinformation to prey on vulnerable migrants and encourage migration."
The Biden administration has sought to process immigrants who make an initial claim for asylum while they are in custody at the border as opposed to releasing people into the U.S.
A group claiming to be from India walk past open border wall storm gates after crossing through the border fence in the Tucson Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Lukeville, Arizona.
(AP Photo/Matt York)
However, a 2015 court ruling barred the government from holding children or families in custody for more than 20 days. In addition, the Biden administration shuttered large family residential centers where the government had held immigrant families through court proceedings, leaving no space to detain people.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The influx of families and shortage of space have created ideal circumstances for smugglers to flood the border with families, knowing that the U.S. government cannot accommodate the large volume of people and will resort to releasing immigrants into the country, further burdening places such as New York City, Chicago, and Massachusetts.
On Friday, NBC reported that the Pentagon had extended the federal deployment of troops at the border through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.
Border Crisis News Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol Immigration Joe Biden Alejandro Mayorkas
Share your thoughts with friends.
| 538
|
Arizona to Pay $2.1 Million to Biden Admin Over Makeshift Border Wall
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-31-0624/immigration-arizona-pay-21-million-biden-admin-over-makeshift-border-wall
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/arizona-to-pay-2-1-million-to-biden-admin-over-makeshift-border-wall-5483903?ea_src=frontpage&ea_med=lead-story-1
|
IMMIGRATION & BORDER SECURITY
Arizona to Pay $2.1 Million to Biden Admin Over Makeshift Border Wall
The funds to be used by the Forest Service to address damage done by shipping container barrier.
A border wall constructed of shipping containers and topped with concertina wire built on federal land, as directed by former Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, stands along the U.S.–Mexico border in the Coronado National Forest near Hereford, Ariz., on Dec. 20, 2022. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
By Mimi Nguyen Ly
8/31/2023
Updated:
8/31/2023
Print
X 1
0:00
6:34
Arizona has agreed to pay the Biden administration $2.1 million as part of a settlement for a lawsuit that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had filed against the state over a makeshift wall made of shipping containers at the Arizona–Mexico border.
The state was given a bill of $2.1 million on Aug. 22 by the U.S. Forest Service, said Judy Kioski, a spokeswoman for Arizona's Division of Emergency Management, according to an Aug. 30 report by the Arizona Republic.
The Forest Service indicated that it would use the funds to address the millions of dollars in damage done to federal and tribal territories by the containers.
RELATED STORIES
Border Patrol Surging Resources to Arizona Area, Citing Increased Crossings and Smuggler Activity
8/7/2023
Arizona Election Chief on 14th Amendment in Trump Eligibility Debate: 'You Can't Enforce It'
8/30/2023
Once Arizona pays the bill, the case will be dismissed, pending a final judicial order.
Unless dismissed ahead of time, the lawsuit is set to continue until Sept. 26. In the event that it isn't dismissed, a joint progress report will be required from both parties.
Under former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, storage containers were positioned at gaps in the wall that had been built by the Trump administration, in order to mitigate illegal border crossings.
But the action resulted in a lawsuit filed by the DOJ in December 2022, after which Mr. Ducey agreed to take down the barrier. According to court filings, the federal government would, once the containers were taken down, commit to building a permanent border barrier at the Yuma Sector, Arizona's busiest illegal border crossing. U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced the project on Jan. 6.
Shipping containers fill a previous gap in the U.S.–Mexico border wall in Yuma, Arizona, on Sept. 27, 2022. Some gaps in the wall built by the Trump administration were filled with shipping containers by the Arizona state government in order to make it more difficult for immigrants to cross in certain areas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Makeshift Border Wall Erected to Combat Illegal Immigration
Mr. Ducey had ordered the building of the makeshift wall in late 2022 with the intention of helping stem the tide of illegal border crossings until a permanent solution could be found.
Advertisement - Story continues below
AD
“We can’t wait any longer. The Biden administration’s lack of urgency on border security is a dereliction of duty. For the past two years, Arizona has made every attempt to work with Washington to address the crisis on our border,” Mr. Ducey said in a statement in August 2022.
Arizona used more than 120 shipping containers to plug more than 3,820 feet of gaps in the border wall in Yuma County. In late October 2022, the state started to erect a separate shipping container barrier in Cochise County, in the Coronado National Forest, to cover a 10-mile gap that would take some 2,770 containers.
In October 2022, federal officials told Arizona that it was violating federal law, but the state ignored the warning.
Mr. Ducey, in response, sued the federal government (pdf) in the same month after receiving the notice. His lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, asked the court to affirm the state's right to defend itself, citing an "unprecedented crisis" regarding illegal immigration that has arisen in Arizona and "that is the creation of the federal government."
Advertisement - Story continues below
AD
The DOJ in December 2022 filed a separate federal lawsuit against the state, Mr. Ducey, and other state officials, saying the containers were illegally placed on federal land. The land could be used only if Arizona had been given permission by the government, but the state hadn't sought permission and didn't have the proper federal permits, the department stated. It also stated that the makeshift wall had harmed federal lands and threatened public safety, as well as hindered federal agencies from carrying out their jobs.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey talks to reporters at the White House in Washington on April 3, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Barrier Dismantled
By Dec. 21, 2022, Mr. Ducey's administration had agreed to dismantle the shipping container border barrier. Court documents show that the two sides entered into the agreement "to avoid the United States moving for an immediate temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction."
Under the agreement, the state of Arizona stated that it would stop putting in additional containers and would remove all of the ones previously installed "to the extent feasible" and so as to not cause damage to U.S. lands, properties, and natural resources by Jan. 4—one day before Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, was sworn in. Ms. Hobbs had been critical of Mr. Ducey's wall project, calling it ineffective and a political stunt.
Advertisement - Story continues below
AD
A spokesperson for Mr. Ducey told The Week that he had agreed to remove the containers because the Biden administration agreed to put up a permanent barrier in border wall gaps near Yuma.
All of the shipping containers have since been removed from federal land in Cochise and Yuma counties near the border, and "extensive remediation efforts" have been executed to address the environmental harm caused by the project, the Arizona Republic reported, citing a joint status report from Aug. 23 that was submitted by the federal government, Arizona, and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Shipping containers that would be used to fill a 1,000-foot gap in the border wall with Mexico near Yuma, Ariz. (Arizona Governor's Office via AP)
Shipping Containers for Sale
Mr. Ducey had initially promised to build about 10 miles of makeshift border barrier. Ultimately, roughly four miles to 4 1/2 miles of wall were erected, costing the state about $95 million in fees to Florida management and logistics contractor AshBritt. The money came from a $335 million Arizona Border Security Fund that state lawmakers had approved in 2022.
Advertisement - Story continues below
AD
AshBritt was ultimately paid a total of about $194.7 million to erect and later dismantle the shipping container barrier, as well as to transport away the unused containers, AZPM reported in late June. That comes to "roughly $40 to $50 million per mile, including the cost to take the containers away," according to the outlet.
More than 2,000 shipping containers have been put up for sale—available from June 1 through Sept. 30—to governments and nonprofits. If there are any remaining by Oct. 1, the public will have a chance to purchase them. Costs range from $500 to $2,000, depending on the size and condition of the container.
Katabella Roberts and Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
| 539
|
Texas sends 10th migrant bus to Los Angeles after mayor decries move as 'political act'
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-27-0152/immigration-texas-sends-10th-migrant-bus-los-angeles-after-mayor-decries-move
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-sends-10th-migrant-bus-los-angeles-after-mayor-decries-move-political-act
|
TEXAS
Texas sends 10th migrant bus to Los Angeles after mayor decries move as 'political act'
The bus had a total of 39 migrants
By Adam Sabes Fox News
Published August 26, 2023 9:01pm EDT
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
Print
Email
Video
Greg Abbott pledges more border enforcement amid Title 42 sunset
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tells 'Jesse Watters Primetime' he plans to continue to do what the feds refuse to.
Texas has sent a 10th bus with migrants to Los Angeles on Saturday, days after its mayor harshly criticized the southern state for sending migrants.
According to FOX Los Angeles, the bus had a total of 39 migrants, which included 12 families and 21 children.
The 10th bus was sent five days after the previous bus, according to the outlet.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott when the ninth bus was sent when Tropical Storm Hillary was impacting the city, saying "LA has not extended an invitation asking for people to come. This is a political act."
The Los Angeles City Council voted in June to make the city a sanctuary city for immigrants.
LOS ANGELES MAYOR ACCUSES ABBOTT OF BUSSING MIGRANTS FROM TEXAS TO CALIFORNIA DURING TROPICAL STORM HILARY
LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 13: The group of migrants from Brownsville, Texas, arrive St. Anthony's Croatian Catholic Church on Thursday, July 13, 2023, in Los Angeles, CA. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
On Tuesday, Bass again condemned Abbott for sending the buses.
"This evening, Los Angeles received another bus from Texas. That means that while we were urging Angelenos to stay safe, the Governor of Texas was sending a bus with families and toddlers straight towards us KNOWING they’d have to drive right into an unprecedented storm," Bass tweeted on X. "Evil."
Abbott's press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, previously told Fox News Digital the migrants all signed a voluntary consent waiver before boarding.
LA MAYOR SAYS CITY REACHING OUT TO CITY'S HOMELESS POPULATION IN RIVERBED AREAS AHEAD OF HILARY
LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 17: L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, flanked by LA Police Commissioner Dr. Erroll Southers and Glendale Police Chief Manuel Cid, announces establishing a task force to investigate, apprehend and prosecute suspects who have committed retail theft as businesses grapple with an uptick of smash-and-grabs in recent weeks a press conference held at City Hall in Los Angeles, CA. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
"Bus drivers receive updated weather conditions along their routes and for their destination ahead of and while en route to the sanctuary cities," Mahaleris said. "Yesterday's bus rerouted out of an abundance of caution and took a cautious path to Los Angeles to keep all on board safe. Migrants willingly chose to go to Los Angeles, having signed a voluntary consent waiver available in multiple languages upon boarding that they agreed on the destination. And they were processed and released by the federal government, who are dumping them at historic levels in Texas border towns because of the Biden-made crisis."
"Each bus is stocked with food and water and makes stops along the trip to refuel and switch drivers," Mahaleris continued. "Migrants are allowed to purchase any needed provisions or disembark at any of these stops. Instead of complaining about Texas providing much-needed relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities, Mayor Bass needs to call on President Biden to step up and do his job to secure the border—something he continues failing to do."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott looks on during a news conference on March 15, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
To date, Texas has bused over 30,000 migrants to Democratic-led cities across the United States.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Adam Sabes is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter @asabes10.
| 540
|
DHS announces $77 million more in funding to NGOs, communities hit by migrant surge
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-22-1155/immigration-dhs-announces-77-million-more-funding-ngos-communities-hit-migrant
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dhs-announces-millions-more-funding-ngos-communities-hit-migrant-surge
|
HOMELAND SECURITY
DHS announces $77 million more in funding to NGOs, communities hit by migrant surge
It means over $770 million has been awarded this fiscal year
By Adam Shaw Fox News
Published August 22, 2023 2:04pm EDT
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
Print
Email
Video
Massive group of migrants convenes at the southern border
A massive group of largely Honduran migrants have arrived at the Texas border, overwhelming border patrol logistics with 19,000 migrants in custody nationwide according to CBP sources.
The Department of Homeland Security this week announced an additional $77 million in funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and communities at the border and elsewhere that are dealing with the ramifications of the migrant crisis now in its third year.
DHS announced that the funding, which comes through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will be made available to 53 recipients for "temporary shelter and other eligible costs associated with migrants awaiting the outcome of their immigration proceedings."
It brings the total amount handed out this fiscal year to more than $770 million. That funding originates from the omnibus bill signed by President Biden in December 2022. DHS has also requested $600 million in the FY 23 budget supplemental for similar FEMA funding to areas hit by the migrant wave.
SIGN UP NOW! WATCH THE FIRST GOP PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY DEBATE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Of this $77 million, the largest amount, $13.2 million, is going to El Paso, Texas – one of the busiest areas for migrant border crossings. Catholic Charities in the Diocese of San Diego will receive $12.8 million. Pima County, Arizona, will receive $2.6 million and other NGOs, including food banks, will receive similar amounts in Texas and Arizona.
Migrants cross the Rio Grande, heading for Eagle Pass, Texas, on Aug. 4, 2023. (Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, deeper into the interior, New York City’s Office of Management and Budget will receive $2.2 million. There, Mayor Eric Adams has called for more funding and a federal emergency declaration over the number of migrants the "sanctuary" city has received, which has left officials overwhelmed and led to scenes of migrants camped out on the streets.
Chicago ($2.2 million), Washington, D.C. ($1.1 million), Philadelphia ($912,000), Atlanta ($1.2 million) and Denver ($392,000) are among the non-border cities receiving funding from the new tranche.
DHS also said it has expanded a cap on hotels and airfare to 10% of the total funding awarded. However, it said that cap can be waived due to "operational need."
MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AT SOUTHERN BORDER ON THE RISE AGAIN AFTER BIDEN ADMIN TOUTED REFORMS
Some at the border have bristled at the money being received by those cities deeper in the interior. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., said she was "livid" about funding announced for New York City in June, arguing it should have gone to Texas and Arizona instead.
But the latest funding comes after the Biden administration announced that border numbers had increased in July after a decrease in June – a decrease that officials had tied to policies it introduced at the end of the Title 42 public health order on May 11.
There were 183,503 encounters along the southern border in July, which marks a decrease from the 200,162 encountered last July, but an increase from the 144,566 in June.
NYC MIGRANT CRISIS COULD HIT $12 BILLION, MAYOR ADAMS URGES FEDERAL EMERGENCY DECLARATION
Video
Fox reported earlier this month that all four main Border Patrol sectors were either nearing full capacity or were already over capacity. Meanwhile, the administration has been calling for more volunteers from within the agency to go to the border, while sending additional ICE special agents.
It has also called for more funding from Congress, most recently requesting $4 billion out of the $40 billion budget supplemental request for aid with migration and border processing. It has separately called for the legislative body to pass comprehensive immigration reform to fix what it says is a "broken" immigration system.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Republicans have rebuffed many of those calls, including rejecting the immigration reform bill backed by the administration for its inclusion of a mass amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. It has also accused the administration of fueling the crisis by rolling back Trump-era border security measures, reducing ICE interior enforcement, and what they say is an abuse of the humanitarian parole system to release migrants into the interior.
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter.
| 541
|
NYC mayor fires back at Hochul on migrants, calls for executive order
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-17-1239/immigration-nyc-mayor-fires-back-hochul-migrants-calls-executive-order
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nyc-mayor-fires-back-hochul-migrants-calls-executive-order
|
ERIC ADAMS
NYC mayor fires back at Hochul on migrants, calls for executive order
Adams called for Hochul to issue an executive order to prevent localities from blocking asylum seeker housing
By Chris Pandolfo Fox News
Published August 17, 2023 1:40pm EDT
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
Print
Email
Video
NYC Mayor Eric Adams calls on Gov. Kathy Hochul to issue executive order on migrant crisis
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday called for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to issue an executive order to stop localities from preventing migrant housing in their regions.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday responded after lawyers for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul criticized his handling of the migrant crisis that has assailed the city and surrounding areas.
Taking questions at a news conference, Adams said the crisis is a statewide issue that has "dropped into the lap of New York City residents." He called for Hochul to issue an executive order that will stop localities surrounding New York City from passing ordinances banning migrant housing from being constructed in their regions. He said these ordinances are "really tying up a lot of time."
"We are going into individual court cases where everyone is finding creative ways to not be the state and country that we are," Adams told reporters.
The mayor reiterated that New York City is picking up the costs for housing migrants wherever they send them. Even so, dozens of New York counties have tried to stop Adams from housing asylum seekers in their towns, pointing to security issues caused by migrants who commit crimes.
NEW YORK GOV. KATHY HOCHUL SLAMS MAYOR ADAMS' MIGRANT RESPONSE IN 12-PAGE LETTER
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks at City Hall during a public hearing on Wednesday. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images)
In June, Adams filed a lawsuit against 30 New York counties that had passed local executive orders intended to stop the city from placing migrants in their jurisdictions.
"I think it's unfortunate, and we're hoping that the governor will put in place an executive order that would prevent this from having to go from location to location," Adams said. "New York just cannot continue to take this flow. And, you know, all I can say is I'm hoping people can imagine what it's like to every week come up with, you know, from 25 to almost 3,000 people finding new places, sporting fields, recreational centers, hotels. That is just not how you manage a city."
New York City has been overwhelmed by tens of thousands of migrants pouring into the five boroughs in the past year. Adams said more than 100,000 people have sought shelter in the city to date — most entering the U.S. over the southern border — averaging as much as 2,900 new arrivals per week.
ADAMS UNLOADS ON BIDEN ADMIN OVER MIGRANT CRISIS, REPEATING IT'S ‘ANTI-AMERICAN’ NOT TO LET 100K PEOPLE WORK
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, joined by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, delivers remarks about their joint effort to combat gun violence in New York City on Aug. 24, 2022. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
Lawyers for Hochul slammed the mayor's response to the crisis in a 12-page letter sent to his office, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Hochul’s lawyer, Faith E. Gay, accused the city of being slow to make timely requests for regulatory changes or inform the state of crucial decisions.
"The city can and should do more to act in a proactive and collaborative manner with the state," the letter stated.
The state reminded Adams of the nearly $1.5 billion in financial support for the city and said it will continue to provide significant financial assistance.
NY COUNTY STOPS ACCEPTING MIGRANTS AFTER ALLEGED SEXUAL ASSAULTS: ‘WE ARE PAYING FOR ALL OF THIS’
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials listen to a reporter's question during a City Hall press conference on Aug. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
"The migrant crisis has been extremely costly and will continue to require significant financial resources," the letter said. "Neither the City nor the State should have to absorb these operational needs or costs for what is a matter of federal concern." The state also questioned management of funds by the city's main subcontractor, and the city's decision to allow migrants to sleep on the street outside the Roosevelt Hotel.
Asked about the letter Thursday, Adams said he did not think the governor "slammed" his administration.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"I think the governor did her analysis on probably four areas that really, I think, to me, just need clarity on," the mayor said. He explained that some of the sites the state suggested to house asylum seekers were determined to be unfit after investigations.
"The worst thing you could do is house migrants in a flood plain area and all of a sudden you have an emergency where you have to move people at that location," Adams said. He also noted that New York City is required to spend $3.4 billion to draw down the $1 billion in assistance from New York state, which the city has not done yet.
Fox News' Bradford Betz and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
Chris Pandolfo is a writer for Fox News Digital. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.
| 542
|
The Border Crisis Undermines Our Democracy
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-17-0815/immigration-border-crisis-undermines-our-democracy
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-border-crisis-undermines-our-democracy/
|
Democrats are flooding the zone and changing the electorate.
As migrants overwhelm shelter capacity in border communities and destination cities throughout the U.S., the disruptions caused by our porous southern border seem obvious. Beneath the surface, however, is a deeper problem. Congress sets limits on immigration to avoid the cultural and political transformations that can accompany mass movements of people. By violating those limits—by inviting millions of inadmissible migrants to enter our country—the current administration is furthering a long-term change in our national character. It’s a change that will be especially damaging to the conservative movement.
The root cause of the crisis is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under President Joe Biden. DHS is not merely failing to catch inadmissible migrants who sneak across the border; rather, it is facilitating their entry. The process started with Biden’s promise to remove key deterrents, such as the Trump rule that asylum seekers must remain in Mexico while their cases are adjudicated. DHS responded to the resulting border surge not by tightening the rules, but by attempting to coordinate the flow into the U.S.
This coordination involves the abuse of statutes intended for exceptional circumstances, such as the “parole” power, which DHS now invokes to welcome any number of inadmissible migrants it wants, for whatever reason it wants, at any time it wants. DHS even encourages migrants to download a special app on their phones to schedule their visa-less entry. Meanwhile, a purported crackdown on migrants attempting to cross between ports of entry has not materialized. Would-be border-crossers blocked by the Texas National Guard are instead seeking out U.S. Border Patrol officers who may release them into the interior.
The number of inadmissible migrants who entered the U.S. in just the first half of Biden’s term is about 2 million—and they will keep coming as long as DHS maintains the invitation. While these migrants do not have permanent-resident status, they are unlikely to be removed before they can put down roots. DHS has virtually halted interior enforcement, and any efforts by a future administration to cancel grants of temporary status will face resistance in the bureaucracy and the courts. In fact, progressive activists intend today’s illegal immigrants to be tomorrow’s recipients of “path to citizenship” legislation. Even without it, the migrants’ U.S.-born children will be automatic citizens.
Although the level of immigration permitted by law—about 1 million new permanent residents per year—is already high enough to alter the character of the U.S. in the long run, the current administration’s efforts are accelerating the process. Politicians often speak of immigrants purely in economic terms—as workers in the labor market, or contributors to entitlement programs—but a country’s people define its culture. The U.S. has been relatively free and prosperous not because of random luck, but because it was settled by people whose culture is conducive to prosperity. “Would America be the America it is today,” the political scientist Samuel Huntington once asked, “if in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it had been settled not by British Protestants but by French, Spanish, or Portuguese? The answer is no. It would not be America; it would be Quebec, Mexico, or Brazil.”
Research across a variety of disciplines shows that key cultural traits brought by migrants do not disappear into a melting pot. In fact, the historian David Hackett Fischer has shown that certain regional differences in the U.S. today can be traced all the way back to varying attitudes toward education, civics, trust, crime, and government structure among different groups of British settlers. Later immigrants brought their own distinctive values and beliefs that persist to the present day. For example, the high-trust cultures of the Scandinavian countries have been replicated in the parts of the U.S. where Scandinavian immigrants settled, particularly Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Cultural persistence is more than just an historical curiosity. In his recent book The Culture Transplant, economist Garett Jones explains how migrants bring cultural values that shape the economies of their new countries. “If you’re trying to guess how rich a country is today, you’ll make a far more accurate guess if you know the history of the people rather than the history of the place,” he writes. The millions of inadmissible migrants welcomed by the Biden administration will therefore have a notable long-term impact on the U.S., making our country more like theirs.
This immigration-induced cultural transformation is by itself inimical to conservatism, which reveres the history and traditions that shaped the American nation. The transformation is also problematic because it reduces the viability of conservatism as a political movement. The evidence is straightforward: If one believes the exit polls, naturalized citizens gave about two-thirds of their votes to the Democratic Party in 2016. Although citizenship was apparently not collected in 2020, Hispanic and Asian voters—a rough proxy for post-1965 immigrants and their children—voted for Democrats by around the same two-thirds rate in both 2016 and 2020.
Perhaps the GOP just needs to do more outreach through pro-immigration policies? Republican presidential candidates from Ronald Reagan through John McCain attempted that strategy, but the results were disappointing. As the political scientist George Hawley has shown, the parsimonious reason that immigrants tend to favor the Democratic Party is that they are to the left of the average American voter. Messaging and tone can go only so far in the presence of ideological differences.
President Trump’s improvement in 2020 in south Texas and Miami has led to speculation that Hispanics will eventually migrate to the center, but even temporary boosts to the left can bring permanent changes. The New Deal, for example, was enabled in part by the addition of Great Wave immigrants and their children to the Democratic coalition. Even after support for Democrats weakened among those voters, the New Deal remained firmly entrenched. As immigration moves the political center leftward, Republicans will have to shift their party’s platform in that direction as well, leaving today’s conservatives at a long-term disadvantage.
Whether the acceleration of the cultural and political changes described above are deliberate goals of the Biden administration’s immigration policy is unknown. For some DHS officials, the purpose of facilitating illegal immigration could be simply that they believe restriction is unjust. But whatever the motivation, the consequences are the same. Inviting millions of inadmissible migrants to enter our country will have long-term impacts that will be especially damaging to the administration’s political opponents. Although phrases such as “violating norms” and “undermining our democracy” are overused these days, this situation is a real example of both.
Much of the anger that Americans feel about the border crisis is born of its undemocratic nature. Border towns grapple with wave after wave of migrants whom they did not invite. Even destination cities that pronounced themselves “sanctuaries” complain that the numbers are far higher than they had contemplated. Meanwhile, traditional-minded Americans experience a sense of helplessness as their country changes around them. Prominent among them are conservative Republicans who sense the opposition is flooding the zone—setting up future election victories not by changing the voters’ minds, but by changing the voters themselves.
For the health of our democracy, it is imperative that the Biden administration reverse course on its border policy. Stop facilitating the entry of inadmissible migrants. Send a clear message—not merely in words, but in deeds—that the border is closed to everyone without a visa. At that point, if 1 million legal immigrants per year still isn’t enough for this administration, it should do what the Constitution prescribes for exactly such a situation: Ask Congress to change the law.
| 543
|
Kyrsten Sinema blasts Democratic leadership over border funding
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-16-0635/immigration-kyrsten-sinema-blasts-democratic-leadership-over-border-funding
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/kyrsten-sinema-blasts-democratic-leadership-border-funding
|
KYRSTEN SINEMA
Kyrsten Sinema blasts Democratic leadership over border funding
by Jack Birle, Breaking News Reporter
August 16, 2023 09:16 AM
Latest
Social Security update: Direct payment worth $914 arrives in eight days
By: Misty Severi
Social Security update: Third round of direct payments worth up to $4,555 to arrive in six days
By: Misty Severi
Recent polls reveal potential ominous signs for Biden’s reelection campaign
By: Christopher Tremoglie
Videos
Merrick Garland hearing: Six takeaways on Hunter Biden investigation
Merrick Garland hearing: Texas representative grilled Garland over whether his department was still targeting parents
WATCH: Dusty Johnson on the farm bill: 'Farmers will fight you if you do anything to damage their land'
Fed holds interest rates steady amid recent upswing in inflation
Newsletters
Sign up now to get the Washington Examiner’s breaking news and timely commentary delivered right to your inbox.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) blasted Democratic leadership for New York getting funding for handling immigrants from the southern border rather than border communities getting the extra funding.
The $104.6 million grant from FEMA was announced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in June. Of the $291 million in funds allocated by FEMA in 2023, only a fraction, roughly $39 million, went to communities in Arizona. The former Democratic-turned-independent senator from the Grand Canyon State told Politico it is "important for people to know" why the Empire State got more funds than Arizona.
UP FOR DEBATE: TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND 2024 GOP HOPEFULS' STANCES ON EDUCATION
“It’s fairly obvious. I don’t know if you noticed, but the announcement about that $104 million came out first, in a joint press release from Schumer and Jeffries — not from the White House or from FEMA. The first news of it broke by their press release,” Sinema said, referring to the amount granted to New York.
“Now, how did that happen?” Sinema told the outlet.
New York has been under increased strain from the influx of immigrants being offered transportation to the state from officials on the southern border in the past year.
While speaking with reporters earlier this month, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) said that New York state is struggling to provide immigrants with resources and needs help from the White House, warning that the issue will cost Democrats a chance at retaking the House in 2024.
"Here's the thing. Democrats are looking bad right now in New York state, and that's unacceptable when we have to win at least four congressional seats to take back the House, so hopefully, the president is listening," Bowman said.
The White House requested $600 million to help relieve shelters for immigrants in an emergency spending request last week.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Sinema also told Politico that there is a “lack of understanding of what the experience is like in border communities, and a willingness to shortchange the work that is happening in those communities without realizing the impact it has on the entire system." She added that is it “very frustrating."
The Arizona independent has not confirmed if she will run for reelection to her Senate seat in 2024, but she has filed paperwork allowing her to fundraise for a reelection bid. Sinema left the Democratic Party in December 2022 and would likely be involved in a three-way race if she runs for reelection.
Kyrsten Sinema Border Security Arizona New York News
Share your thoughts with friends.
| 544
|
How Eric Adams Has Vindicated Immigration Restrictionism
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-15-0821/immigration-how-eric-adams-has-vindicated-immigration-restrictionism
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/08/how-eric-adams-has-vindicated-immigration-restrictionism/
| 545
|
|
Liberal cities, states struggle with tough reality of migrant surge despite welcoming rhetoric
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-14-0607/immigration-liberal-cities-states-struggle-tough-reality-migrant-surge-despite
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/liberal-cities-states-tough-reality-migrant-surge-despite-welcoming-rhetoric
|
BORDER SECURITY
Liberal cities, states struggle with tough reality of migrant surge despite welcoming rhetoric
Massachusetts and New York City both made fresh appeals for help last week
By Adam Shaw Fox News
Published August 14, 2023 5:32am EDT | Updated August 14, 2023 5:58am EDT
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
Print
Email
Video
Sanctuary cities requesting help for influx of migrants
Cochise County, Arizona Sheriff Mark Dannels describes how Democratic sanctuary city leaders are now seeing the consequences of open border policies.
Liberal cities and states are continuing to sound the alarm over a surge of migrants into their jurisdictions. Some are going so far as to call on the federal government to declare a state of emergency, while maintaining welcoming rhetoric to all who come across the border.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey last week declared a state of emergency "due to rapid and unabating increases in the number of families with children and pregnant people – many of them newly arriving migrants and refugees – living within the state but without the means to secure safe shelter in our communities."
The state currently has more than 20,000 families in its state shelter system and costs are around $45 million a month, her office said.
MASSACHUSETTS GOV DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY DUE TO SURGE OF MIGRANTS; CALL FOR FEDERAL ACTION
Massachusetts had first encountered migrant-related controversy last year when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent migrants to liberal holiday destination Martha’s Vineyard, sparking outrage from liberals, and counter-accusations of hypocrisy from conservatives when they were promptly bussed off the island.
In her letter to the Department of Homeland Security appealing for help, including expedited work authorizations for migrants, comprehensive immigration reform and additional financial assistance for the state, Healey noted that migrants were drawn to Massachusetts due to its liberal policies.
Video
"Many of these families are migrants to Massachusetts, drawn here because we are and proudly have been a beacon to those in need," she wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Since then, officials have called for residents to "consider hosting a family" in an extra room or suite in their home.
NYC MAYOR ADAMS SLAMS ‘RIGHT TO SHELTER,' SAYS MIGRANT CRISIS ‘NOT SUSTAINABLE’ AFTER TOUTING SANCTUARY STATUS
Later in the week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams backed Healey, and issued his own dire warnings of the impact that the nearly 100,000 migrants who have hit the city since 2022 is having. He estimated it will cost the city $12 billion by 2025 if things do not change.
"We are also asking the federal government to declare a state of emergency. Additionally, the federal government needs to provide more funding to match the reality of the cost on the ground," he said. "Finally, we need the federal government to lead a decompression strategy at the border so cities and states across the nation can do their part to shelter asylum seekers."
He later suggested that the crisis could "decimate" the city if nothing was done, and noted the plight of other liberal cities that were facing similar migrant waves.
"New York City is the economic engine of this entire state and country. If you decimate this city, you're going to decimate the foundation of what's happening. Look at Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and now hear the governor of Massachusetts," he said.
Mayor Eric Adams during briefing at the Javits Federal Building, New York City, April 17, 2023. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
He has also remained firm on the city's welcoming attitude to foreign nationals, noting that many Americans can trace their heritage to immigrants who came in via Ellis Island.
"This is the magic of this city. People of all backgrounds living together in one place. New York City remains a beacon for all who come to our shores," he said.
Both New York City and the state of New York have sought federal aid over the wave of migrants coming in, some by their own means and others being bussed in from Texas, which launched an effort in 2022 to send migrants to "sanctuary" cities to help relieve the burden on the Lone Star State.
"This is a hurricane hitting New York City and New York state," Gov. Kathy Hochul said in May.
DENVER MAYOR DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY AFTER ARRIVAL OF MIGRANTS FROM SOUTHERN BORDER: ‘AN IMMENSE STRAIN’
Lawmakers at the border have bristled at some of the requests for funding, noting that the numbers of migrants reaching those cities is dwarfed by the hundreds of thousands hitting border states each month since the crisis began in 2021.
Video
In Chicago, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot declared a state of emergency in May and said the city’s resources are "now stretched to the breaking point." That has also caused consternation among the city’s residents, with some complaining of the disruptive behaviors of those in shelters, as well as plans to move migrants into a community gym.
Earlier this year, the city of Denver placed a two-week limit on shelter stays as it faced a surge of migrants over the winter – with Colorado’s governor clashing with the mayors of Chicago and New York over since-ended moves to bus migrants to them.
"These actions do not live up to the values of a proclaimed welcoming state and should stop immediately," Mayors Adams and Lightfoot wrote.
Migrants gather outside the Roosevelt Hotel, where dozens of recently arrived migrants have been camping out as they try to secure temporary housing on Aug. 2, 2023, in New York City. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Gov. Jared Polis’ office had defended the buses, saying that about 70% of migrants arriving in Denver did not have Colorado as a final destination. As a result, the state said it was working with nonprofits to "provide intake, processing, and transportation coordination to help migrants safely reach their desired final destination."
"People fleeing violence and oppression in search of a better life for themselves and their families deserve our respect, not political games, and we are grateful we have been able to assist migrants to reach their final destination," Polis said in a statement.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Most recently, California officials objected to moves by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to fly migrants into the sanctuary state -- accusing the state of kidnapping and exploiting migrants.
The accusations, however, were shrugged off by DeSantis, who said it was right that liberal cities bore the brunt of the crisis.
"I don't think we should have any of this. But if there's a policy to have an open border then I think the sanctuary jurisdictions should be the ones that have to bear that," he said. "We're not a sanctuary in Florida."
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter.
| 546
|
Number Of Illegal Migrants In Border Patrol Custody More Than Doubles After Post-Title 42 Drop
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-11-1551/immigration-number-illegal-migrants-border-patrol-custody-more-doubles-after
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/11/number-illegal-migrants-border-patrol-custody-more-doubles-post-title-42-drop/
| 547
|
|
Massachusetts gov declares state of emergency due to surge of migrants; calls for federal action
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-08-1605/immigration-massachusetts-gov-declares-state-emergency-due-surge-migrants-calls
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/massachusetts-gov-declares-state-emergency-surge-migrants-calls-federal-action
|
MASSACHUSETTS
Massachusetts gov declares state of emergency due to surge of migrants; calls for federal action
Healey says there are 20,000 people in state system
By Adam Shaw Fox News
Published August 8, 2023 1:01pm EDT
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
Print
Email
Video
NYC ran out of solutions for migrant crisis: Paladino
Republican New York City Council member Vickie Paladino breaks down how the migrant crisis is spiraling into a housing problem in Manhattan on "Fox Report."
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in the liberal state over a surge of migrants that she says has left social services overwhelmed, and she called for more funding and help from the federal government.
Healey, a Democrat, announced that a state of emergency exists "due to rapid and unabating increases in the number of families with children and pregnant people — many of them newly arriving migrants and refugees — living within the state but without the means to secure safe shelter in our communities."
The state said there are nearly 5,600 families or more than 20,000 people in the state shelter system. Healey said there are numerous contributing factors, including "federal policies on immigration and work authorization" as well as a lack of affordable housing and the end of COVID-era programs.
SINEMA ‘LIVID’ NEW YORK CITY GETS FEDERAL FUNDS TO HELP WITH MIGRANT CRISIS
Venezuelan migrants gather at the Vineyard Haven ferry terminal on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts on Sept. 16, 2022. The group was moved to Joint Base Cape Cod in Buzzards Bay. (Boston Globe)
Massachusetts is the latest liberal jurisdiction to call for help from the federal government due to a surge of migrants, despite not being anywhere near the besieged southern border. New York City, Chicago and the state of New York have all made emergency declarations this year and called for help in response to a migrant wave.
While the numbers have been only a small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of migrants that hit the border each month, those areas have declared themselves overwhelmed and at capacity as migrants arrive.
Healey said that in July there were 100 families a day seeking emergency shelter while the numbers leaving shelter has declined by two-thirds since 2019 — and costs are hitting $45 million a month on programs.
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS SAYS NEW YORK CITY HAS ‘RUN OUT OF ROOM’ FOR MIGRANTS: ‘IT’S NOT GOING TO GET ANY BETTER'
"Many of these families are migrants to Massachusetts, drawn here because we are and proudly have been a beacon to those in need," she wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
She also blamed "a confusing tangle of immigration laws, an inability for migrants to obtain work authorization from the federal government, an increase in the number of people coming to Massachusetts, and the lack of an affordable housing supply in our state."
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey delivers her inaugural address moments after being sworn into office during inauguration ceremonies, Jan. 5, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
Healey called for Mayorkas to press Congress and use executive action to remove barriers for work permits for migrants, "address our outdated and punitive immigration laws" and to provide additional financial assistance to the state.
BIDEN ADMIN SENDING SURGE OF ICE SPECIAL AGENTS TO BORDER AMID INCREASE IN MIGRANT NUMBERS
Mayorkas has echoed many of these calls himself, with the administration as a whole repeatedly calling on Congress to provide additional funding as requested at the border. The administration has urged passage of an immigration reform bill that was introduced on President Biden’s first day in office.
A DHS official told Fox News Digital that in FY 2023 it has provided more than $2.8 million in funding to the city of Boston through FEMA's Emergency Food and Shelter Program. The official also said that the administration "will continue to collaborate directly with city and state officials to coordinate our efforts and we continue to call on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform."
But such calls for funding and immigration reform have met with opposition from Republicans and others. Republicans have balked at the inclusion of a mass amnesty for millions of illegal migrants included in the 2021 proposal. Instead, they want to see asylum loopholes closed and more border security, with House Republicans introducing and passing sweeping legislation earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., said last week she was "livid" that New York City was receiving federal funding to deal with migrants instead of states at the border.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"What we’re experiencing here in Arizona is matched only by what folks are experiencing in southern Texas," Sinema said. "Those are the two communities that are experiencing this crisis. The rest of the country is experiencing some elements of it, but we are experiencing the brunt."
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter.
| 548
|
Massachusetts Becomes Latest in String of Blue States to Declare State of Emergency over Illegal Migrant Surge
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-08-1313/immigration-massachusetts-becomes-latest-string-blue-states-declare-state
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/massachusetts-becomes-latest-in-string-of-blue-states-to-declare-state-of-emergency-over-illegal-migrant-surge/
|
NEWS
POLITICS & POLICY
Massachusetts Becomes Latest in String of Blue States to Declare State of Emergency over Illegal Migrant Surge
Massachusetts governor Maura Healey speaks after taking the Oath of Office during her inauguration at the Massachusetts State House in Boston, January 5, 2023. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)
Share
76 Comments
Listen
By ARI BLAFF
August 8, 2023 1:42 PM
During an afternoon press conference at the Massachusetts state house, Governor Maura Healey declared a state of emergency following the influx of thousands of illegal migrants that has pushed social services across the state to a breaking point.
“[D]ue to [the] rapid and unabating increases in the number of families with children and pregnant people,” the governor said in a prepared statement, “The need for action is urgent.”
“Right now, more than 5,500 families,” Healey, the former Massachusetts Attorney General, continued, “They are in danger of going without the most basic of human rights in one of the most prosperous places on earth: the ability to lay their heads down in a safe place every night with a roof over their heads and with access to fundamental human necessities. They have called upon us to help give them shelter and the ability to work.”
The Democratic governor alluded to the potential need for a state of emergency during a speech in June. “I am going to do whatever I can to maximize resources and funding and support from the federal government as we continue to work with communities and nonprofits around the state,” Healey told reporters at the time.
The move now permits the state to seek federal assistance and the governor to enlist the help of the National Guard to address the ongoing crisis.
NEW: Mass Gov. Maura Healey declares a state of emergency due to a migrant surge in the liberal state.
She says there are more than 5,500 families receiving services “including very young children and pregnant people…” pic.twitter.com/Z8lF68bNXP
— Adam Shaw (@AdamShawNY) August 8, 2023
Since Healey took office in January, the state’s emergency shelter system has struggled to accommodate a surge in migrants, with more than 1,500 new families arriving in the last several months. The influx has even forced the governor to designate hotels as temporary shelters.
“In the past year or so, that number has grown so quickly,” John Yazwinski, a spokesperson for a shelter system in south Boston, told Politico. “In years past, it’s usually been about 5 percent.”
TOP STORIES
Does John Fetterman Really Want to Be a Senator?
The Pope’s Reign and Ruin
The Averageness of Taylor Swift
A similar note was struck by Danielle Ferrier, the chief executive of another Boston homeless service provider. “This really is a safety issue when we have this many people being housed in large sites who either aren’t being staffed at all or not enough,” she told the Boston Globe.
“There’s been a group of providers who have really been pushing hard in the governor’s office” for this. “It is not safe any longer on the ground, in our sites,” Ferrier added.
In September 2022, Democratic state legislators denounced Florida governor Ron DeSantis for flying illegal immigrants to Massachusetts. One representative whose district encompasses parts of Martha’s Vineyard, where many of the migrants were dispatched, called the governor’s actions “f***ing depraved.”
More on
MASSACHUSETTS
Massachusetts Mayor Sounds Alarm on Migrant Crisis, Urges Lawmakers to Reform ‘Right-to-Shelter’ Law
Broadway Actor Dreams Up Racist Past for New Home, Earning National Press Coverage and Social Media Plaudits
‘Their Faith Is Not Supportive’: Massachusetts Bars Catholic Couple from Fostering Children
“The Governor of one of the biggest states in the nation has been spending time hatching a secret plot to round up & ship people-children, families-lying to them about where theyre going just to gain cheap political points on Tucker Calrson [sic] and MAGA twitter. It’s f***ing depraved,” Representative Dylan Fernandes wrote on social media.
HAPPENING NOW: Migrants, flown into Martha’s Vineyard by Fl’s governor, are boarding buses. They’ll be heading to Joint Base Cape Cod, according to officials. 125 Mass National Guard members are being activated to assist. @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/RLwxNPu8GM
— Emilie Ikeda (@EmilieIkedaNBC) September 16, 2022
“What they are doing is a legal stunt, is a political stunt. It’s really just disrespectful to humanity,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press conference at the time.
In 1983, Massachusetts passed a one-of-a-kind “right-to-shelter” law that mandated immediate housing for qualifying families, which has exacerbated the state’s current predicament. Republican representative Peter Durant implored Healey to consider pulling the law in the wake of her announcement.
“Our homeless shelters are maxed out. Hotels across the state have been converted to shelters. And the problem is growing on a daily basis. Worse yet, all of this assistance is being taken away from our legal residents and it is a potential safety risk for the children. It is time to repeal the Right to Settle law, so Massachusetts will stop being a magnet state. Today, I am asking Governor Healey to file emergency legislation to repeal it,” the representative wrote in a public statement.
Healey’s announcement now brings Massachusetts in line with other Democratic districts, including New York City, El Paso, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, which have all made similar moves in recent months.
Send a tip to the news team at NR.
NEXT NEWS ARTICLE
DeSantis Replaces Campaign Manager as Reset Continues
BACK TO NEWS
Share
76 Comments
ARI BLAFF is a news writer for National Review. His writing has appeared in Tablet Magazine, Quillette, City Journal, and Newsweek. He holds a Master's from the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and writes from Toronto, Canada. @ariblaff
| 549
|
Mexico Links Texas Border Buoys To Migrant Deaths — Abbott Says That’s ‘Flat-Out Wrong’
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-04-1540/immigration-mexico-links-texas-border-buoys-migrant-deaths-abbott-says-s-flat
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.dailywire.com/news/mexico-links-texas-border-buoys-to-migrant-deaths-abbott-says-thats-flat-out-wrong
|
— NEWS —
Mexico Links Texas Border Buoys To Migrant Deaths — Abbott Says That’s ‘Flat-Out Wrong’
By Zach Jewell
•
Aug 4, 2023 DailyWire.com
•
Facebook
Twitter
Mail
SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott rebuffed claims from the Mexican government that pinned the deaths of migrants this week on a buoy barrier installed by his state in the Rio Grande.
Two bodies, likely of migrants attempting to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, were found Wednesday, one of which was recovered near buoys in the river that are a part of Abbott’s newly installed border barrier. The Mexican government was the first to inform the public about the incident and linked the deaths to the buoys, after which Abbott’s office rejected the explanation.
“The Mexican government is flat-out wrong,” said Abbott’s spokesman Andrew Mahaleris, according to the Washington Examiner. “To be clear, preliminary information points to the drowning occurring before the body was even near the barriers. The Texas Department of Public Safety previously reported to Border Patrol the dead body floating upstream from the barriers in the Rio Grande.”
The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it was notified by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) about a “lifeless body caught in the southern part of the buoys.” Texas DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez, however, said the river’s stream moved the dead body “down into the buoy,” explaining that the buoy did not lead to the death, the Examiner reported. The 1,000-foot stretch of buoys is placed in a shallow area where it is easy to walk across the river, according to Olivarez.
“The water is between knee and waist level,” Olivarez said. “There’s no way the body would have drowned there. … There’s nothing in the buoy — no objects, no sharp objects, no wire, no hook.”
Olivarez said Mexico acknowledged the second body recovered was found “miles upstream from the marine barriers.”
Mexico claimed that Abbott’s barrier in the river is a “violation of our sovereignty.”
“We express our concern about the impact on the human rights and personal safety of immigrants that these state policies will have, which go in the opposite direction to the close collaboration between our country and the federal government of the United States,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
The U.S. government has also targeted Abbott for installing the buoys, filing a lawsuit against Texas last month. The Department of Justice claims that it was unlawful for Texas to put up the barriers and said there were humanitarian concerns.
“The floating barrier poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns,” a warning letter from the department said.
The DOJ lawsuit argues that Texas is violating the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, a law that prohibits the “creation of any obstruction not affirmatively authorized by Congress, to the navigable capacity of any of the waters of the United States.”
Abbott’s office said migrant drownings happen all too often, in part, because of the Biden administration’s border policies.
“If President Biden and [Mexican] President Lopez Obrador truly cared about human life, they would do their jobs and secure the border,” Mahaleris said.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.
Read more in:
Biden Administration,Border Crisis,Greg Abbott,Illegal Immigration,Mexico,Texas
Facebook
Twitter
Mail
Around The Web
Learn to Operate Space
XCraft
Ringing In The Ears? Do This Immediately (Watch)
The Daily Survivor
Anyone with Diabetes Should Watch This (Big Pharma Companies Hate This!)
Control Sugar Levels
Anyone With Arthritis Should Watch This (They Hide This From You)
The Daily Survivor
This Video Will Soon Be Banned. Watch Before It's Deleted
Secrets Revealed
Drink This Before Bed, Watch Your Body Fat Melt Like Crazy! (Watch)
Healthier Living Tips
The 50 Most Romantic Hotels in the World for 2023
Best Hotel
Top 50 Amazing Beaches in the World
beach
Get Mortgage Advice Close to Home
Up Next
Recommended for you
Create a free account to join the conversation!
Start Commenting
Hotwire
Our Most Important Stories Right Now
| 550
|
Democrats demand Biden administration end 'failed' asylum claims process
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-01-1330/immigration-democrats-demand-biden-administration-end-failed-asylum-claims
|
Immigration
|
rights
|
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/immigration/democrats-demand-biden-end-failed-asylum-claims-process
|
DEMOCRATS
Democrats demand Biden administration end 'failed' asylum claims process
by Anna Giaritelli, Homeland Security Reporter
August 01, 2023 03:52 PM
Latest
Social Security update: Direct payment worth $914 arrives in eight days
By: Misty Severi
Social Security update: Third round of direct payments worth up to $4,555 to arrive in six days
By: Misty Severi
Recent polls reveal potential ominous signs for Biden’s reelection campaign
By: Christopher Tremoglie
Videos
Merrick Garland hearing: Six takeaways on Hunter Biden investigation
Merrick Garland hearing: Texas representative grilled Garland over whether his department was still targeting parents
WATCH: Dusty Johnson on the farm bill: 'Farmers will fight you if you do anything to damage their land'
Fed holds interest rates steady amid recent upswing in inflation
Newsletters
Sign up now to get the Washington Examiner’s breaking news and timely commentary delivered right to your inbox.
More than 60 House and Senate Democrats are calling on the Biden administration to stop its recently restarted practice of carrying out initial asylum screenings while immigrants are still in Border Patrol custody.
Sixty-six Democrats teamed up and sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland Tuesday in a plea for the government to wait until immigrants who have illegally crossed the border are out of custody and released into the United States before determining if they may have a valid case for asylum.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION INCANDESCENT LIGHTBULB BAN TAKES EFFECT
"Requiring asylum seekers to undergo their Credible Fear Interviews (CFI) while in [Customs and Border Protection] custody and articulate their traumatic experiences within as little as one day of arrival into the U.S. is inherently problematic because of the recency of the trauma many are fleeing and the carceral nature of CBP custody," the letter stated.
"Compounding this new problematic practice is the difficulty asylum seekers face of trying to figure out how [to] navigate the United States’ very complicated asylum law, overwhelmingly without the benefit of counsel,” the letter continued.
Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ), along with Reps. Nanette Barragan (D-CA) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) organized the effort in both chambers.
The lawmakers said the problem began in April when the DHS and Justice Department implemented a plan to expeditiously hear asylum claims while immigrants were still in custody.
The timing of the plan was no coincidence, coming just weeks before a pandemic public health policy had been slated to end and CBP expected record-high numbers of people crossing the border and seeking asylum.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Due process is a right and value enshrined in our nation’s history. Affording people fair adjudication — including adequate time to obtain evidence, prepare one’s case, and obtain and work with counsel — is particularly key for individuals fleeing life-threatening harm or torture," the lawmakers wrote. "Hence, we call on your departments to immediately end the policy of conducting fear screenings in CBP custody."
"Such a process has consistently failed to adhere to basic principles of fairness, humane treatment of those fleeing persecution or torture, and compliance with due process obligations."
Democrats News Asylum Alejandro Mayorkas Merrick Garland Washington D.C. Congress
Share your thoughts with friends.
| 551
|
The Biden administration wants to know if Saudi Arabia used American weapons to kill 'hundreds' of migrants
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-03-0529/immigration-biden-administration-wants-know-if-saudi-arabia-used-american
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-investigation-us-military-aid-saudi-arabia-massacre-migrants-yemen-2023-9
|
US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One before departing from King Abdulaziz International Airport in the Saudi city of Jeddah on July 16, 2022. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
The United States is investigating a report that Saudi Arabia killed "hundreds" of migrants.
Human Rights Watch said border guards in Saudi Arabia killed scores of migrants in Yemen.
The Biden administration is investigating whether US weapons were used in the reported attacks.
Advertisement
Advertisement
The Biden administration is demanding answers following a report that Saudi authorities may have killed hundreds of migrants in Yemen, possibly with arms provided by the United States, according to The Washington Post.
Last month, Human Rights Watch issued a report alleging that, between March 2022 and June 2023, Saudi border guards killed "at least hundreds" of Ethiopian migrants who were trying to cross into the country from neighboring Yemen. The attacks included the use of explosive weapons and execution-style killings of people who had just been released from detention in Saudi Arabia itself, the group charged.
Bill Frelick, director of HRW's refugee and migrant rights division, said he was "shocked and horrified" by the allegations, which he described as among the worst he's seen in more than 30 years.
"For months, if not longer, Saudi border guards have been systematically shooting and shelling Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers trying to cross from Yemen along the remote, inaccessible border that divides the two countries," Frelick wrote in a piece published Friday by The Hill. "These migrants include large numbers of women and children. They are unarmed. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, have been killed."
Advertisement
Advertisement
In the report, HRW cited eyewitnesses who reported migrants being struck by mortar fire as they approached the Saudi border. One person said that an attack on a group of 170 migrants left more than half of them dead, according to HRW, appearing to reflect a conscious decision to discourage migration through targeted killings — and raising the prospect that there is a "state policy of deliberate murder of a civilian population."
Saudi Arabia has denied the allegation. But according to The Washington Post, rumors of the killings had been circulating among diplomats "for more than a year" prior to the HRW report. Michal Ratney, US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, discussed the allegations last month — ahead of the report's release — and US officials are now trying to determine whether the units accused received training or weapons from Washington.
Ethiopia has also said it is investigating the allegations, "in tandem with the Saudi authorities," per the Associated Press.
Have a news tip? Email this reporter: [email protected]
Read next
Watch:
Saudi Arabia
Biden administration
Advertisement
| 552
|
Over 100,000 migrants have arrived in NYC. Here's what life is like for two of them.
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-02-0109/immigration-over-100000-migrants-have-arrived-nyc-heres-what-life-two-them
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/two-migrants-describe-arrival-life-nyc-city-shelters-thousands-rcna102845
|
IMMIGRATION
Over 100,000 migrants have arrived in NYC. Here's what life is like for two of them.
As two men from Venezuela go through the shelter system and seek work, city officials and nonprofits adjust to the over 100,000 migrants who have arrived since the spring of 2022.
Carlos Niño, left, and Tonny Tavera in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City in November 2022.Courtesy Austin Cope
Sept. 1, 2023, 3:17 PM CEST
By Austin Cope
After Tonny Tavera and Carlos Niño walked across the U.S. border into El Paso in late September 2022, immigration officials gave them the option to board a bus to either New York or Chicago, they recalled.
Niño chose New York, because he’d seen it depicted in movies growing up.
“Those screens — let’s go there,” he said he told Tavera, referring to the giant video billboards that line Times Square.
A few days later, Tavera and Niño were among the approximately 104,000 migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees who have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022. As they and others from around the world adjust to their new lives, city officials and immigrant advocates are trying to manage the city’s commitment to house everyone who arrives while dealing with increasingly limited resources.
Both men shared their stories in Spanish over the course of 10 months after they arrived in New York.
Tonny Tavera near Bryant Park, in New York City in December 2022.Courtesy Austin Cope
Tavera, 35, said he left Caracas after having been the victim of a late-night attack by people he believed were associated with a former employer, a government-run commodities company. Niño, 30, left the small city of San Cristóbal after Venezuela’s president required people to re-enlist in the military. Niño said he’d already completed a tour of duty and didn’t want to return “al gusto del presidente” — at the president’s will, he said.
The friends are two of the approximately 7 million Venezuelans who have left their country since the early 2010s, fleeing its economic and political crisis.
They met in Colombia, where they eventually decided to come to the U.S. along with a small group of other Venezuelans hoping to find better economic opportunities than in Latin America. After they crossed the treacherous Darien Gap between the border of Colombia and Panama, their group separated.
They later found out one of their friends drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande to get to Texas. His death devastated them, but they decided to continue their trip.
Because the two men didn’t have existing connections when they arrived in New York, they landed in the city’s shelter system.
New York City and state face off in ongoing migrant crisis
AUG. 24, 202303:53
A large proportion of them have come through the border in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott began sending people by bus to New York and other Democratic-run cities last summer. Though some migrants reported having come voluntarily, others said they’ve been denied the choice. New York Mayor Eric Adams has criticized Abbott’s actions as inhumane, saying they were done without coordination, while Abbott has repeatedly defended his decision.
The arrivals come during a widespread housing crisis in the city, where the number of people in city shelters each night has surpassed 80,000. Since 1981, New York City has been legally required to shelter every person in need.
Adams has been seeking changes to that requirement and meanwhile has asked for more federal support in an escalating back-and-forth with federal and state officials over who should be responsible for managing the growing number of people in need of housing, medical and financial assistance upon arrival. Both Adams and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have also been calling for expedited work permits for asylum-seekers.
Trying to find their way
Niño and Tavera haven’t kept close track of the groups and offices they’ve worked with to find housing and support. Their journeys have overlapped with the city’s broader efforts to assist others in their position.
Carlos Niño in Riverside Park in New York City in November 2022.Courtesy Austin Cope
Soon after he arrived, Niño found himself at a shelter on Randall’s Island, an isolated expanse of athletic fields dotted with other shelters and psychiatric facilities. Nearby, the city had set up an emergency tent shelter to house other recently arrived migrants. It was removed after arrivals decreased in the fall, but officials announced the opening of a similar facility on the island early last month. Niño was later transferred to a different shelter in the Bronx.
Tavera landed in a city shelter in Brooklyn, where he stayed for several weeks before he was assigned a spot in a decommissioned hotel in upper Manhattan. Both he and Niño spent the next few months waiting for work authorization, keeping in regular contact with each other and with friends and family in Latin America.
Tavera said a contact he made in the city government — he didn’t remember which office — helped him find space in a shared apartment in Brooklyn in January. He moved in with two other Venezuelans and a Colombian, and he said the city government assists with rent payments. In March, he worked with a private employment agency to secure work at a Brooklyn-based construction company, where, he said, he was helping with electrical installations and clearing construction debris from job sites.
For Niño, the adjustment has been less stable. He hasn’t yet left the shelter system, and he is staying in the same facility in the Bronx he has been in for months. Finding steady employment has also been difficult — he said he has been able to find temporary jobs and gigs but nothing permanent.
“Sometimes it’s two or three days a week,” he wrote over Facebook Messenger. “But it’s not all the time and I don’t know where to go to find work.”
Both have expressed their appreciation for the support they’ve received from city authorities. They also have said they would return to Venezuela if the situation improved, though neither has much confidence that it will.
Providing a ‘rapid response’
Some residents have pushed back against the city’s efforts to provide shelter for migrants who have just arrived. A new temporary housing facility in Queens last month was met with protests from residents who said the location wasn’t appropriate. A proposal to house several hundred migrants in a former school on Staten Island also sparked a protest from neighborhood residents, which included brief scuffles between people in support of and against the decision. A judge signed a temporary order blocking that facility from opening until a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
Recommended
U.S. NEWS
Wyoming ranch accused of abusing children, unsanitary conditions will now operate without inspections
WORLD
Why was the Libya flooding so deadly?
Manuel Castro, the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, believes the protests represented an intentional effort to spark fear and anti-immigrant sentiments in the city.
“It’s clear that it’s a concerted effort, not just by Gov. Abbott, but these folks who want to politicize the situation, divide people and, frankly, use these for their political purposes,” he said in an interview Thursday. “And what I’ve been saying to all New Yorkers is let’s not fall for that trap.”
Meanwhile, immigrant rights groups have expanded their capacity to support those who are arriving. Murad Awawdeh, the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, which represents around 200 organizations across the state, said in an interview that groups have been operating in “rapid response mode” over the past few years, expanding their educational programs and services with the same resources they had before.
“Our organization itself doubled and tripled our capacity — every organization, part of our membership, has done the same, with little to no support,” he said.
Awawdeh said his coalition has been advocating to make it easier for people to meet the city’s housing requirements, including reducing the criteria families must meet before they leave the shelter system, changing rules for child care to allow parents to find work more easily, and finding permanent housing for migrants who have been in the shelter system for a long time — sometimes multiple years.
In general, he hopes the arrivals can help create an opportunity to fix deeper-seated housing issues that have plagued the city over the years. He noted that the Adams administration inherited a shelter system at the beginning of 2022 that was already overburdened, with 50,000 people in public shelters and another 50,000 in private shelters. “The shelter system just never worked — it has not worked for decades,” Awawdeh said.
He echoed city officials’ calls for more federal action, not only in the form of financial support but also in the form of legal accommodations for recent migrants and a reduction of Covid-related backlogs in immigration cases, and he called for comprehensive immigration reform.
Tavera said that for now, he plans to apply for asylum in the U.S. but hasn’t started the process — he has been asking around for an immigration lawyer, who he hopes can provide clarity about the necessary steps. He’s not sure that what direction his case will go in once he does, but he knows it’s ultimately out of his control. “If it’s [meant] for me, I’m going to get it,” he said.
Niño hasn’t decided about the timing for his asylum application, either. For now, he said, he may move to New Jersey, though he’s not yet sure how or when.
Austin Cope
Austin Cope is a multimedia journalist and writer who has worked in New York City since 2021.
| 553
|
In a Report From a Distant Border, I Glimpsed Our Brutal Future
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-24-1239/immigration-report-distant-border-i-glimpsed-our-brutal-future
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/opinion/saudi-arabia-ethiopians-border-politics.html
|
OPINION
LYDIA POLGREEN
In a Report From a Distant Border, I Glimpsed Our Brutal Future
Aug. 24, 2023
Saudi Arabian Army soldiers in a post on the Yemeni border in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Credit...
Tomas Munita for The New York Times
Share full article
534
By Lydia Polgreen
Opinion Columnist and host of “Matter of Opinion”
Sign up for Your Places: Global Update. All the latest news for any part of the world you select.
Get it sent to your inbox.
Once in a while, some single thing manages to encapsulate all that feels terrible about our world today. For me, this week, it was a bone-chilling report from Human Rights Watch documenting how Saudi border guards had killed hundreds — perhaps thousands — of Ethiopians seeking to cross from Yemen into Saudi Arabia.
It landed in my inbox on Monday with concussive force. The accounts were so brutal that I struggled to read the 73 pages in one sitting: A 14-year-old girl named Hamdiya described waking up after an attack: “I could feel people sleeping around me. I realized what I thought were people sleeping around me were actually dead bodies.” There were bloodied corpses all around her. Another survivor, a 17-year-old boy, described being forced by Saudi guards to rape two girls after another man who had been asked to do the same was executed for refusing. These are defenseless children, unarmed people fleeing a savage conflict and relentless poverty, hoping for some chance at a life free of violence and want in one of the richest countries in the world.
In these reports from a remote corner of a distant desert, I saw a glimpse of the unrelenting cruelty that is our future.
First, let’s talk about Saudi Arabia. In 2018, its security forces, allegedly at the direction of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known far and wide by his initials, M.B.S., dismembered a Washington Post journalist and American permanent resident in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. That was merely the most shocking and public example of Saudi human rights abuses: Courts routinely sentence citizens to decades in prison and even death for the crime of speaking their minds or living their lives as they wish.
Of course, none of this chilled the blossoming friendship between then-President Donald Trump and M.B.S., not to mention the Saudi prince’s warm bromance with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who would later get a $2 billion investment from a Saudi fund M.B.S. controls.
This administration was supposed to be different. During the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden rightly referred to Saudi Arabia as a pariah. In an awkward moment on a swing through the Middle East last summer, he avoided shaking hands with M.B.S. by bumping fists with him instead.
Fast forward a year. Biden is now seeking to broker a historic pact between the Saudis and Israel. The contours of any such deal will be highly contested, and it faces a steep climb in Congress. But such a deal, far from making Saudi Arabia a pariah, would draw it even closer to the United States through defense guarantees.
Our messy, multipolar moment in global politics means that some countries are simply too important to face any kind of lasting opprobrium for their brutality. And so, M.B.S. swans across the global stage like a prima ballerina in a career-making role. He was welcomed with warmth in Paris by Emmanuel Macron in June. He convened dozens of nations to discuss prospects for peace in Ukraine this month. Britain’s government said this month that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is eager to meet him “at the earliest opportunity” to discuss deepening ties between the two countries.
Meanwhile, the Saudis are making efforts to improve their country’s name recognition and reputation around the world. They have plowed some of their ample profits — buoyed by the high oil prices that Saudi Arabia helped guarantee — into culture and, especially, sports: Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on buying up some of the world’s top soccer stars for a nascent Saudi league. And the Saudis have plotted the merger of the vaunted PGA Tour with the much smaller Saudi-backed upstart LIV Golf, effectively taking control of the commanding heights of the favored pastime of the masters of the universe. Human rights organizations refer to these kinds of moves as “sportswashing.”
If taking a bone saw to a famous dissident resulted in just a few months of cold shoulders, only to be replaced with state dinners, diplomatic talks and a booming sports industry, how much do we really expect the world to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for killing hundreds of nameless war refugees in the sandy reaches along its southern border?
It is tempting to argue that given Saudi Arabia’s track record on human rights, mowing down defenseless women and children as they desperately try to reach some semblance of safety is par for the course. It may be unusually brazen, but how different is it, really, from how Greek officials handled a sinking ship filled with migrants in the Mediterranean?
This brings me to the other grim truth the Human Rights Watch report underscores. There appears to be no limit to the cruelty that will be tolerated in the name of keeping out people whom rich countries deem undesirable. Despite the many international agreements and norms around the movement of people, everything from wanton disregard for the lives of migrants right up to deliberate, maximum deadly force seems to be on the table.
“We are at a level where state officials are directly firing explosive weapons and shooting people at a border and doing such insidious things like forcing a boy to rape a girl survivor,” Nadia Hardman, the author of the Human Rights Watch report, told me. “Where do we go from here?”
Indeed, the moral standard in how we treat those seeking safety and freedom across borders has unquestionably been set by the West. It was the European Union that decided to open its coffers to the murderous Libyan Coast Guard to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean. Europe has paid Turkey’s government billions of euros in exchange for keeping millions of Syrian refugees out of Europe. Britain’s Conservative government is trying to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, of all places, rather than accept its obligation under international law to admit refugees.
Europe is hardly alone. The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has placed barbarous devices in the Rio Grande. If the current doesn’t drown migrants, the razor wire and giant saw blades could. And it’s not just Republicans who engage in this cruelty. The Biden administration has continued many of Trump’s border policies, or even pursued some that are arguably harsher.
We are living through a brutal new era of realpolitik, where might equals right amid a frenzy of global jockeying. This world has been very good to Saudi Arabia, a very rich and very important country by dint of its geography and natural resources. China brokered a deal between Saudi Arabia and its archenemy, Iran; and now the Biden administration seeks a grand bargain between the Saudis and the government of Israel. For the West, the dictates of our current moment are clear: Counter China. Contain Russia. Keep unwanted migrants out.
The Biden administration came to power with many promises and good intentions. Two years ago, speaking after the chaos of the necessary and long overdue withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, Biden declared: “I have been clear that human rights must be the center of our foreign policy, not the periphery.”
Biden made similar commitments about migrants. “If I’m elected president, we’re going to immediately end Trump’s assault on the dignity of immigrant communities,” he said in his acceptance speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. “We’re going to restore our moral standing in the world and our historic role as a safe haven for refugees and asylum seekers.”
I am certain that President Biden believed these words when he said them and believes them still. His administration is playing the hand it has been dealt. But as the events in the Saudi desert illustrate, this century is going to be nasty, brutish and long.
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: [email protected].
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.
Lydia Polgreen has been a New York Times Opinion columnist since 2022. She spent a decade as a correspondent for The Times in Africa and Asia, winning Polk and Livingston Awards for her coverage of ethnic cleansing in Darfur and resource conflicts in West Africa. She also served as editor in chief of HuffPost. @lpolgreen
A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 25, 2023, Section A, Page 22 of the New York edition with the headline: In a Report From Afar, I Glimpsed Our Brutal Future. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
READ 534 COMMENTS
Share full article
534
ADVERTISEMENT
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
| 554
|
As cities struggle to house migrants, Biden administration resists proposals that officials say could help
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-22-0916/immigration-cities-struggle-house-migrants-biden-administration-resists
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/migrant-crisis-nyc-chicago-biden-administration-proposals/
|
POLITICS
As cities struggle to house migrants, Biden administration resists proposals that officials say could help
BY CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ
AUGUST 22, 2023 / 7:00 AM / CBS NEWS
New York — Officials in New York are assembling tent cities for those who can't be placed in a shelter system of more than 200 hotels and other facilities that is already housing 60,000 migrants and more than 50,000 homeless residents.
In Chicago, which is housing over 7,000 migrants, police stations and parks have been converted into makeshift shelters, and plans to house asylum-seekers in vacant schools have generated fervent local backlash. In cities like Sacramento and Denver, some migrants have found themselves on the brink of homelessness. In Boston and other parts of Massachusetts, the arrival of thousands of families and pregnant women seeking asylum prompted the state's governor to declare an emergency.
A perfect storm has brought the historic migration crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border to some of America's largest cities. The influx has strained city and state resources, prompting local Democratic leaders to openly criticize the Biden administration and testing the values of liberal enclaves that have historically welcomed migrants seeking sanctuary.
The cities' struggles to house tens of thousands of destitute migrants, and their growing calls for federal action, have also placed mounting pressure on the Biden administration to intervene. Local leaders have implored the administration for funds and to allow migrants to work legally so they can be self-sufficient.
Cities have spent hundreds of millions of dollars serving migrants and housing them in hotels, churches, schools, parks, police stations and even a National Guard base, according to local spokespeople.
Migrants sit in a queue outside of The Roosevelt Hotel that is being used by the city as temporary housing on Monday, July 31, 2023, in New York.
JOHN MINCHILLO / AP
The Biden administration has set aside $770 million for New York, Chicago, Denver, Boston and other cities, both in the interior and along the southern border, this fiscal year through Federal Emergency Management Agency programs for entities supporting migrants. The administration recently asked Congress to authorize $600 million in additional funds.
But the administration has refrained from taking other actions requested by local leaders, such as granting migrants temporary legal status so they can apply for work permits more quickly. Current and former U.S. officials, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said concerns about lawsuits and the possibility of encouraging more unauthorized arrivals along the southern border were among the reasons why the administration has been reluctant to do more.
Politically, the cities' concerns about the number of migrants in need of shelter have placed the administration in the awkward position of fielding public criticism from Democratic allies on a divisive issue that Republicans are eager to highlight heading into an election year.
"Once this shifted from being an ideological fight about the border to a real question of the cost the cities are assuming, that changed the political calculus," said Andrew Seele, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. "It is visible. It is costly for cities. And it is causing a reaction among city leaders, most of whom are Democrats."
Representatives for the White House and the Department of Homeland Security noted the administration is coordinating with cities to determine how the federal government can assist them, though they said Congress needed to approve additional aid and "fix the broken immigration system."
"The Administration is committed to working to identify ways to improve efficiencies and maximize the resources the federal government can provide to communities across the country," White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández told CBS News. "Recently, Senior Advisor to the President Tom Perez traveled to New York to continue the close coordination with our state and city partners."
A perfect storm
The challenges facing cities stem from a complex web of factors, including the release of 2 million migrants from U.S. border custody in two years, Texas' effort to bus migrants to Democratic-led cities and the arrival of migrants who lack ties to others in the U.S.
The difficulties have also been exacerbated by an affordable housing shortage, restrictions on asylum-seekers' ability to work and an immigration system that is overwhelmed at every stage.
Under President Biden, the U.S. has processed a record number of migrants. While many have been expelled, at least 2.1 million migrants were released by U.S. border officials between February 2021 and July 2023, according to a CBS News analysis of government data. They were given court notices or instructions to check in with immigration officials while their cases are reviewed, a process that typically takes years.
As part of an effort by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to protest Mr. Biden's border strategy, Texas has bused more than 12,000 migrants to New York City, 11,000 to Washington, D.C., 5,600 to Chicago, 2,300 to Philadelphia, 710 to Denver and 330 to Los Angeles. Tens of thousands of additional migrants have arrived in these and other cities on their own or with the help of authorities and volunteers in U.S. border towns.
Many of the migrants in city shelters escaped Venezuela's economic collapse and don't have relatives in the U.S. who can take them in. They've also arrived during an affordable housing crisis fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic that has put vast numbers of rentals out of reach for low-income families.
U.S. immigration law prevents those seeking asylum from qualifying for a work permit until 180 days after they file an asylum application. The requirement, enacted out of concerns that migrants would use the asylum system solely to work in the U.S., can only be changed by Congress, which has been gridlocked on immigration for over two decades.
In reality, the vast majority of asylum-seekers must wait far longer than 180 days to obtain work permits because of the strains faced by the U.S. immigration system. Migrants with immigration court cases are waiting an average of more than four years to have their applications processed by a system in which fewer than 700 judges are overseeing 2.5 million pending cases.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants have been released without court dates in the past year, and they can wait years to get in front of a judge. These migrants can request asylum through a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services process but they often don't know that they can, or need help from lawyers to apply.
Even after filing for asylum and waiting 180 days, migrants must wait for their work permit requests to be reviewed. A DHS spokesperson said asylum-based work permit requests are being decided within two months, on average.
Potential solutions
Democratic members of New York's congressional delegation have pushed DHS to grant migrants in New York City and other cities parole, a short-term legal status, so they can bypass the asylum-linked waiting period for work permits.
But the proposal has been met with skepticism within the Biden administration, which believes it would be legally risky given lawsuits from Republican-led states challenging its use of parole, two U.S. officials said. In July, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told New York lawmakers that DHS considered the proposal too impractical and legally tenuous, participants of the private meeting told CBS News.
DHS has also faced calls to expand the Temporary Protected Status policy, or TPS, which allows eligible migrants from crisis-stricken countries to apply for work permits and deportation protections. Local leaders have called on the administration to allow recent arrivals from Venezuela and other countries to apply for TPS, which would give a significant portion of those in shelters a chance to obtain work permits. The TPS program for Venezuela currently benefits only those who arrived in the U.S. before March 2021.
Migrants walk behind concertina wire in the water along the Rio Grande border with Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 15, 2023.
SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
But the administration has been reluctant to expand the TPS program for Venezuela due to concerns about the move becoming a "pull factor" that encourages more Venezuelans to cross the southern border illegally, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter said. The administration declined to expand the TPS program for Nicaragua earlier this year due to similar concerns.
"To address the issue of government funding for housing and food for folks who come to the United States, that could easily be resolved if we extend TPS to the Venezuelans, which are, in New York City at least, 60 plus percent of the migrants," said Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Manhattan Democrat.
Last year, officials also considered sending migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to cities of their choosing across the U.S., including Buffalo, Denver, Detroit, Miami, New Orleans, Newark, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, would then process them there, according to internal agency documents obtained by CBS News and three current and former U.S. officials.
The plan was designed to relieve pressure on Border Patrol facilities and border towns that typically transport migrants to interior cities, while working with organizations in those cities to ensure migrants could be accommodated. Federal officials would have coordinated with the receiving cities before transporting migrants, unlike Texas' busing effort.
But the proposal was blocked by the White House due to concerns about the political optics of the federal government transporting migrants across the U.S. and objections from some of the cities asked to take part in the program, according to three current and former U.S. officials. A White House official said the plan is no longer under consideration.
A former Biden administration immigration official said the interior processing plan would have distributed migrants and resources more "proportionally" across the U.S. in an orderly way.
"Interior processing capacity would have provided access to additional resources and taken pressure off many cities. The White House rejected those plans in 2021 and 2022 due to politics and the requirement that the White House would need to own the coordination," the former official said.
Republican lawmakers have said the crisis faced by cities could be mitigated through stricter policies along the southern border that allow fewer migrants to be released in the first place.
"Instead of complaining about dealing with a fraction of the border crisis our small border towns deal with every day, these Democrats should call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the border," said Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott's press secretary.
The Biden administration said it has acted to address the cities' concerns by creating programs that allow certain migrants to apply for work permits immediately after entering the U.S. One lets up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans with American sponsors fly to the U.S. each month. Another allows nearly 1,500 migrants in Mexico to enter the U.S. each day after securing appointments through an app.
The DHS spokesperson said work permit applications for those programs are being adjudicated, on average, in six weeks. The programs, however, don't benefit migrants released from Border Patrol custody, including many of those living in shelters in New York City.
Biden administration officials said there's no silver bullet for fixing the cities' woes — without Congress reforming the immigration system — given the sheer number of migrants reaching the U.S.
"In every part of New York, the system is strained. The courts are backlogged. There are lines outside the ICE office. Shelters are full. It's just too many people," a current administration official told CBS News.
"We can't push ahead"
Without work permits, many migrants in New York City have been stuck in city-funded hotels, unable to earn their way out of those rooms. Some lucky migrants have found gigs in the underground economy, in restaurants or construction sites. But that work is illegal, unstable and rampant with wage theft.
Patricia, a Venezuelan migrant, said she and her husband, Ronny, have not found stable work since they arrived in Manhattan last fall. She said she worked in a McDonalds for three months until a new manager asked all employees for employment documents.
"We can't push ahead," Patricia said in Spanish, requesting that her last name be withheld due to concerns about being evicted from her hotel.
Patricia, Ronny and their 11-year-old son Cesar fled Venezuela last year, joining more than 7 million Venezuelans who have fled the South American country to escape economic calamity. As part of a weeks-long trek across more than half a dozen countries, the family walked through Panama's infamous Darién Gap, a once-impenetrable jungle that has become a major route for U.S.-bound migrants.
Patricia, Ronny and their 11-year-old son Cesar
CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ / CBS NEWS
They arrived in New York in September 2022, and have been living in hotel rooms for nearly a year now. Patricia said she's thankful for the help her family has received, and that Cesar is enrolled in school and learning English. But she said the inability to find work, and the long hours spent in a cramped hotel room, has been emotionally exhausting. Cesar, she said, constantly asks her to "take him out of this room."
"What I want the most is to work," Patricia added.
Patricia said she and her husband have been thinking about moving to Texas, where they've heard housing is more affordable. But they don't have enough money to move. They're also in legal limbo. While federal officials allowed them to stay in the U.S., the family has not received an appointment in immigration court. Instead, they've been instructed to check in at the ICE office in Manhattan — in November 2024.
"Some people think we're living the best life here in hotels," she said. "But this, for us, is not life."
Immigration More
U.S. offers thousands of Venezuelan migrants legal status, work permits
Migrant children being separated from parents to avoid overcrowding, report finds
Polls: Latinos want Biden to take more immigration actions
U.S. reopens troubled facility for migrant children in Texas
Camilo Montoya-Galvez
Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the immigration reporter at CBS News. Based in Washington, he covers immigration policy and politics.
Twitter
First published on August 22, 2023 / 7:00 AM
© 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| 555
|
Families crossing U.S.-Mexico border in near-record numbers
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-18-1507/immigration-families-crossing-us-mexico-border-near-record-numbers
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.axios.com/2023/08/18/border-numbers-tick-up-biden-immigration
|
-
| 556
|
Government's own experts found 'barbaric' and 'negligent' conditions in ICE detention
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-16-0647/immigration-governments-own-experts-found-barbaric-and-negligent-conditions-ice
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/16/1190767610/ice-detention-immigration-government-inspectors-barbaric-negligent-conditions
|
INVESTIGATIONS
Government's own experts found 'barbaric' and 'negligent' conditions in ICE detention
August 16, 20235:01 AM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
Tom Dreisbach
11-Minute Listen
Enlarge this image
Immigrants await processing at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Adelanto, California. By filing a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act, NPR obtained a trove of inspection reports detailing serious problems at this ICE facility and others across the United States.
Chris Carlson/AP
In Michigan, a man in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was sent into a jail's general population unit with an open wound from surgery, no bandages and no follow-up medical appointment scheduled, even though he still had surgical drains in place.
A federal inspector found: "The detainee never received even the most basic care for his wound."
In Georgia, a nurse ignored an ICE detainee who urgently asked for an inhaler to treat his asthma. Even though he was never examined by the medical staff, the nurse put a note in the medical record that "he was seen in sick call."
"The documentation by the nurse bordered on falsification and the failure to see a patient urgently requesting medical attention regarding treatment with an inhaler was negligent."
And in Pennsylvania, a group of correctional officers strapped a mentally ill male ICE detainee into a restraint chair and gave the lone female officer a pair of scissors to cut off his clothes for a strip search.
"There is no justifiable correctional reason that required the detainee who had a mental health condition to have his clothes cut off by a female officer while he was compliant in a restraint chair. This is a barbaric practice and clearly violates ... basic principles of humanity."
These findings are all part of a trove of more than 1,600 pages of previously secret inspection reports written by experts hired by the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. In examining more than two dozen facilities across 16 states from 2017 to 2019, these expert inspectors found "negligent" medical care (including mental health care), "unsafe and filthy" conditions, racist abuse of detainees, inappropriate pepper-spraying of mentally ill detainees and other problems that, in some cases, contributed to detainee deaths.
These reports almost never become public.
For more than three years, the federal government — under both the Trump and Biden administrations — fought NPR's efforts to obtain those records. That opposition continued despite a Biden campaign promise to "demand transparency in and independent oversight over ICE."
NATIONAL
Dozens Of Women Allege Unwanted Surgeries And Medical Abuse In ICE Custody
The records were obtained in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by NPR. After two years, a federal judge found that the government had violated the nation's public records law and ordered the release of the documents.
The reports provide an unprecedented look at the ICE detention system through the eyes of experts hired to investigate complaints of civil rights abuses, who provide an often unvarnished perspective. These experts have specific expertise in subjects such as medicine, mental health, use of force and environmental health. Sources familiar with these inspections tell NPR that they often uncover problems that other government inspectors miss.
"These reports are chilling. They are damning," said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project and an expert on ICE detention, when NPR shared the reports' findings. "They really show how the government's own inspectors can see the abuses and the level of abuses that are happening in ICE detention."
The reports obtained by NPR depict a wide spectrum of problems in ICE detention.
Most immigration detention facilities are managed by private, for-profit corporations that contract with the government, including GEO Group and CoreCivic. Local jails, typically operated by county sheriff's departments, also enter into contracts with the government to hold detainees on behalf of ICE.
Legally, immigration detention is considered civil — not criminal — in nature. "Detention is non-punitive," ICE states on its website. Immigration detention is primarily for holding people who are awaiting the adjudication of their immigration cases. That can include immigrants apprehended at the border who are seeking asylum; people who entered the U.S. illegally and whom the government wants to deport or deems a public safety risk; and permanent residents who are hit with deportation orders.
The main goal of ICE detention is to make sure immigrants show up for their court dates. But the conditions revealed in the inspection reports often appear indistinguishable from prison.
NATIONAL
Despite Findings Of 'Negligent' Care, ICE To Expand Troubled Calif. Detention Center
The inspectors found what they described as racist harassment of immigrants and retaliation against detainees who filed complaints.
"Examples of mistreatment include a Sergeant entering the female unit and greeting the female detainees by yelling, 'Hello a**holes and bitches,'" an inspector found at the Orange County Jail in Goshen, New York. "Multiple staff make comments such as, if detainees do not like the treatment, they should not have come to our country. A [correctional officer] working in a male unit confronted a group of detainees stating, 'Who's the f***ing p**** who made the complaint against me?'"
The Orange County Sheriff's Office did not answer NPR's questions for this story.
At the Houston Contract Detention Facility, which is operated by CoreCivic, detainees alleged "harassment by custody staff, discrimination of detainees by facility staff based on race, and retaliation by facility staff," but the inspector found that the facility did not investigate the complaints.
"These now outdated reports are from 4-6 years ago and are not reflective of current facility operations," said Ryan Gustin, CoreCivic's director of public affairs, in a statement. "CoreCivic policy prohibits harassment and discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age or any other protected classification in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Our staff are trained and held to the highest ethical standards."
Inspectors also found incidents of unjustified use of force by detention staff.
NATIONAL
Exclusive: Video Shows Controversial Use Of Force Inside An ICE Detention Center
At the Calhoun County Correctional Facility in Battle Creek, Mich., an inspector found that the jail staff was locking mentally ill detainees in restraint chairs without justification and using pepper spray when it was not warranted.
"The use of chemical agents or Use of Force with mentally ill detainees, who because of their mental illness are unable to conform their behavior, has been opined as a violation of constitutional rights in Florida and California," the inspector wrote.
The Calhoun County Sheriff's Office referred NPR's questions about this report to ICE.
The most consistent — and sometimes deadly — problems relate to medical and mental health care.
Experts told NPR that prisons and jails often fail to provide adequate care to people who are locked up. ICE detention, they say, is even more problematic because detainees are frequently transferred between facilities, which increases the odds that medical records and care plans fail to move with people, and because the facilities are often located in remote areas that lack access to high-quality health care.
In one instance cited in the reports, a pregnant woman held at the El Paso Service Processing Center slipped and fell in the shower. "As a best practice, a pregnant female with abdominal pain must have an ultrasound to rule out an ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside of the uterus) as this is a life threatening condition," the inspector who examined the medical records wrote. But the medical staff did not perform an ultrasound, and as a result, "the medical care did not meet the standard of care of a pain in pregnancy," the inspector wrote.
The medical experts sometimes criticized a lack of adequate staffing for ICE medical clinics, including physicians who did not regularly work on-site.
An inspector who investigated conditions for ICE detainees at the St. Clair County Jail in Port Huron, Mich., described a phone call with the facility's new medical director.
"During our conversation I learned that this position is new for him and he is not yet well integrated into the medical care at the jail," the inspector wrote. "When asked if he was 'in charge of the medical care at the jail,' [the medical director] responded 'I guess so'."
The inspector concluded that "it is unclear whether he is providing the oversight needed to ensure adequate medical care and treatment of ICE detainees at the facility."
The St. Clair County Sheriff's Office did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
Detention and the bitter debate over immigration policy
The ICE detention system has become a major point of contention in the bitter political debate over U.S. immigration policy. The Biden administration says it has increasingly relied on alternatives to detention, like GPS monitoring, and has prioritized detention in cases where there are threats to public safety and national security. A majority of people in ICE detention have no criminal record, according to government data compiled by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
Critics of the Biden administration's border policies, including many Republicans in Congress and presidential candidates, have proposed tougher policies that would likely send tens of thousands more people into ICE custody.
Advocates and lawyers for immigrants, meanwhile, have criticized the Biden administration for breaking a campaign promise to "end" the use of for-profit detention centers and for roughly doubling the number of people in ICE detention since President Biden's inauguration.
In one instance, a prison that closed following a Biden administration order to phase out privately run Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities was essentially converted into a privately run ICE detention center. ICE is also fighting New Jersey's effort to close a for-profit detention center in the state — an ICE official said in a court filing that closing the facility would be "catastrophic."
The Biden administration has stopped using a handful of sites as detention centers due to concerns about poor conditions, while some other facilities have voluntarily ended their contracts with ICE. The inspection reports document several findings of inhumane treatment at some of the facilities that ICE no longer contracts with.
An inspection report obtained by NPR found filthy conditions at Alabama's Etowah County Detention Center, including communal nail clippers with "blood on the blades," medical exam rooms with no hand-washing sink and living conditions that were "unsanitary" and "unsafe for occupancy." In March 2022, ICE announced that it would stop working with the facility because it "has a long history of serious deficiencies identified during facility inspections and is of limited operational significance to the agency."
Separately, the York County Prison in York, Pa., stopped working with ICE in July 2021 in a dispute over the cost of incarcerating ICE detainees. The 2019 inspection of the facility revealed some of the most serious violations of ICE detention standards in the eyes of the government's inspectors.
"Female detainees reported staff would verbally threaten them with being locked up in the segregation unit and 'going to the hole' for behaviors that did not violate the rules and did not warrant isolation," the inspector wrote. "Female detainees also reported that staff would tell them they cannot cry and are quick to put them on suicide watch just for crying."
A majority of the records NPR obtained relate to facilities that remain active.
Internal government watchdogs have found that ICE detention facilities frequently fail to meet their own standards and that inspections have not led to systemic improvements. The ACLU's Cho says the problems identified in the reports that NPR obtained have largely persisted, an assessment echoed by immigration attorneys across the U.S., as well as sources familiar with the inspection process.
"If anything, conditions have probably gotten worse," Cho says, noting widespread reports of poor treatment and increased use of solitary confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. In several instances, the reports obtained by NPR warned ICE officials that overcrowding and poor cleaning practices were contributing to the risk of contracting infectious diseases.
"ICE wants to keep as many of these facilities open and running," Cho says, "so there's often a blind eye turned to what's happening and the abuses people are actually facing."
Over the course of several weeks, NPR requested interviews with representatives of the Biden White House and ICE. Neither was willing to make any officials available.
"ICE takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement, noting that the agency had scaled back or closed multiple ICE detention facilities. "The agency continuously reviews and enhances civil detention operations to ensure noncitizens are treated humanely, protected from harm, provided appropriate medical and mental health care, and receive the rights and protections to which they are entitled."
In a statement, a White House spokesperson said, "These reports concern conditions in the prior Administration." The statement did not contend that conditions have since improved.
"President Biden continues to support moving away from the use of private detention facilities in the immigration detention system," the statement went on, noting the Biden administration's greater use of alternatives to detention. "We could be making a lot more progress if Congress would give us the necessary funds and reforms that we've been asking for since day one."
Donald Trump's presidential campaign did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
Enlarge this image
Neda Samimi-Gomez says she is still haunted by the December 2017 death of her father, Kamyar Samimi, in ICE custody. "I think more than anything, I just don't want anyone to deal with what I've been dealing with for the last five years," Samimi-Gomez says. "Nobody should have to feel this way."
Joanna Kulesza for NPR
"At every step of the way, my dad was failed"
Out of all the incidents cited in the more than 1,600 pages of inspection reports NPR obtained, the death of Kamyar Samimi stands out. NPR examined other public records and legal filings about the case and interviewed Samimi's daughter regarding what an inspector called an "astonishing" series of failures.
In November 2017, Neda Samimi-Gomez wanted to invite her father to Thanksgiving, as she did every year.
But Kamyar Samimi wasn't picking up the phone.
Growing up, Neda remembers spending time in the garage watching her dad at work as an auto mechanic, a can of Pepsi in his hand, and sitting down together to watch NASCAR, George Lopez and Law & Order. "That was our thing. Like, he wanted me to become a lawyer because of Law & Order," she says.
Enlarge this image
Kamyar Samimi worked as a mechanic in the United States. His daughter says he loved watching NASCAR on TV.
Neda Samimi-Gomez
Kamyar Samimi was born in Iran and came to the U.S. in the 1970s, becoming a lawful permanent resident.
"He loved it here," Neda says.
He also sometimes struggled with drugs.
His daughter says it started when he was a kid back in Iran and was given opium for tooth pain.
In the U.S., he was prescribed methadone, which he took to manage opioid use disorder for more than two decades.
By 2017, Neda was in her 20s, Kamyar was 64 years old — and even though they both lived in the Denver area, she says, they saw each other only "from time to time."
Thanksgiving came and went without hearing from her dad.
Enlarge this image
Kamyar Samimi holds his daughter, Neda Samimi-Gomez, at a birthday party in the 1990s.
Neda Samimi-Gomez
Neda and her family were unaware that on Thanksgiving Day 2017, Kamyar was being held in an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colo., a facility run by GEO Group.
Kamyar Samimi was a lawful permanent resident. But back in 2005, he pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine — less than a gram in total — and was sentenced to community service.
Twelve years later, ICE decided that this conviction rendered him deportable. Federal law allows the government to revoke an immigrant's lawful permanent resident status and deport them for a variety of reasons, including for committing crimes of "moral turpitude" or committing an "aggravated felony."
Kamyar's family was worried when they learned about his situation after Thanksgiving, Neda says, but they thought it was just a paperwork issue.
Then two weeks after Kamyar's arrest, an ICE officer dropped off a business card at Neda's work and said to call.
"The officer picked up the phone and said, 'We don't know if anyone's been in touch with you, but we wanted to let you know that your father passed away over the weekend,'" Neda recalls.
Neda and her family worked with the ACLU to gather information about Kamyar's death and ultimately filed a lawsuit against GEO Group.
They discovered a detainee death review conducted by ICE showing that the staff at the Aurora ICE Processing Center had cut Kamyar Samimi off his medication cold turkey. Nurses relied on withdrawal guidelines for alcohol instead of opioids and thought Samimi was "faking" his withdrawal symptoms, including a seizure.
The facility's doctor never examined Samimi.
After a sleepless night when he screamed in his cell that he couldn't breathe, Samimi's condition worsened and he vomited blood clots. A nurse said, "He's dying." But the staff delayed several more hours before calling 911.
On Dec. 2, 2017, only two weeks after being arrested by ICE, Kamyar Samimi was pronounced dead.
The medical expert inspecting the Aurora ICE Processing Center for the Department of Homeland Security looked into the case and appeared to be stunned.
"The complete lack of medical leadership, supervision and care that this detainee was exposed to is simply astonishing and stands out as one of the most egregious failures to provide optimal care in my experience," the medical expert wrote.
"The magnitude of failures to care for this detainee is only surpassed by the number of such failures. It truly appears that this system failed at every aspect of care possible," the inspector went on.
That finding had previously been referenced in a congressional staff report. Neda Samimi-Gomez said she had never seen it before.
"It says it right here," Samimi-Gomez says of the report. "At every step of the way, my dad was failed."
Samimi-Gomez and her family sued GEO Group. The lawsuit resulted in a confidential settlement in which GEO Group did not admit wrongdoing.
She said she never received an apology from ICE, and she is still left with flashbacks from the moment she broke the news of her dad's death to her mom.
"I can still hear my mom's scream on the phone when I told her," she says. "It's just always under my skin."
Another death in Aurora
In addition to the Samimi case, the expert who inspected the Aurora ICE Processing Center identified other examples of negligent medical care, including a detainee who was found to have contracted HIV but was never told of the diagnosis and a detainee who had persistent blood in their urine "without a proper investigation" into its cause.
The inspector wrote that if these problems were found in a hospital, it could be forced to shut down.
"Any of these findings alone can be considered an 'Immediate Jeopardy' according to the Center[s] for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and can lead to the closure of large health systems," the inspector wrote.
The facility did not close, and it currently holds about 700 immigrant detainees. Lawyers who have clients at the Aurora ICE Processing Center say they have not seen an improvement in the medical care since that report and have continued to file complaints about the conditions there.
A recent detainee death at the Aurora facility sparked renewed protests and calls for the detention center to close.
On Oct. 13, 2022, the staff at the Aurora ICE Processing Center, once again, called 911 to report a medical emergency.
NPR obtained a copy of the call under the Colorado Open Records Act, and the audio, which has not previously been made public, reveals a series of lapses in communication in a time-sensitive medical crisis and raises questions about the training at the facility.
Credit: Jackie Lay/NPR
First, the unnamed detention officer who called 911 gave the dispatcher the wrong address for the facility where he worked.
Then he placed the dispatcher on hold when asked how paramedics could access the building.
He did not know any of the specifics of the medical emergency, stating only that it was a "code blue."
He also did not know the patient's age — eventually, the detention officer stated that the patient was in his "late 20s."
In fact, the patient, Melvin Ariel Calero-Mendoza, was 39 years old.
What the detention officer failed to communicate was that Calero-Mendoza, an immigrant from Nicaragua, had collapsed at the facility. According to a subsequent autopsy report, Colorado Public Radio reported, the cause of death was a pulmonary embolism.
Experts in emergency medical response told NPR that getting accurate information about a patient's symptoms is key because that information can help determine how many paramedics are needed, how quickly they need to respond and what kind of medical equipment they might need. These experts also underscored the need for jails, prisons and detention centers to have a clear plan for how to get paramedics access to patients in need.
"At a minimum, a professional caller should have an address available and know where the patient is in that complex," said Brett Patterson, an expert in emergency dispatch and chair of the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch's Medical Council of Standards.
"In this kind of scenario, every second counts," said Elizabeth Jordan, an attorney for Calero-Mendoza's family.
"The depth of indifference that this caller displayed was shocking," Jordan said, especially given the previous death of Kamyar Samimi.
"The family is disappointed and horrified by this call," Jordan added.
In response to NPR's request for comment for this story, GEO Group spokesperson Chris Ferreira said in a statement, "We are unable to comment on specific cases as it relates to individuals in the care of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."
"We take our role as a service provider to the federal government with the utmost seriousness and strive to treat all those entrusted to our care with dignity and respect," the statement went on. "As previously and publicly expressed, we offer our condolences to Mr. Calero-Mendoza and Mr. Samimi's families and their loved ones and remain committed to ensuring the health and safety of all those in our custody and care."
The news of another death at the Aurora ICE Processing Center under seemingly similar conditions to her father's hit Neda Samimi-Gomez hard.
"I think more than anything, I just don't want anyone to deal with what I've been dealing with for the last five years," Samimi-Gomez said. "Nobody should have to feel this way."
How NPR reported this story
In 2019, I became aware of the confidential inspection reports written by experts working for the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL). A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request I had filed for records related to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California revealed a scathing report about the facility, which described how one immigrant detainee was placed in solitary confinement for about two and a half years. The medical expert found that it was likely that problems with medical care at the facility "contributed to medical injuries, including bone deformities and detainee deaths."
In December 2019, NPR and I filed a FOIA request for all the CRCL inspection reports for adult ICE detention facilities.
The government responded that it had identified more than 1,000 pages of "responsive documents," but it refused to provide a single page.
After exhausting the FOIA appeals process, NPR filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security in September 2020.
The government argued in court that releasing the records without major redactions, which covered dozens of pages, would make it difficult for inspectors to provide their "uninhibited opinions and recommendations" and could "cause public confusion."
Two years after NPR filed its lawsuit, federal Judge Royce Lamberth rejected the Department of Homeland Security's arguments, found that the Biden administration had violated the Freedom of Information Act and ordered the government to release the files. After initially appealing the ruling, the government provided the documents in the spring of 2023.
Even then, I discovered that the government had failed to include several reports covering several more facilities, including some of the largest in the United States. The government acknowledged that it had "inadvertently" omitted more than 600 pages of additional records, which it ultimately turned over.
We continue to seek more recent CRCL inspection reports as well as records held by local jails that incarcerate ICE detainees, like the 911 call made from the Aurora ICE Processing Center. If you have information you would like to share about ICE detention, you can contact me at [email protected] or [email protected].
—Tom Dreisbach
"This man could die"
In addition to examining the experts' inspection reports, NPR also sought to corroborate their accounts by speaking to immigrants who have been locked up in these facilities.
In interviews, immigrants told NPR their experience in ICE detention had left them with physical and emotional scars.
In the late 1980s, José fled the civil war in his home of El Salvador and came to the U.S., where he found work as a handyman. He did not have legal authorization to remain in the country, and in 2022, José was arrested and sent to ICE detention at the Orange County Jail in Goshen, New York. He says his cell was filthy and smelled like urine.
José, who is now 57 years old, asked NPR not to disclose his last name because he's concerned about facing retaliation for speaking out about conditions in ICE detention.
The inspector from the Department of Homeland Security found problems with a failure to track medical issues at the Orange County Jail. In 2017, according to the inspection report NPR obtained, the jail did not use a modern electronic medical record system. Instead, the jail relied on paper records. The Orange County Sheriff's Office did not respond to NPR's question about whether it still uses paper records.
Five years after that inspection report, José says those problems persisted and nearly killed him.
José, according to medical records viewed by NPR, has had heart issues going back a decade, as well as diabetes. When he arrived at the Orange County Jail, he was taking prescription medications to manage his health problems. José says that the Orange County Jail did not provide him with his medications and that his health immediately began taking a turn for the worse.
He started experiencing nausea, shortness of breath and chest pain that radiated down his left arm. He says he fainted two days after being booked into the facility.
When he came to, he overheard a guard say, "This man could die."
José was taken to a nearby hospital, where the doctors found that he had symptoms consistent with a heart attack. The doctors performed surgery to place a stent in his coronary artery. The doctors eventually sent José back to the jail but with strict instructions to continue taking his medications, including a new set of prescriptions to take post-surgery. But again, José and his lawyers say, the jail failed to provide him with his medications for multiple days once he got back to the facility.
Ultimately, his lawyers were able to secure his release from the jail, citing the problems with medical care. José's immigration case remains ongoing.
José says he believes his time in jail did permanent damage to his heart.
A spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff's Office initially said they would provide comment for this story but ultimately did not respond to NPR's questions.
"It feels like hell on earth"
Dalila Yeend says she's still coping with the trauma of her experience in ICE custody.
Yeend was born in Australia and was brought to the U.S. by her mother. She says she and her family worked with an immigration lawyer who assured them — apparently wrongly — that they had filed the paperwork to obtain legal status. She eventually had two kids of her own.
But when Yeend rolled through a stop sign in Troy, N.Y., in 2018, she was arrested and ultimately brought to ICE's Buffalo Service Processing Center to face deportation charges.
"It feels like you're in jail," she says. "It feels like hell on earth."
Yeend says she had struggled with mental illness for a lot of her life and has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. At the time she was arrested, she was taking an antidepressant and an antipsychotic medication.
Now, she found herself at a facility where, according to a 2018 inspection report, mentally ill detainees were "'falling through the cracks,' their distress was being exacerbated, increasing their risk of suicidal behavior."
Yeend says she was not provided with her medications when she was locked up and was not seen by a psychiatrist for close to a month.
"I just was crying and crying and crying," she says. "My children were left alone at home and I didn't know that they were going to be OK and I also didn't know what was going to happen."
Over the course of about three months locked up, Yeend says, she saw two mental health providers over Zoom, "and the Zoom calls were maybe 10 minutes, if that." Rather than resume the medications she had been taking, Yeend says she was prescribed a sedative to make her sleep.
Eventually, Yeend was able to secure her release from the facility and reunite with her children. She has obtained legal immigration status and become an advocate for immigrant rights. She is also a plaintiff in an ongoing lawsuit against the private operator of the facility, Akima Global Services, over the system of detainee labor. ICE detainees are sometimes paid $1 a day to work as custodians or in the kitchen as part of ICE's "voluntary work program." A number of lawsuits have alleged that ICE detainees are essentially forced to perform work for meager wages or face retaliation. Akima Global Services did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
Yeend says she has post-traumatic stress disorder from her time in ICE custody.
"I don't think anyone's mental health is their concern whatsoever," she says. "I don't think they care."
The audio for this story was produced by Monika Evstatieva and edited by Barrie Hardymon. Digital production by Meg Anderson; research by Barbara Van Woerkom; copy editing by Preeti Aroon; photo editing by Emily Bogle and Grace Widyatmadja; visuals and graphics editing by Alyson Hurt and Connie Hanzhang Jin; video production by Jackie Lay. NPR's Tirzah Christopher, Chiara Eisner, Asma Khalid and Ayda Pourasad also contributed to this story.
ice detention
core civic
office for civil rights and civil liberties
geo group
immigration detention
ice
white house
aclu
immigration and customs enforcement
joe biden
department of homeland security
Dappled Cities
Facebook
Flipboard
Email
| 557
|
‘Ruzzki not welcome’: the Russian exiles getting a hostile reception in Georgia
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-13-0542/immigration-ruzzki-not-welcome-russian-exiles-getting-hostile-reception-georgia
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/08/ruzzki-not-welcome-the-russian-exiles-getting-a-hostile-reception-in-georgia?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1691477188
|
Anti-Russian graffiti in Tbilisi, Georgia in September 2022. Photograph: uskarp/Alamy
After the invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Russians fled to Tbilisi. But the graffiti that has sprung up across the city suggests not everyone is pleased to see them
by Joshua Kucera
Tue 8 Aug 2023 06.00 CEST
Last modified on Mon 11 Sep 2023 06.00 CEST
D
ima Belysh stood in the empty park amphitheatre in his orange hoodie and dirty white sneakers. It was November in Tbilisi, Georgia, and he was in the middle of a 24-hour performance art piece dedicated to his hasty flight to the Georgian capital from his home in St Petersburg, Russia. When I showed up I was the only spectator, so he had plenty of time to talk.
“It’s ironic,” Belysh told me. “I went from a place I didn’t feel at home to a place that is not welcoming me.”
He had been openly against the war in Ukraine, but his prospects outside Russia – he didn’t have much money and doesn’t speak any language other than Russian – were meagre. So at first, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, he stayed. But when the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, announced a general mobilisation at the end of September, Belysh, as a man of draft age, had no choice but to leave the country or risk being conscripted into an army he did not support, to fight a war he found unjust.
‘Ruzzki not welcome’: the Russian exiles getting a hostile reception in Georgia – podcast
Read more
Georgia was a logical destination: it was one of the few countries with a border that remained open to Russians unable to afford plane tickets. But tens of thousands of Russians had the same idea, and border guards in the small town in the Caucasus mountains that hosts Georgia’s only land crossing with Russia were overwhelmed.
Belysh’s performance was his small way of reckoning with his experience of leaving Russia. But his timing was awkward: he had scheduled it for a day when Russia had just embarked on a vicious new phase of its campaign, targeting Ukrainian civilian infrastructure in order to deprive the population of electricity and heating. Belysh had tried to promote the event on social media ahead of time, but his post drew a barrage of negative comments, particularly from Georgians and Ukrainians whose tolerance for Russian anything, much less self-pity, was worn down to zero. “This is not Putin’s war. This is Russia’s war,” one commenter wrote in response to Belysh’s announcement.
Belysh is part of a massive influx of Russian emigrants who have settled in Georgia – mostly in Tbilisi, a city of 1.2 million people – since the start of the war. While the statistics are imprecise, government figures indicate that, as of October 2022, more than 110,000 Russians had arrived in Georgia since the start of the war. (The same report found that more than 25,000 Ukrainians had also relocated there since the start of the invasion.) The influx has overwhelmed the city, taxing its housing and social infrastructure, and exacerbating existing political and cultural rifts.
Intrinsic to Georgia’s post-Soviet national identity is its centuries-long domination by Russia, dating from the late-18th and early-19th centuries, when Georgian kings requested Russian protection as a security guarantee against attacks from the Persian Empire to the south. The Russians not only failed to prevent Persian aggression – Tbilisi was levelled during an invasion in 1795 – but annexed Georgia outright in 1801 and made it part of their empire. Thus began two centuries of rule from the north, which ended only in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Georgians have long insisted that their grievance is only with the Russian state, not with the Russian people. But the invasion of Ukraine has all but eroded that distinction. The flight of tens of thousands of Russians who consider themselves victims of their own government comes just as Georgians are more inclined than ever to place collective responsibility for the war in Ukraine upon all Russians. The mass migration has roiled Georgia and confronted it with knotty moral questions: who counts as a victim? What responsibility do citizens hold for the actions of their nations? How should we allocate our sympathy?
A
fter the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, graffiti quickly began popping up around Tbilisi, in particular in its attractive historic centre. “FUCK RUSSIA” and “FUCK PUTIN”, many of them read (in English), or “Russian warship, go fuck yourself” – a reference to the famous words of a Ukrainian soldier on Snake Island in the Black Sea before he was taken captive by Russian forces in February 2022.
The graffiti was sprayed on Tbilisi’s picturesquely crumbling plaster walls, beneath ornate 19th-century balconies, on plywood fences blocking off new construction projects, in the gentrifying neighbourhood of Mtatsminda and other central Tbilisi districts. These areas have long attracted foreigners, including hundreds of thousands of tourists, and a good number of expats from around the world – I am American and have lived in Mtatsminda for three years.
Tbilisi had already seen a surge of Russian immigration in 2021, after the Kremlin significantly tightened the screws on independent organisations and media, forcing many activists and journalists to flee abroad. But that boom was far eclipsed in 2022, when it soon became more common to hear Russian spoken in my neighbourhood than Georgian.
The invasion of Ukraine evoked a complex set of emotions for Georgians: sympathy for Ukrainians and fear that Russia might soon turn its gaze back to Georgia, which it had previously invaded in 2008. If Russia won in Ukraine, Georgians had reason to fear that the Kremlin would be emboldened to come and finish the job it began in 2008. If it lost, they also feared that small and weak Georgia could be an easy consolation prize.
There was also hate. Even before the graffiti started to pop up, there was writing on virtual walls, outpourings of vitriol on social media. Concerned citizens circulated a petition to institute a visa regime for Russians.
EU, Georgia and Ukraine flags flying at a protest outside Georgia’s parliament in Tbilisi in March. Photograph: Vano Shlamov/AFP/Getty Images
Otherwise sensible people argued that the Russians fleeing to Tbilisi posed a threat, suggesting that Putin might use their presence in Georgia as a pretext to “liberate” them. Some said the Russians should have remained at home and tried to overthrow Putin, and that they were to blame for not having done so before the war. Still others suggested that the Tbilisi Russians were merely pretending to be against the war in Ukraine, and that despite their attestations to the contrary, the rot of Russian colonialism was so deep that even self-proclaimed dissidents could not wash off its stench.
A friend told me about a fistfight at a bar between a Russian and a Georgian. A Telegram channel for Russians in Tbilisi posted an anonymous recording of someone (speaking in Georgian-accented Russian) threatening to beat up Russians. Given that the Kremlin considers Russophobia in Ukraine to be a justification for war there, the situation here in Tbilisi felt pregnant with tension.
One twentysomething Russian human rights activist who came after the 2021 crackdown initially settled in happily. (She insisted on anonymity out of concerns for the safety of her family in Russia.) “But when the war started, things changed radically,” she told me. “Georgians became hostile to Russians overnight. Before the war I would never think people would be hostile.”
She took a trip to the Black Sea coast and tried to book a place to stay online, but several would-be hosts refused to rent to her because she was Russian. One wrote that she should instead “go back to Russia and fight Putin”. (The message was in Georgian; she used Google Translate.) She tried to explain that she could not return to Russia. “I was so angry. I told him: ‘I am a human rights activist, I am a journalist, I have friends who were tortured,’” she said. He asked her to send documents proving she was persecuted, and only then, she recalled, did he say that “maybe we will let you stay”.
The Russian arrivals settled into self-contained émigré quarters, and in the absence of regular communication between Georgians and Russians, graffiti seemed to fill the vacuum. It became ubiquitous around Tbilisi’s central districts; you couldn’t walk 50 metres without seeing “Ruzzia is a terrorist state”. Over time, it seemed to become less about Russia the state and more about Russians as people: “Ruzzki go home” and “Ruzzki not welcome”. (The “z” referred to the Russian state’s symbol for the war.) “Fuck off home” in Russian. “Russians go back to ur ugly country.”
W
hile Russia has dominated Georgia for two centuries, the current Georgian grievance against Russia centres on the two territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both home to eponymous ethnic minorities. Both broke away from Georgia in separatist wars in the 1990s; hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians had to flee the territories. Their self-proclaimed governments are now propped up by Russia, which has military bases in each. Now a popular talking point is that Russia thus “occupies” 20% of Georgia. (Some of the new graffiti reads: “Occupants go home.”) Georgia’s attempt to retake control of South Ossetia led to the 2008 war, in which Russia not only pushed Georgian forces out of South Ossetia but briefly advanced well inside Georgia proper, with significant attacks reaching the central city of Gori, and Poti in the far west. According to official figures from each side, 228 Georgian and 162 South Ossetian civilians were killed.
For many Georgians, the 2008 war and Russia’s presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are just the latest chapters in a centuries-old story of Russia thwarting Georgia’s national ambitions. (That war took place just months after Nato promised that it would eventually accept Georgia as a member.) They see Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a similar attack upon people they now consider kin. One liberal magazine has started a campaign to recognise the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia as a “genocide”, the campaign is called Before Bucha there was Abkhazia.
In my conversations with Russians here in Tbilisi, I have found them aware only of the vague outlines of what happened in Abkhazia and South Ossetia; the wars in Georgia are a blip in the story that Russians, whether pro- or anti-government, know about their country.
But even if Russian émigrés don’t engage much with Georgian domestic politics, domestic politics engages with them. Georgia’s ruling party seems to be trying to engage in a balancing act. Its actions are geared toward maintaining the country’s pro-western orientation: enforcing international sanctions against Russia, voting with the west on UN resolutions, applying for EU membership. Yet the words of its senior officials tell a different story. Lately, they have studiously avoided criticising Russia, and have been far more critical of the Ukrainian government, even dabbling in anti-western conspiracy theories. These statements have enraged many Georgians who want the government to take a stronger stand in support of Ukraine; opposition parties and other critics accuse the government of kowtowing to Moscow.
Russian armoured vehicles on their way to the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali in 2008. Photograph: Musa Sadulayev/AP
So far, the government’s tightrope act has, for the most part, worked. It has garnered praise from western capitals for adhering to the sanctions, and from Moscow for not doing much more. But this state of affairs is becoming increasingly unsustainable. In mid-May, after barely acknowledging Georgia’s existence since the beginning of the war, Putin dropped a bombshell: Russia would reverse a ban on direct flights to Georgia it instituted in 2019, and also remove visa restrictions for Georgians travelling to Russia. This development would have been welcomed in Georgia before the Russia-Ukraine war, but now it appeared to be a poisoned chalice, seemingly calculated to drive a wedge between the Georgian government and its allies in the west. And it worked: The US and the EU warned that allowing Russian airlines to fly to Georgia risked exposing Georgian companies to sanctions. Georgia went ahead with it anyway, citing the economic benefits of the travel resumption, a move that has drawn harsh criticism from Washington and Brussels.
The émigrés are caught up in this squabbling. The ruling party has sought to downplay the issue by emphasising that many of the new arrivals are in fact ethnic Georgians, and that a lot of them are using Georgia only as a transit point en route to other destinations.
There are regular controversies about Russian opposition-linked figures who are not let in to Georgia: critical journalists, a lawyer for opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and a member of the activist group Pussy Riot are among those who have reportedly been denied entry since the war began. To the opposition in Georgia, these actions are proof that the Georgian government is doing the Kremlin’s bidding. It’s a murky topic, though: many Russians I spoke with do believe that the government may be blocking some people in order to prevent Tbilisi from becoming a hub of Russian opposition activity and attracting Moscow’s ire; but at the same time, the number of Russian oppositionists who have been blocked is dwarfed by those who have been let in. Several opposition groups of exiled Russian journalists and activists have had no trouble setting up shop here.
A few months after the full-scale invasion began, I noticed that some of my neighbours had printed and hung a sign on their balcony, reading (in Russian): “It is not the time to enjoy yourself when at this very moment RUSSIANS are killing and torturing CHILDREN in Ukraine! If you ‘fled’ from Russia, PROTEST OR MOURN AT HOME!”
I
t can be tempting to overinterpret the graffiti. But as I started to meet and interview Russians about their exodus, they frequently brought it up. The street markings were a significant part of their experience, a visual bullhorn constantly announcing what (at least some vocal portion of) Georgians thought about them.
“It works,” one Russian academic who moved here a few months after the start of the war told me. The graffiti was a reminder to stay quiet. He had been attacked on social media for suggesting that dissident Russians didn’t deserve collective punishment for the war. He deleted his Twitter account and asked not to be named in this story. “Being on the streets, especially the first time I came to Tbilisi, it felt as if I was inside the Twitter feed,” he said. “It was a metaverse-like experience – only you can’t really unfollow it.”
Belysh, the performance artist, told me he believed it wasn’t Georgians writing much of the Russophobic graffiti, but Russians themselves. This belief – repeated by many other Russians in Tbilisi – originated with a social media post that went viral in the fall. A Russian man had filmed himself spray-painting “Fuck Russians :)” on a Tbilisi wall.
I was sceptical, so I tracked down the graffitist from the video, Andrei Mitroshin, a punk musician who had fled Moscow soon after the war started, first to Yerevan in Armenia, and then to Tbilisi. He told me he had posted the video as a comment on a friend’s post “as a joke, and from there someone took it at face value”. He had even posted on Telegram the day after it went viral:
“The IRONY is that it was written by a Russian (me)
“The POST-IRONY is that it’s possible to imagine that all this graffiti was written by Russians, to intimidate other Russians.”
That correction, though, doesn’t seem to have had the same legs as his viral video, which contained a kernel of truthiness that resonated with many Russians here. In his correction post, Mitroshin took pains to emphasise that the graffiti around the city did not represent his typical in-person interactions with Georgians.
“Living in Georgia for some time, every day we see on all the walls here are written ‘FUCK RUSSIANS’, ‘RUSSIANS GO HOME’, and so on,” he wrote. “There are of course people here who don’t like Russians (for understandable reasons). And this graffiti often scares many Russians, and many are afraid to come here because of Russophobia that they have heard or read about somewhere.” But he concluded: “Georgia is a wonderful country with wonderful and super friendly people. In the half year I have been here neither I nor any of my friends have encountered any aggression or Russophobia, and if you act normally and don’t support the war, everyone will treat you normally.”
Others had little difficulty believing that Georgians were behind the street markings. Alexander, a recent émigré and fellow amateur scholar of anti-Russia graffiti who didn’t want to give his full name, gave me a little tour of his neighbourhood, Vera, not far from mine.
He had heard many of his compatriots espouse the theory that the graffiti was written by Russians, and he was marshalling evidence that it wasn’t. On one wall was a variation of a ubiquitous graffito: “Putin is a dickhead.” But this one mixed a Russian “i” and a Ukrainian “kh” in a way no native speaker of either of those languages would have. Nearby was another bit of graffiti, the classic “Russian warship go fuck yourself”. I had already noticed this one; it was missing one “s” in “Russian”. Alexander said that was something even a native speaker could do if in a hurry and careless. What was more telling, he pointed out, was the way some of the Cyrillic letters were written. The Russian “y” bore an unmistakable resemblance to the Georgian “kh”, and the Russian “b” to the Georgian “n”. “It was definitely Georgians who did this,” he said.
Graffiti in Tbilisi. Photograph: Julien Pebrel/MYOP/The Guardian
Georgians didn’t need any convincing that the graffiti was domestically produced either. There have been a few small social media brouhahas on the rare occasions when the city has cleaned up some anti-Russia graffiti; to many liberal Georgians, these cleanup efforts fed the theory that the government was secretly pro-Russia. The graffiti, they felt, was expressing the will of the people.
The fact that many Russians did not believe that Georgians were writing the graffiti, though, seemed to speak to a wilful ignorance about how their presence was being received.
Many of the Russians I have spoken with have experienced a profound shock about the nature of their country, and many have written it off for ever, virtually overnight. The dominant impulse seems to be to don a collective hair shirt. Many Russian establishments in Tbilisi are identifiable by the Ukrainian flag on display and a poster with a QR code letting you donate to the Ukrainian armed forces. If they bring up some way in which Russian émigrés are poorly treated, it is invariably caveated with: “Of course, it’s nothing compared to what Ukrainians are going through.”
“Decolonisation” is a buzzword in the city. During his 24-hour performance piece, Belysh had a lot of time to kill, so he had brought along some reading: a Russian translation of Internal Colonization, a 2011 book by the historian Alexander Etkind that reimagines Russian history through the lens of postcolonial theory. For obvious reasons, it has gained currency and popularity since the start of the war. “Maybe it has some answers for me,” Belysh said.
“Russians think we don’t have anything without them, but it’s not true,” Zurab Chitaia told me. He has a complicated identity: with a Georgian father and a Russian mother, he grew up speaking Russian in Abkhazia. Nearly all ethnic Georgians were forced out of Abkhazia during the war in the 90s, and Chitaia’s family fled to Moscow when he was a teenager. He moved to Tbilisi a few years ago and now runs a chain of popular bars here. He said he was generally in favour of the graffiti that had emerged, though he thought the message needed to be sharpened: “Putin isn’t a dickhead, he’s a murderer and a terrorist.”
Chitaia hosts a Russian-language podcast about Georgia in which he pushes back against some of the extreme attempts to bully people in Tbilisi out of speaking Russian. But he said that many Russians underestimate Georgians’ antipathy toward them. “Young Georgians are not interested in Russia,” he said. “They are like, ‘Leave us alone, we don’t know you, we never saw anything good from you guys, we don’t like you. We grew up without you and all we know from you is tanks, bombs and killing.’ Our parents and grandparents were forced to be involved and oriented toward Russia. But we’re not.”
T
he fact that Russians can still enter Georgia without doing anything more than showing their passport rankles many Georgians. Russia is only one of 95 countries whose citizens enjoy Georgia’s laissez-faire visa-free policy, but last year’s influx has spurred calls by the opposition to introduce visa requirements for Russians. The government has resisted, however, citing the economic benefit that the émigrés bring: the country’s GDP grew more than 10% in 2022, and government officials have given partial credit to the Russian arrivals.
But the economic benefits have been distributed unequally. Landlords, restaurant owners and the like have done well out of the arrival of tens of thousands of middle-class consumers. Working-class Georgians, meanwhile, are suffering from the resulting inflation. After Putin’s mid-May announcement about restoring direct flights between Russia and Georgia, the visa debate flared up again, and this time the US embassy got involved: the ambassador suggested that Putin may intend to “use” the Russian presence to interfere in Georgia somehow. And while a few months earlier she had urged that “Georgia must continue to welcome those fleeing Russian repression”, now she was sympathetically noting that “many Georgians … are concerned about the hundred thousand Russians who came to Georgia last year”.
Anti-Russian graffiti in Tbilisi. Photograph: Julien Pebrel/The Guardian
To live in Tbilisi is to be enveloped in layers of responsibility and victimhood, to inhabit a hierarchy of perpetrators, colonisers and colonised. The influx of Russians has, in the view of many activists, complicated Georgian domestic politics and also hampered the nation’s efforts to reckon with its own history of dominating smaller nations. The origins of the wars of the 1990s are hotly contested, but a significant share of the responsibility lies with Georgia, a fact that is obscured by the narrative of “Russian occupation”. The occupation narrative also denies the agency of Abkhazians and Ossetians themselves – for the most part they do not consider themselves occupied, and view Russian backing as a necessary evil protecting them against what they deem the greater danger of Georgian nationalism. In today’s overheated atmosphere, these nuances are increasingly lost.
“The Russia-Ukraine war paralysed the process of rethinking our conflicts, making it almost impossible to discover and realise our own mistakes,” wrote Anna Dziapshipa, a Tbilisi-based film-maker of Georgian and Abkhazian background.
Meanwhile, the graffiti keeps proliferating and evolving. It’s not uncommon to see some graffiti painted over, messages altered in a kind of public conversation or debate. One common edit is to change “Fuck Russia” to “Fuck Putin”. Near me there is a “RUSSIANS FUCK OFF CUNTS”, and someone added above it: “NATIONALISTS OF ALL COUNTRIES GO FUCK YOURSELVES”. I have been monitoring another one in the neighbourhood that started out as “Russians go home”, written in blue, to which someone edited the last word in yellow (for the colours of the Ukrainian flag) to read: “Russians go help”. Recently, it was changed again. Now it reads: “Russians go to hell”.
This piece was originally published in issue No 5 of the Dial.
Follow the Long Read on Twitter at @gdnlongread, listen to our podcasts here and sign up to the long read weekly email here.
Explore more on these topics
The long read
Georgia
Russia
Ukraine
features
Reuse this content
| 558
|
Child dies on asylum-seeker bus headed to Chicago
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-11-1544/immigration-child-dies-asylum-seeker-bus-headed-chicago
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://abcnews.go.com/US/child-dies-asylum-seeker-bus-headed-chicago/story?id=102204668
|
A 3-year-old died while en route to the Chicago area aboard a bus of asylum-seekers on Thursday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
"IDPH is working with local health officials, state police, and federal authorities to the fullest extent possible to get answers in this tragic situation," an IDPH spokesperson said.
Sources confirmed to ABC News the bus departed from Brownsville, Texas.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) issued a statement on Friday evening, saying, "every loss of life is a tragedy."
According to TDEM, once the child was showing signs of health concerns, the bus pulled over and 911 was called and ambulance arrived. According to the statement, the parents were speaking with paramdeics through a "bilingual security personnel."
The child was transported to a local hospital to receive additional medical attention, according to TDEM's statement, where the 3-year-old was later pronounced dead.
Prior to the bus departing from Brownsville, TDEM said "each bus passenger underwent a temperature check and was asked if they had medical conditions that may require medical assistance."
After no passengers presented medical concerns or a fever, the bus departed, and "each bus is stocked with food and water, which are distributed on board," according to the statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for details.
| 559
|
Republicans accused of cynical ploy in blaming fentanyl crisis on Biden
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-07-0625/politics-republicans-accused-cynical-ploy-blaming-fentanyl-crisis-biden
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/07/republicans-fentanyl-biden-asylum-seekers-cynicism
|
Ron DeSantis visits Eagle Pass, on Texas-Mexico border, on 26 June, weeks after bringing together dozens of sheriffs to blame Biden’s easing of Trump’s migrant restrictions for fentanyl flooding in to US. Photograph: Kaylee Greenlee Beal/Reuters
Opioids crisis
This article is more than 1 month old
Republicans accused of cynical ploy in blaming fentanyl crisis on Biden
This article is more than 1 month old
Critics say GOP leaders misrepresent asylum seekers as being behind smuggling of opioid that kills 70,000 Americans a year
Chris McGreal
Mon 7 Aug 2023 12.00 CEST
Last modified on Mon 7 Aug 2023 15.13 CEST
Republican politicians have been accused of exploiting the tragedy of America’s fentanyl crisis by blaming Joe Biden for the rising death toll, and linking it to his immigration policies and populist anger over the US’s troubled southern border.
Critics say Republican leaders are guilty of a cynical political ploy by misrepresenting an increase in asylum seekers as a cause of the serious problem of cross-border drug smuggling driving a huge US public health crisis.
US states get tough with ‘war on drugs’-era laws to tackle fentanyl crisis
Read more
Fentanyl kills about 70,000 Americans a year. It is the leading cause of record drug overdose deaths in the US and the primary cause of death among adults under the age of 45.
The synthetic opioid, usually made from chemicals manufactured in China and put together in Mexico, is popular with drug cartels because it is many times more powerful than other narcotics and so requires smaller quantities, which are easier to smuggle than heroin or cocaine.
It is then laced into other drugs to boost their power and value. But because small amounts of the narcotic as so strong, fentanyl has driven up the number of accidental overdoses and deaths.
The Republicans’ push to blame the Biden administration follows record seizures of fentanyl at the US’s south-western frontier. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has discovered three times as much of the drug so far this year as during the same period in 2022. If seizures continue at that rate, CBP is on course to confiscate enough fentanyl in 2023 to kill close to a billion people – and that is almost certainly only a fraction of the drug smuggled into the US.
The Republican party claims this is evidence that “cartels have operational control of the border”. The speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, tied the sharp increase in fentanyl seizures and deaths to the record number of undocumented migrants entering the US last year, and blamed the White House for letting them in. So did Congresswoman Mary Miller when she claimed that Biden and the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, “opened our borders and flooded our streets with fentanyl”.
When Ron DeSantis was looking for someone to blame for the escalating death toll from the supercharged opioid his eye naturally fell on Biden.
The Florida governor and presidential candidate brought dozens of sheriffs from across the US together in Arizona in June to peer into Mexico and claim that the president’s easing of Donald Trump’s restrictions on migrants seeking asylum had opened the door to a flood of the drug killing about 200 Americans a day.
“Illegal immigration has not only ravaged communities along the southern border, it has harmed states across the country with the deadly influx of cartel-trafficked fentanyl and higher rates of violent crime,” DeSantis told the sheriffs.
Ninety of them signed a letter praising the Florida governor’s position as Republicans increasingly link the growing toll from opioids to “Biden’s open border”.
Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise county, which runs along Arizona’s border with Mexico, hosted the DeSantis meeting and signed the letter. He didn’t hesitate to blame Biden for what he said was a surge in frontier-related crimes in his jurisdiction over the past 18 months, from drug smuggling to murder, because the president “is not enforcing the rule of law on the border”.
A display of the fentanyl and meth that was seized by Customs and Border Protection officers at the Nogales port of entry is shown in Nogales, Arizona, in 2019. Most smuggling of fentanyl is believed to be through ports of entry. Photograph: Mamta Popat/AP
“The border is not effectively secured. About 40% of all the people in my jail are there for crimes that are border-related. That’s unheard of,” he said.
“Fentanyl is a big part of it. These are drugs that are being smuggled into our country that we have confiscated through port of entries, through highway interdiction, at roadblocks. The common nexus is it’s coming from south of the border.”
It is not just border figures jumping on the trend.
The Arkansas governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, tweeted that fentanyl seizures in her jurisdiction this year had been “enough to kill almost the entire population of our state”.
“Nearly all of it comes through the southern border. The consequences of Biden’s border crisis are deadly for every state,” she said.
Republicans held a congressional hearing in July into the Biden administration’s “open border policies” after the party’s members on the homeland security committee released a report accusing Mayorkas of a “dereliction of duty”.
The senior Democrat on the committee, Congressman Bennie Thompson, dismissed the hearing as a “political stunt” hatched by Trump supporters.
Congressman Raúl Grijalva, whose Arizona district includes Cochise county, described DeSantis’s visit as motivated by hate and fearmongering “to pander to the same old race baiting anti-immigrant extremist politicians and officials in southern Arizona”.
Some Republicans claim that cartels are using migrants to carry the drug or are hiding traffickers among the border crossers. Others say that large numbers of people arriving covertly away from official crossings are distracting the border patrol from going after the drug smugglers.
But Mayorkas described the claim that the bulk of fentanyl is carried into the US by migrants crossing covertly from Mexico as “unequivocally false”.
“The vast, vast majority is thought to be smuggled through the ports of entry and tractor-trailer trucks and passenger vehicles,” he said.
The China-Mexico fentanyl pipeline: increasingly sophisticated and deadly
Read more
CBP reports show that last year, 84% of the fentanyl seized was found at an official border crossing.
Gil Kerlikowske, a former head of the CBP and White House drug tsar during the Obama administration, said migrants crossing the border to seek asylum have little interest in carrying fentanyl because they want to be apprehended.
“They wave down the border patrol, they want to go into custody. They want to file an asylum claim. They’re not going to be carrying drugs,” he said.
Kerlikowske said the vast majority of fentanyl was brought through busy border posts because the sheer numbers of people crossing there make it easier for smugglers to hide in the crowd whereas small groups crossing illegally in an isolated part of the frontier are far more likely to be spotted by technology and detained.
“The drug smuggling is at the ports of entry. San Ysidro in San Diego is the busiest land border in the world. That’s where fentanyl is coming through. It has nothing to do with migrants,” he said.
“Fentanyl is a gamechanger in many ways because such a small amount of fentanyl can produce such dramatic results in drug use and overdoses. So unlike the days that marijuana was smuggled across the border in planes, or in vehicles carrying big amounts that would try to ram through a small section of the border, now they can bring fentanyl hidden in vehicles through the ports of entry.”
The House speaker, Kevin McCarthy speaks about border security on 11 May. He has claimed that ‘cartels have operational control of the border’. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Dannels disagrees. He said a large proportion of the arrests his officers make for border crimes are of American citizens, some of whom who act as “smuggler drivers” by picking up migrants after they cross the border illegally.
“The migrants bring the drugs. They are paying back a debt to the cartels. They’ve been told, you will carry this across the border. When the smuggler drivers pick them up, they take the drugs off them and they’re distributed from there. We’ve seen that. I’m talking about humans but they also use drones. It’s all one big business,” he said.
“Biden should enforce the rule of law via securing the border, not based on the political game. Drop politics out of this. Let’s get back to the values of our oath of offices. And let’s secure the border which protects this country and our citizens.”
Democrats have derided Republicans who claim that increasing seizures of fentanyl are evidence of increased smuggling and not improved policing. Kerlikowske thought it likely that both were true.
“When you’re making those increased seizures, it also reflects the fact that more fentanyl is coming across. But they’re also certainly a reflection of better intelligence, better technology, more focus on fentanyl,” he said.
Kerlikowske said that one problem was that no one really knows how much is being smuggled into the US. One of his predecessors as the head of CBP estimated that about 10% of illegal drugs were seized.
“We really looked into that and wanted to see, how solid is this research? Quite frankly, how do you know what you don’t know? We didn’t really find any strong support for that statistic. We just don’t know,” he said.
But Kerlikowske cautioned that ultimately the scale of seizures does not have a big impact on the opioid crisis. He dismissed the “false narrative that the more drugs are seized at the border the more that will reduce America’s appetite for use of drugs”.
“That has been disproven time after time after time. It’s been disproven with heroin going back decades. It’s been disproven with methamphetamine, and certainly it’s been disproven with fentanyl. People lose sight of the fact that seizing more drugs is not going to reduce drug use or overdoses in the United States.” he said.
“You can’t take your focus off of going after traffickers and drug dealers. You have to do that. But if you’re not reducing demand through quality prevention, if you’re not providing treatment and recovery resources for people who are addicted, you’re fighting that battle with one hand tied behind your back.”
Explore more on these topics
Opioids crisis
Drugs
Drugs trade
Republicans
US politics
Joe Biden
US-Mexico border
news
Reuse this content
| 560
|
Democrats press Biden to resolve New York’s migrant crisis
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-06-1526/immigration-democrats-press-biden-resolve-new-york-s-migrant-crisis
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.semafor.com/article/08/04/2023/democrats-press-biden-to-resolve-new-yorks-migrant-crisis
|
Sign up for Semafor Principals: What the White House is reading. Read it now.
In this article:
New York’s Democratic delegation is increasingly torn between protecting President Biden and pressuring him to act on the recent influx of migrant people to New York City.
“Folks had been focused in D.C. for the last three weeks, and then they showed up home, and they’re like, ‘Oh shit,’” a Democratic aide told Semafor, citing images of migrants sleeping outside a Manhattan hotel.
About a half-dozen House Democrats are leading on the issue, including Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who has repeatedly pushed the administration on everything from expediting work permits to extending temporary legal status to migrants from specific countries.
There’s no easy way to resolve the conflict. Local Democrats want the administration to make it easier for asylum-seekers to quickly get authorization to work while they await their immigration cases, taking the burden off the city and state to support them. But the White House fears that faster work authorization would inspire more border crossings.
Short of work authorization, lawmakers are also clashing with the administration over declaring a state of emergency, which would come with federal resources. But it’s unclear how Biden could justify making the designation for New York, an interior blue state, over a red border state like Texas.
It’s already a sore subject on the border.
“The reason the money is going to New York is because the Speaker of the House is from New York, and the leader of the United States Senate is from New York,” Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema said recently (incorrectly referring to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as the Speaker).
Republicans blame Democrats and New York City leaders for passing laws that make the area more appealing to migrants, like the city’s “right to shelter,” which is unique among major American cities.
“‘You break it, you bought it’ should not only apply to retail shoppers but to those governments who approve these asinine laws,” Rep. Nick LaLota, D-N.Y., told Semafor, referring to “sanctuary city” provisions that prohibit state and local officials from coordinating with immigration authorities on deportations.
At the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Joe Biden that “historic peace” between Israel and Saudi Arabia could be achieved.
“I think such a peace would go a long way first to advance the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict, achieve reconciliation between the Islamic world and the Jewish state, and advance a genuine peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” Netanyahu said to Biden. “This is something within our reach.”
The U.S. is in talks with Riyadh about a mutual defense treaty that would provide each country with military support if the other is attacked in the region or on Saudi territory, the New York Times reported• 1 . Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that the agreement is a crucial part of his talks with the U.S. regarding Israel — as such a deal would help Riyadh defend itself against possible attacks from Iran. Saudi Arabia is also asking the U.S. to help develop a civilian nuclear program which has received more pushback.
The New York Times, Biden Aides and Saudis Explore Defense Treaty Modeled After Asian Pacts
Washington’s involvement in brokering an agreement between the Israelis and Saudis could restore the country’s power and prestige through the Middle East, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer told Semafor's Ben Smith on Wednesday. The deal, he said, could be a “reverse 9/11”• 2 — which, in the aftermath, saw two decades of tension and conflict between the U.S. and the Arab world. Such a deal has “strategic value” for all the countries involved, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf said at Al-Monitor and Semafor’s Middle East Global Summit Wednesday, though she did not go into specifics.
Semafor, Peace with Saudi could be a “reverse 9/11,” top Israeli official says
Cozier ties between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia could face resistance from the U.S. Congress, which has remained critical of the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi• 3 , as well as Riyadh’s intervention in Yemen. When asked about Khashoggi’s murder, the Saudi crown prince said that the kingdom’s security system was undergoing reform to ensure that such a “mistake” does not happen again, Reuters reported.
Reuters, Mohammed bin Salman says Saudi Arabia is getting “closer” to Israel normalization
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the country’s top financial regulator, adopted a new rule to crack down on investment fund “greenwashing.” Funds will be required to ensure that 80% of their portfolio match the asset advertised by the fund’s name. Since 2021, the SEC has prosecuted funds that bill themselves as investing exclusively in securities that rank highly in environmental, social, and governance measurements but which rather cast a much wider net with their investments. “It is truth in advertising,” Gary Gensler, the SEC chair, said.
The move was largely welcomed by activists and environmentalists, including some who had long considered the lax restrictions deceptive or even predatory of retail investors. “These rules will help cut down on greenwashing and misleading marketing so that millions of U.S. investors ensure … their money is being invested in line with their interests and their values,” a strategist at the Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy organization, said. “The SEC’s action today is a vital step,” the Environmental Defense Fund wrote.
Despite a market downturn in 2022 — during which traditional funds suffered billions of dollars in outflows — investors continued to flock to ESG funds, pushing their assets under management to a record $2.8 trillion last year. Demand has been driven largely by Europe• 1 , which accounted for 89% of sustainable funds’ assets. After years of out-performing traditional funds, however, sustainable funds’ returns fell below those of traditional ones last year, according to Morgan Stanley research.
Morgan Stanley, Despite Market Challenges, Demand for Sustainable Funds Remains Strong
The EU is also cracking down on greenwashing. From 2026, products that can’t back up the accuracy of products marketed as being “climate neutral,” “eco,” or other sweeping environmental claims will be banned. The new rule, which climate NGOs have long agitated for, will make the EU the toughest region in the world in terms of green claims made to the public, the Financial Times reported. “Carbon neutral claims are greenwashing • 2 ,” the head of a European consumer association said. “The truth is that these claims are scientifically incorrect and should never be used.”
Financial Times, EU to ban ‘climate neutral’ claims by 2026
A diplomatic dispute between Ukraine and Poland over a ban on grain imports has escalated. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Wednesday that his country, one of Ukraine's strongest allies, would halt the transfer of weapons to Kyiv.
On Thursday, the Polish government sought to walk back the remarks, saying that it would carry out pre-agreed shipments.
Morawiecki's Wednesday comments followed a broader dispute over shipments of Ukrainian grain. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces last year shuttered marine export routes and sent shipments overground through the European Union. Concerns mounted amongst local farmers in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia that Ukrainian grain was driving down their prices, and the EU implemented an import ban to mitigate. While the bloc has not renewed the ban, Warsaw, Budapest, and Bratislava have kept it in place, angering Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized the continued ban, saying that European allies were engaging "in a political theatre — making a thriller from grain."• 1
BBC, Poland no longer supplying weapons to Ukraine as grain row escalates
Warsaw has likely kept the export ban in place over concerns that Morawiecki's Law and Justice (PiS) party is facing a tough reelection campaign next month. Polish farmers staged protests against Ukrainian grain this summer, and the government fears further unrest ahead of what is likely to be a pivotal election.• 2
Deutsche Welle, Ukrainian grain: Why are eastern EU members banning imports?
On social media platform X, international relations analyst Daniel Hegedus wrote that one "can see here how the short-sighted and short-term political interests of a radical-right party in power trumped Polish foreign policy culture and strategic thinking. And also how autocrats in power prioritize regime interest over national interest." He added that "mitigating the damage done will be a tantamount task even for a new, democratic Polish government."• 3
X, Daniel Hegedus
The union representing screenwriters is resuming negotiations with studios on Wednesday, as strikes involving Hollywood's writers and actors drag on.
The strikes have effectively put Hollywood on pause, and continue to impact entertainment industries around the world.
Hollywood productions are critical to the U.K.'s film industry, but several big-budget movies, including Deadpool 3 and Wicked, have been put on hold. The total number of productions affected is relatively small, The New York Times reported this week, but they employ thousands of workers. “There are people who are suffering in the U.K.,” said the head of a charity group for film and TV workers.• 1
The New York Times, Hollywood Strikes Send a Chill Through Britain’s Film Industry
Production companies in Ireland, Greece, and Canada are also bracing for a slowdown, with one filmmaker telling the Guardian that the Canadian entertainment industry is dependent on American writers and actors.• 2 In New Zealand, workers are keeping an eye on the deliberations in Hollywood, and industry members say the country should focus on shooting local content to counter a possible dearth of Hollywood productions.• 3
The Guardian, Hollywood actors’ strike: entertainment desert looms and pain will spread wider
Stuff, 'A storm about to hit': How the Hollywood strikes will change NZ’s screen industry
Not every major international production has been shut down. Season 2 of the Game of Thrones prequel The House of the Dragon is continuing to shoot in Europe because scripts were completed before the writers' strike and the actors are part of a British union that isn't striking. Creator George R. R. Martin explained on his blog that British law bars the local actors from striking in sympathy with their American counterparts. "If they walk, they have no protection against being fired," Martin wrote.• 4
Los Angeles Times, ‘House of the Dragon’ is still shooting amid strikes. Here’s why, according to George R.R. Martin
Meanwhile, American TV viewers will be exposed to more international content this fall. To plug holes in their lineup left by strike-affected shows, major broadcast networks are relying on reality content, sports, and scripted shows produced outside the U.S. That includes NCIS: Sydney and the U.K. version of Ghosts on CBS, and Canadian show The Spencer Sisters on the CW.• 5
CNN, Network TV, already struggling, limps into a strike-hobbled fall season
| 561
|
Body found stuck in buoys Texas installed in the Rio Grande
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-03-1651/immigration-body-found-stuck-buoys-texas-installed-rio-grande
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/03/texas-mexico-buoys-body-rio-grande-eagle-pass/
|
Body found stuck in buoys Texas installed in the Rio Grande
Texas authorities believe the person drowned upstream and floated into the buoys near Eagle Pass. Mexico criticized Texas’ placement of the buoys along the river.
BY URIEL J. GARCÍA AND WILLIAM MELHADO
AUG. 3, 2023
UPDATED: 3 PM CENTRAL
SHARE
A group of migrants walks around a string of buoys on July 14. The buoys were deployed to prevent migrants from swimming across the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass.
Credit:
Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune
Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
An unidentified body was found stuck in the buoys that Texas installed last month in the Rio Grande in between Eagle Pass and the Mexican city of Piedras Negras, Mexican and Texas authorities said.
Mexico’s foreign affairs office said in a news release on Wednesday that Texas troopers alerted the Mexican consulate at about 2:30 p.m. that a body was found on the south side of the buoys.
The Mexican government has not yet determined the identity or nationality of the person. The Mexico foreign affairs office said the cause of death has not been determined.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said in a statement Thursday that as of now, “preliminary information suggests this individual drowned upstream from the marine barrier and floated into the buoys.”
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
“There are personnel posted at the marine barrier at all times in case any migrants try to cross,” he added.
The Dallas Morning News reported that another body was found near the buoys. They quoted a shelter worker in Piedras Negras saying the body was that of an Honduran boy. The newspaper later updated its story after Mexico's foreign ministry reported that the victim's mother said her son was 20.
The Mexican government criticized Texas, saying that the placement of the buoys is “a violation of our sovereignty.”
“We express our concern about the impact on the human rights and personal safety of migrants that these state policies will have, which run counter to the close collaboration between our country and the federal government of the United States,” the news release said.
A spokesperson for Gov. Greg Abbott said the "Mexican government is flat-out wrong." The first reported body had floated into the buoys and the second body "was found miles upstream from the marine barriers," said Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Abbott.
"Also, DPS monitors the barriers for anyone attempting to cross and has not observed anyone attempting to cross since they were installed," Mahaleris said.
The area has lately become a popular crossing point for migrants, many of them Venezuelan. That part of the river is shallow enough for migrants to cross walking, but it’s not uncommon for people to be washed away by the deceiving river, where currents can make migrants slip if they’re not prepared.
The U.S. Department of Justice recently filed a lawsuit against Texas saying the placement of the buoys and other deterrent obstacles like concertina wire on the riverbank is illegal and that the state needed permission from the federal government to do so.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
The buoys are orange spheres with a sharp metal between them. The buoys, which extend 1,000 feet along the river, have a mesh net underneath them. But migrants have simply been walking around the buoys and the water is too shallow for someone to swim underneath them.
Abbott has defended his policies, saying Texas has the right to protect its borders.
Erin Heeter, a spokesperson for the Department Of Homeland Security said in a statement Thursday that "This report is heartbreaking and the circumstances should be thoroughly investigated. It is critical that we manage our border in a safe and humane way that respects the dignity of every human being and keeps our communities safe. We can both enforce our laws and treat human beings with dignity."
During a recent Eagle Pass city council meeting, Mayor Rolando Salinas said he wished both the state and federal governments offered the region more solutions and worked directly with Eagle Pass.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
“I wish the President would be a little more vocal on this issue. Help us out. I feel that we're abandoned here to kind of ‘Hey, you're doing this on your own,’” Salinas said, adding that supporters of Abbott’s policies need to know that, “The city of Eagle Pass didn’t authorize, for example, the buoys. We didn't say, ‘Oh, yes, please bring them in.’ These are actions that are taken also without consulting the city or consulting myself.”
More than 200 speakers are now confirmed for the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival in downtown Austin from Sept. 21-23. Each year, the Festival engages, challenges and surprises attendees with unexpected talent mashups, must-see interviews and more, curated by the award-winning journalists at The Texas Tribune. See the lineup and get tickets today.
Texans need truth. Help us report it.
Our Fall Member Drive is underway, and we need your support. The Texas Tribune is a critical source of truth and information for Texans across the state and beyond — and our community of members, the readers who donate, make our work possible. Will you join as a member with a tax-deductible donation of any amount?
YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY
Information about the authors
Uriel J. García
IMMIGRATION REPORTER
[email protected]
@ujohnnyg
William Melhado
NIGHT GENERAL ASSIGNMENT REPORTER
[email protected]
@williammelhado
Explore related story topics
Immigration
Department of Public Safety
READ MORE
Loading recommendations for further reading
Loading indicatorLoading indicatorLoading indicator
Loading indicatorLoading indicatorLoading indicator
Loading indicatorLoading indicatorLoading indicator
Loading indicatorLoading indicatorLoading indicator
| 562
|
Canadian immigration policy luring tech workers should be a warning to U.S., lawyers say
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-23-0702/immigration-canadian-immigration-policy-luring-tech-workers-should-be-warning
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-immigration-tech-workers-1.6914675
|
-
| 563
|
Justice Department tells Texas that floating barrier on Rio Grande raises humanitarian concerns
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-22-0611/immigration-justice-department-tells-texas-floating-barrier-rio-grande-raises
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://apnews.com/article/texas-buoy-barrier-migrants-6a807c66a5781448801ac7fc0be46083
|
Workers take a break from deploying large buoys to be used as a border barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. The floating barrier is being deployed in an effort to block migrants from entering Texas from Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Justice Department has told Texas that a floating barrier of wrecking ball-sized buoys the state put on the Rio Grande violates federal law and raises humanitarian concerns for migrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.
President Joe Biden’s administration told Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that the barrier installed this month near the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, was “unlawful” in a letter dated Thursday and obtained by The Associated Press.
“The floating barrier poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns,” reads the letter, which also informs the state that the Justice Department intends to sue if the barriers are not removed.
Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment Friday, but on Twitter, the governor wrote that Texas was acting within its rights.
“Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border,” Abbott tweeted.
The buoys are the latest escalation of Abbott’s multibillion-dollar operation to secure the state’s 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) border with Mexico. Other measures have included razor-wire fencing and arresting migrants on trespassing charges. The mission known as Operation Lone Star came under new scrutiny after a trooper said migrants had been denied water and that orders were given to push asylum-seekers back into the Rio Grande.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said this week that the trooper’s accounts, which were made in an email to a supervisor, are under internal investigation.
The buoy barrier covers 1,000 feet (305 meters) of the middle of the Rio Grande, with anchors in the riverbed.
Eagle Pass is part of a Border Patrol sector that has seen the second-highest number of migrant crossings this fiscal year with about 270,000 encounters — though that is lower than it was at this time last year.
The Biden administration has said illegal border crossings have declined significantly since new immigration rules took effect in May as pandemic-related asylum restrictions expired.
Associated Press reporter Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.
| 564
|
GOP doubles down on impeachment push even as border numbers plummet
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-19-1549/immigration-gop-doubles-down-impeachment-push-even-border-numbers-plummet
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.axios.com/2023/07/19/border-numbers-gop-mayorkas-impeachment
|
-
| 565
|
Texas Trooper Emailed Boss To Warn Of ‘Inhumane’ Razor Wire ‘Traps' At Border: Report
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-18-0452/immigration-texas-trooper-emailed-boss-warn-inhumane-razor-wire-traps-border
|
Immigration
|
lefts
|
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-border-migrants-water-pushed-rio-grande_n_64b5ffbee4b09a3b488e8499
|
Content loading...
An officer working at Texas’ southern border with Mexico emailed his superior expressing deep concerns that efforts to prevent migrants from crossing into the U.S. had “stepped over a line into the inhumane” earlier this month, according to a shocking account published by the San Antonio Express-News.
The unnamed trooper, who works for Texas’ Department of Public Safety, described troubling orders to prevent asylum seekers from crossing the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, in recent months. State officials have drawn sharp criticism after deploying miles of floating barricades covered in razor wire on the river, an initiative the officer likened to “traps” meant to snare migrants.
The email details multiple troubling incidents in which migrants were caught or injured by the razor wire.
In one instance, a 19-year-old woman “in obvious pain” was found stuck in the wire before she was cut free. Medical officials determined she was pregnant and having a miscarriage. At another point, troopers treated a man with a “significant laceration” on his leg that he sustained while trying to free his child from a “trap in the water” covered in razor wire.
Exclusive: Officers working for Abbott’s border security initiative have been ordered to push children into the Rio Grande, and have been told not to give water to migrants, according to an email from a DPS trooper who described the actions as “inhumane.” https://t.co/NLdOy307pq
— Ben Wermund (@benwermund) July 17, 2023
The email also details a moment on June 25 when a shift officer ordered troopers to push a large group of people — including small children and babies that were nursing — back into the Rio Grande “to go to Mexico.” Troopers on site resisted the order after they expressed concern the exhausted migrants could drown, and they were later ordered to tell the group to go back to Mexico before leaving the site.
The trooper also alluded to an order to prevent officers from providing water to migrants, although Texas officials have denied any such mandate exists.
“Due to the extreme heat, the order to not give people water needs to be immediately reversed as well,” the trooper wrote, suggesting a series of policy changes to protect migrants’ safety. The officer later added: “I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane.”
HuffPost has reached out to Texas’ DPS for comment on the report.
Migrants trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico approach the site where workers are assembling large buoys to be used as a barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 11. ERIC GAY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Travis Considine, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety, told the Express-News that the agency was aware of the email and that its director, Steven McCraw, called for an audit last Saturday into lowering risk for migrants. McCraw also sent another email to troopers saying the wire, a key feature of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) border measures, was meant to deter smuggling, “not to injure migrants.”
“The smugglers care not if the migrants are injured, but we do, and we must take all necessary measures to mitigate the risk to them including injuries from trying to cross over the concertina wire, drownings and dehydration,” the message said.
Abbott has taken dramatic steps to prevent migrants from crossing the state’s border with Mexico, lambasting President Joe Biden for failing to do enough to stop a surge of crossings. The governor also has dropped off thousands of migrants in cities across the nation, mainly in states led by Democratic officials, in an act that human rights groups have blasted as inhumane.
The report brought swift condemnation from Democrats. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) called the razor wire barriers “death traps” on Twitter, saying he had urged the Biden administration to intervene “for the sake of human rights.”
RELATED
GREG ABBOTT
MIGRANTS
U.S.-MEXICO BORDER
TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
Texas State Sen. Roland Gutierrez’s Run Sparks Democratic Contest To Take On Ted Cruz
Gavin Newsom Asks DOJ To Investigate Ron DeSantis’ Migrant Relocation Program
Gavin Newsom Dismantles Republican Governors In Less Than 1 Minute
VIEW 985 COMMENTS
Nick Visser
Senior Reporter, HuffPost
Suggest a correction
Do you have info to share with HuffPost reporters? Here’s how.
GO TO HOMEPAGE
POPULAR IN THE COMMUNITY
YOU MAY LIKE
| 566
|
Court orders Texas to remove anti-migrant Rio Grande barriers
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-06-1534/immigration-court-orders-texas-remove-anti-migrant-rio-grande-barriers
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://thehill.com/latino/4190758-court-orders-texas-to-remove-anti-migrant-rio-grande-barriers/
|
-
| 567
|
Canada shut its land border to asylum seekers. More refugees came anyway
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-03-0652/immigration-canada-shut-its-land-border-asylum-seekers-more-refugees-came
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-shut-its-land-border-asylum-seekers-more-refugees-came-anyway-2023-09-02/
|
Americas
Canada shut its land border to asylum seekers. More refugees came anyway
By Wa Lone and Anna Mehler Paperny
September 2, 202312:46 PM GMT+2Updated 19 days ago
TORONTO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - A deal Canada struck this year to stem the flow of asylum seekers entering from the U.S. was, at first glance, a quick success: Within days, the number of people caught at unofficial crossings along the border dwindled to a trickle.
But five months later, the overall number of people filing refugee claims in Canada has risen instead of falling. Many now come by air, while others sneak across the border and hide until they can apply for asylum without fear of being sent back, people working with migrants told Reuters.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
| 568
|
U.S. Immigration Courts Mired in Yearslong Backlog: ‘I Just Want a Resolution’
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-01-0919/immigration-us-immigration-courts-mired-yearslong-backlog-i-just-want
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/immigration-courts-yearslong-backlog-illegal-immigration-c732d381?mod=hp_lead_pos8
| 569
|
|
DHS: Growing trend of migrant children abandoned at border
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-28-0639/immigration-dhs-growing-trend-migrant-children-abandoned-border
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/border-coverage/dhs-growing-trend-of-migrant-children-abandoned-at-border/
|
-
| 570
|
Mexico bus crash: 15 migrants killed as bus collides with trailer
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-22-1556/immigration-mexico-bus-crash-15-migrants-killed-bus-collides-trailer
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-66587912
|
Mexico bus crash: 15 migrants killed as bus collides with trailer
Published
22 August
Share
IMAGE SOURCE,
HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/GN_MEXICO_
Image caption,
The migrants involved in the accident are believed to be mostly from Venezuela
By Bernd Debusmann Jr
BBC News, Washington
At least 15 migrants are dead and 36 others injured after a bus crash in central Mexico, local authorities said.
The migrants, mostly from Venezuela, were traveling in the state of Puebla when the crash took place early on Tuesday morning.
Local authorities believe the bus struck a trailer while on a highway.
Migrants are often transported by bus from Mexico's southern border with Guatemala as they head north to the US.
Puebla's state government confirmed the crash on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Images shared on X by Mexico's National Guard show officers near two severely damaged vehicles at a steep curve on the highway in a hilly and mountainous area.
According to Mexican media outlets, the highway is frequently used by human smugglers.
Salomón Jara, the governor of the nearby state of Oaxaca - from where the migrants were believed to be traveling - said he had instructed authorities to provide support to the injured.
"We're sending a hug and our condolences to the families of those who perished, to whom we will also offer all our support," Mr Jara said.
The injured, which include both men and women, were transported to three hospitals in the city of Tehuacán.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Central America try to cross through Mexico each year in a bid to reach the US.
Many of them pay smugglers, who illegally transport them in crowded and dangerous trucks on the long journey, and road accidents are common.
In July, for example, at least 29 people were killed when a bus fell into a ravine in Oaxaca.
In a separate incident in February, 17 migrants from Colombia and Venezuela were killed in an accident in Puebla.
In 2021, 56 migrants were killed when an overloaded vehicle carrying 160 people overturned on a highway in the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez in the southern state of Chiapas. The victims were primarily from Guatemala.
Related Topics
Mexico–US border
Mexico
Migration
More on this story
Migrant girl death in US custody was 'preventable'
Published
19 July
How TikTok fuels human smuggling at the US border
Published
9 July
The Texas town caught in America's border battle
Published
3 August
| 571
|
Don’t blame Eric Adams for New York’s migrant crisis
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-19-0227/immigration-dont-blame-eric-adams-new-yorks-migrant-crisis
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://unherd.com/thepost/dont-blame-eric-adams-for-new-yorks-migrant-crisis/
|
-
| 572
|
Forty-one migrants die in shipwreck off Italy
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-09-0538/world-forty-one-migrants-die-shipwreck-italy
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://bbc.com/news/world-europe-66448987
|
Forty-one migrants die in shipwreck off Lampedusa
Published
9 August
Share
Related Topics
Europe migrant crisis
IMAGE SOURCE,
SEA-WATCH
Image caption,
The four survivors were rescued after their boat capsized
By Sofia Bettiza in Rome & Robert Plummer in London
BBC News
Forty-one migrants have died in a shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa, survivors told local media.
A group of four people who survived the disaster told rescuers that they were on a boat that had set off from Sfax in Tunisia and sank on its way to Italy.
The four survivors, originally from the Ivory Coast and Guinea, reached Lampedusa on Wednesday.
More than 1,800 people have lost their lives so far this year in the crossing from North Africa to Europe.
Local public prosecutor Salvatore Vella said he had opened an investigation into the tragedy.
The survivors - a 13-year-old boy, two men and a woman - told rescuers that they were on a boat carrying 45 people, including three children.
They said the boat, which was about 7m (20ft) long, left Sfax on Thursday last week, but sank within hours after being hit by a big wave. Only 15 people are understood to have been wearing lifejackets, but this apparently failed to save their lives.
The Italian Red Cross and German charity Sea-Watch said the four managed to survive the shipwreck by floating on inner tubes and lifejackets until they found another empty boat at sea, in which they spent several days drifting before being rescued.
The four survivors arrived in Lampedusa suffering from exhaustion and shock, but the doctor who treated them, Adrian Chiaramonte, said they had only minor injuries.
"What really struck us was the story of the tragedy," he said.
"They said they had encountered a first ship, which had apparently ignored them.
"An hour later they were spotted by a helicopter, and an hour after that sighting, they were picked up by an oil tanker."
The Italian coast guard reported two shipwrecks in the area on Sunday, but it is not clear whether this vessel is one of those.
The United Nations migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said the migrants would have had little chance of survival.
"Sub-Saharan migrants [leaving from Tunisia] are forced to use these low-cost iron boats which break after 20 or 30 hours of navigation. With this kind of sea, these boats capsize easily," IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo told AFP.
Tunisian authorities say Sfax, a port city about 80 miles (130km) from Lampedusa, is a popular gateway for migrants seeking safety and a better life in Europe.
In recent days, Italian patrol boats and charity groups have rescued another 2,000 people who have arrived on Lampedusa.
Tunisia has seen a wave of racism against black Africans in recent months and attempts to leave the country by boat have increased.
How African migrants survived racist attacks in Tunisia
The fisherman who found a dead baby in his net
On a boat picking up migrants in the middle of the Med
The United Nations has registered more than 17,000 deaths and disappearances in the central Mediterranean since 2014, making it the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world.
Last month, the EU signed a $118m (£90m) deal with Tunisia in a bid to curb "irregular" migration.
The money is to be spent on efforts to stop smuggling, strengthen borders and return migrants.
Italy's far-right government has adopted a policy that forces rescue ships to dock at ports further away, rather than letting them disembark rescued migrants in Lampedusa or Sicily.
It says the aim is to spread arrivals across the country, but NGOs say the policy reduces the amount of time they can patrol areas where shipwrecks are more common.
Related Topics
Shipwrecks
Mediterranean Sea
Europe migrant crisis
Italy
Migration
More on this story
Thirteen die in Mediterranean migrant boat sinkings
Published
7 August
Tunisia and EU sign deal to tackle migration
Published
17 July
| 573
|
Migrants use system of ropes, ladder to cross border wall
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-08-0444/immigration-migrants-use-system-ropes-ladder-cross-border-wall
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/border-coverage/video-migrants-use-system-of-ropes-ladder-to-cross-border-wall/
|
-
| 574
|
Illegal Immigration Gets Less Attention When It Falls
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-03-0809/immigration-illegal-immigration-gets-less-attention-when-it-falls
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2023/08/01/illegal-immigration-gets-less-attention-when-it-falls/?sh=77c9c3146750
|
FORBESLEADERSHIPLEADERSHIP STRATEGY
Illegal Immigration Gets Less Attention When It Falls
Stuart Anderson
Senior Contributor
I write about globalization, business, technology and immigration.
Follow
Aug 1, 2023,08:06am EDT
A man embraces his wife and daughter after crossing the Rio Grande near the border between Mexico ... [+]AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Recent news coverage indicates illegal immigration gets less attention when it falls. Articles about the significant drop in illegal entry in recent months have been less noticeable than earlier stories, which often appeared on the front page when numbers on the border spiked. Some argue it’s not surprising editors may view “bad news” as more newsworthy. Still, media coverage can influence how the public perceives developments at the border.
Illegal Entry Has Declined Significantly
Border Patrol encounters at the Southwest border declined by 55% between December 2022 and June 2023. In January 2023, the Biden administration announced parole programs for up to 30,000 individuals a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the United States with a U.S. sponsor. The parole programs produced almost unprecedented effectiveness in reducing illegal entry as measured by encounters with Border Patrol agents. The policies were also more humane than alternative approaches.
After the Biden administration provided legal pathways via the new parole programs, Border Patrol encounters at the Southwest border declined by 95% for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela as a group between December 2022 and March 2023. Numbers remained low for three of the four countries through June 2023.
Border Patrol encounters for Venezuelans rose to 29,731 in April and 28,055 in May before dropping to 12,549 in June 2023. The temporary increase in Venezuelans, still lower than the 33,749 encounters in September 2022, may be due to the 30,000 monthly per country limit under the parole program and the relentless political and economic crises in Venezuela.
“More than 7.3 million Venezuelans have left their country, making them the biggest refugee group, ahead of Ukrainians and Syrians who fled their war-torn homelands,” reports the Wall Street Journal. In an interview last year, Venezuelan expert and Harvard University professor Ricardo Hausmann said, “The human rights situation in Venezuela is catastrophic, but it is catastrophic because the government has maintained itself in power despite having engineered the largest peacetime economic collapse in human history.”
MORE FROMFORBES ADVISOR
Best Travel Insurance Companies
ByAmy DaniseEditor
Best Covid-19 Travel Insurance Plans
ByAmy DaniseEditor
Experts on Latin America say it is a mistake to assume immigration enforcement policies can override the human instinct of individuals living in untenable circumstances to leave their countries and seek a better life.
Ending Title 42 And The Decline In Illegal Entry
Two National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) reports made recommendations and predicted illegal entry would decline if the Biden administration ended Title 42 and opened up more legal avenues. (See here and here.) “The best way to address illegal entry is to treat the current situation at the border as a historic refugee crisis and provide legal pathways for work and human rights protection,” according to a January 2023 report (which I authored). “Relying on Title 42 to expel migrants proved to be a costly mistake: It increased the number of encounters at the border by encouraging repeated crossings.”
On May 11, 2023, the Biden administration ended Title 42. Biden officials had continued the Trump administration’s Title 42 health restrictions that largely blocked people from applying for asylum at ports of entry. Title 42 drove up “encounter” numbers at the border because many people entered unlawfully and turned themselves in to Border Patrol agents to apply for asylum. Other individuals entered and were returned without consequences, encouraging them to try again.
In June 2023, the first full month after Title 42 ended, Border Patrol encounters for Mexicans dropped by 43%, from 59,666 in April to 33,967 in June. NFAP found the Title 42 restrictions inflated encounter numbers by approximately a half million in FY 2021 and FY 2022. Predictions that ending Title 42 would result in unprecedented waves of migrants crossing the border proved unfounded.
Some have credited the drop in illegal entry to the Biden administration’s asylum rule, which made individuals largely ineligible to apply for asylum if they crossed unlawfully or came to a port of entry and applied without an appointment via the CBP One app. However, other analysts say illegal entry declined because the Biden administration ended Title 42, allowed people to enter ports of entry to request asylum and instituted parole programs to allow lawful entry.
The asylum rule may soon be history. On July 25, 2023, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar granted the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment against the Biden administration’s asylum regulation. The rule changed the process by introducing a “rebuttable presumption of asylum ineligibility” for individuals who fail to apply for asylum at a port of entry with an appointment or enter the United States via normal immigration channels.
The decision was not surprising. As a March 22, 2023, Forbes article explained: “The proposed asylum rule must overcome a significant legal hurdle. . . . Attorneys say the proposed rule is unlawful because the law allows ‘any alien . . . whether or not at a designated port of arrival” to apply for asylum.’”
Judge Tigar ruled, “The Court concludes that the Rule is contrary to law because it presumes ineligible for asylum noncitizens who enter between ports of entry, using a manner of entry that Congress expressly intended should not affect access to asylum. The Rule is also contrary to law because it presumes ineligible for asylum noncitizens who fail to apply for protection in a transit country, despite Congress’s clear intent that such a factor should only limit access to asylum where the transit country actually presents a safe option.”
The Biden administration has appealed the ruling. While some predict the court decision on asylum will increase illegal entry, it is likely the case that will determine the legality of the administration’s parole programs represents a bigger policy threat. Eliminating such a substantial path to lawful entry would make controlling illegal entry much more difficult.
The administration will soon increase refugee processing in Latin America, a step recommended in NFAP reports. Refugee processing in Mexico could be another way to discourage illegal entry and would allow individuals to have a permanent status under U.S. law (i.e., a refugee) rather than as someone paroled into the country, which does not confer a long-term status.
The Biden administration recently boosted the daily number of asylum appointments at ports of entry and expanded the parole program. “The family reunification parole (FRP) processes are available by invitation only to a petitioner who filed an approved Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, on behalf of a principal beneficiary who is a national of Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras, and their immediate family members,” according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
News Coverage Of The Drop In Illegal Entry
Editors, not reporters, choose where a story is placed in a daily newspaper. Research has found that a “human bias toward negative news might be a large part of what drives negative news coverage,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
The day after U.S. Customs and Border Protection released the June 2023 border data showing a further significant drop in illegal entry into the United States, no stories appeared about this on the front page of the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal or USA Today. In part, this is because the reporters at the nation’s major newspapers had written stories about the border numbers declining during the prior weeks.
On July 4, 2023, the New York Times published an article on page A15 with the headline “Number of Migrants Crossing Southern Border Is Down.” The article explained many migrants came to the United States out of desperation. “Officials believe fewer migrants are crossing illegally because they are taking advantage of a more structured and safer option to ask for a chance to seek asylum, as well as new legal pathways that the Biden administration has created for certain nationalities to enter the country,” wrote Eileen Sullivan.
On July 15, 2023, the New York Times published an article quoting several economists and historians who noted a pattern in previous decades of controversy followed by immigrants making economic contributions. The story’s headline: “As Politicians Cry ‘Crisis,’ Migrants Get A Toehold.” The subhead was “Economists Say Arrivals May Result in a Boon.” The article appeared on page A11.
“Border Arrests Plunge Since End of Pandemic-Era Policy” was the headline in a Wall Street Journal article published in the print edition on June 7, 2023. “Arrests along the southern border have plummeted by approximately 70% after the expiration of Title 42 and the implementation of a new set of tougher rules for asylum seekers, the Biden administration said on Tuesday,” wrote Alicia Caldwell and Michelle Hackman. “The sudden drop in apprehensions at the border has so far defied predictions—made by Republican lawmakers and the Biden administration alike—that lifting the policy would result in an unprecedented surge of migration at the border.”
On July 12, 2023, a Washington Post article by Nick Miroff and Toluse Olorunnipa appeared online with a headline noting the “eerily quiet” U.S. border. The lengthy piece eventually appeared on the front page of the Washington Post three days later, on Saturday, July 15, 2023.
The article discussed several Biden administration’s policy changes. “The preliminary result is a nearly 70 percent drop in illegal entries since early May, according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection data,” wrote Miroff and Olorunnipa. “After two years of record crossings and crisis-level strains, the Biden administration appears to have better control over the southern border than at any point since early 2021.”
The focus on border numbers is likely to continue in the coming months. The historic refugee crisis that has driven so many people from their homes due to violence, political upheaval and economic dislocation means there is no guarantee the numbers will remain at their current levels. Therefore, more attention may be needed on why people leave their countries and how best to treat them humanely.
Follow me on Twitter. Check out my website.
Stuart Anderson
Follow
I am the executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, a... Read More
Editorial Standards
Reprints & Permissions
| 575
|
DHS head defends administration’s post-Title 42 asylum ban rules
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-26-1445/immigration-dhs-head-defends-administration-s-post-title-42-asylum-ban-rules
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://www.borderreport.com/immigration/dhs-head-defends-administrations-post-title-42-asylum-ban-rules/
|
-
| 576
|
Texas Governor Defies Biden Administration Request to Remove Floating Border Barriers
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-24-0924/immigration-texas-governor-defies-biden-administration-request-remove-floating
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://themessenger.com/politics/texas-governor-defies-biden-administration-request-to-remove-floating-border-barriers
|
TRENDING NOW | Previously Undiscovered Virus Found at Bottom of Pacific Ocean
Texas Governor Defies Biden Administration Request to Remove Floating Border Barriers
'Texas will see you in court, Mr. President,' Republican Gov. Greg Abbott wrote in a letter to Biden
Published |Updated
Mariana Labbate
JWPlayer
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is refusing to remove floating barriers from the Rio Grande River after the Department of Justice threatened legal action.
Abbott, a Republican, sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Monday defending the state's "right to defend its borders."
"Texas will fully utilize its constitutional authority to deal with the crisis you have caused," Abbott wrote. "Texas will see you in court, Mr. President.”
Texas Governor Greg AbbottBrandon Bell/Getty Images
Abbott's administration place barbed wire and large anchored buoys to prevent migrants from crossing the Rio Grande, prompting the lawsuit threat from the DOJ.
Abbott cites previous three letters he sent Biden about the issue since 2022.
"To end the risk that migrants will be harmed crossing the border illegally, you must fully enforce the laws of the United States that prohibit illegal immigration between ports of entry," the Texas governor said.
Read More
Biden Administration Asks Court to Order Texas to Remove Floating Barriers
Texas Must Remove Inflatable Border Barriers in Rio Grande River in 9 Days, Judge Orders
Texas Governor’s Floating Border Barrier Sees Little Impact in Number of Arrivals
DOJ Asks Judge to Order Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to Remove Illegal Floating Barrier from Rio Grande
Justice Department Sues Texas Over Floating Barriers in Rio Grande
Mexican President Blasts ‘Inhumane’ Floating Rio Grande Border Barrier After Bodies Found
Read nextDomino’s to Add Pepperoni Stuffed Cheesy Bread to Menu
THE MESSENGER MORNING NEWSLETTER
Essential news, exclusive reporting and expert analysis delivered right to you. All for free.
Sign Up
By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.
More Politics.
POLITICS
Republican-Controlled House Triages Its Gasping Patient: the Government
NEWS
BYU Reinstates Formal Ban on ‘Same-Sex Romantic Behavior’ in Honor Code
POLITICS
DeSantis Collapses in New Hampshire as Backers Beg: ‘Get Your Ass Up Here’
POLITICS
Biden Answers Calls From Gen Z With Moves on Climate, Guns
POLITICS
Trump Vows to Reimpose Travel Bans, Send Troops to the Border
POLITICS
Ray Epps’ Lawyer Swings at Fox News Over Jan. 6 Conspiracy Theory Coverage After Client Pleads Guilty
POLITICS
Trump Dominates, DeSantis Plummets in New Hampshire Primary Poll
POLITICS
Senate Confirms New Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman After Months-long GOP Blockade
POLITICS
Hunter Biden Must Appear in Person at US Court Arraignment on Gun Charges, Judge Rules
POLITICS
Kari Lake Expected To Announce Senate Bid in Arizona as Early as Next Month
POLITICS
Government Shutdown 2023: Everything You Need to Know If Congress Fails To Make a Spending Deal
POLITICS
Pro-Trump Lawyer Lin Wood Says He ‘Didn’t Flip’ on Former President in Georgia
| 577
|
DOJ says it will sue Texas over buoy wall barrier in Rio Grande
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-21-1014/immigration-doj-says-it-will-sue-texas-over-buoy-wall-barrier-rio-grande
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/doj-abbott-border-buoys-18253897.php
|
-
| 578
|
'We have no more room,' NYC mayor Eric Adams warns migrants
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-20-1223/immigration-we-have-no-more-room-nyc-mayor-eric-adams-warns-migrants
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66259075
|
'We have no more room,' NYC mayor Eric Adams warns migrants
Published
20 July
Share
Media caption,
Watch: New York struggles to keep up with migrant influx
By Madeline Halpert
BBC News, New York
New York City plans to distribute fliers at the southern border warning migrants there is "no guarantee" they will receive help if they come there.
Mayor Eric Adams announced the plan on Wednesday, arguing the city could not handle any more migrants as it has taken in 90,000 since April last year.
"We have no more room," said the leader of America's biggest city.
Republican-led states have been transporting migrants to Democratic-run areas in protest at border policies.
A copy of the flier tells migrants: "Please consider another city as you make your decision about where to settle in the US."
It warns - in English and in Spanish - that the cost of food, transportation and other necessities in New York are expensive and says the city cannot guarantee housing and other social services for new arrivals.
The city of 8.3 million people said in a statement that it was "at capacity".
As a part of the plan, Mr Adams, a Democrat, also announced that single adult migrants will only be able to stay in the city's shelters for 60 days and will need to reapply for a space after that.
Mr Adams told a news conference the city would try to help migrants find housing with relatives and friends.
The mayor blamed the federal and state government for not providing enough aid for the city to offer housing and other social services for new arrivals.
"We cannot continue to absorb tens of thousands of newcomers on our own without the help of the state and federal government," he said.
A record 105,800 people are living in New York's shelters at the moment, including over 54,000 asylum seekers, says the city.
Migrant protest at NY hotel highlights growing issue
'Surprise' in Canada as NYC buses migrants to border
Critics of Mr Adams' new plan argue it violates the city's right-to-shelter rules, which guarantee temporary housing for those in need. Mr Adams has attempted to weaken those rules amid the influx of migrants.
In a statement on Twitter, the American Civil Liberties Union of New York called the mayor's new plan "cruel" and "unlawful".
It "flies in the face of New Yorkers' values of compassion and care", the organisation said.
In recent months, Mr Adams has taken a number of steps to try to limit new migrant arrivals.
In May, he announced he would send willing migrants to nearby counties outside of the city, sparking a backlash from some local New York officials.
The Republican-led states transporting migrants by bus to Democratic-run jurisdictions have focused on self-proclaimed "sanctuary" cities that limit their co-operation with federal immigration authorities.
They have also said the measure is designed to increase pressure on President Joe Biden, a Democrat, to do more to reduce the number of migrants crossing the southern US border.
Related Topics
Mexico–US border
New York
More on this story
New York declares emergency on migrant 'crisis'
Published
8 October 2022
New York City struggles with migrant influx. Video, 00:01:41
New York City struggles with migrant influx
Published
28 February
1:41
| 579
|
America struggles with protecting unaccompanied minors at border
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-19-1257/immigration-america-struggles-protecting-unaccompanied-minors-border
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/border-coverage/unaccompanied-migrant-children-labor-trafficking/
|
-
| 580
|
US employers relying on foreign work visas to fill jobs
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-11-0642/economy-and-jobs-us-employers-relying-foreign-work-visas-fill-jobs
|
Immigration
|
centers
|
https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/your-money/us-employers-relying-on-h-2b-h-2a-visas-to-fill-jobs/
|
-
| 581
|
San Francisco mayor slams 'homeless coalition' after court blocks ability to clear homeless encampments
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-25-0628/housing-and-homelessness-san-francisco-mayor-slams-homeless-coalition-after
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/san-francisco-mayor-homeless-coalition
|
San Francisco Mayor London Breed slammed the "homeless coalition" after a court blocked the city's ability to clear homeless encampments.
Breed made the remarks outside the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals as a large crowd urged it to cancel a court order to bar the clearing of homeless encampments in the city, Fox News reported . The mayor of the city, which suffers from a significant homelessness crisis, extolled the city's efforts to assist the homeless, but she said that the "homeless coalition" is holding the city "hostage."
UP FOR DEBATE: WHERE TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND REST OF REPUBLICAN 2024 FIELD STAND ON KEY ISSUES
San Francisco Mayor London Breed waves after speaking at a rare outdoor meeting of the Board of Supervisors at UN Plaza in San Francisco, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Mayor Breed attempted to answer questions from supervisors demanding her administration do more to shut down open-air drug dealing, but the meeting had to be moved indoors to City Hall because of disruptions. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Eric Risberg/AP
"The homeless coalition has held San Francisco hostage for decades. It is time for their reign to end," Breed declared.
She has also argued that it is inhumane to allow the camps to remain with unsanitary conditions. Used needles, rotting food, and human waste are scattered throughout the encampments.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
However, homeless advocates argue that it would be inhumane to remove the encampments while the number of homeless people outnumbers the total number of beds in homeless shelters.
"There are 3,000 shelter beds in the city for 7,000 or more unhoused people who are sleeping outside every night because they have no choice in the matter," Zal Shroff, interim legal director at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, said Wednesday.
| 582
|
US launches program to provide more Native American homes electricity
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-18-0348/federal-state-and-tribal-powers-us-launches-program-provide-more-native
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-launches-program-provide-more-native-american-homes-electricity
|
SOUTHWEST
US launches program to provide more Native American homes electricity
The reported 17,000 tribal homes that don’t have power in the US will need to apply for the $72.5 million program
Associated Press
Published August 16, 2023 9:43am EDT
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
Print
Email
Video
Fox News Flash top headlines for August 15
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.
The U.S. Interior Department on Tuesday unveiled a new program to bring electricity to more homes in Native American communities as the Biden administration looks to funnel more money toward climate and renewable energy projects.
The program will be funded by an initial $72.5 million. In all, federal officials said $150 million is being invested from the Inflation Reduction Act to support the electrification of homes in tribal communities, many of which have seen mixed success over the decades as officials have tried to address the lack of adequate infrastructure in remote areas.
In 2022, the U.S. Energy Department's Office of Indian Energy issued a report citing that nearly 17,000 tribal homes were without electricity, with most being in southwestern states and in Alaska. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland testified before Congress earlier this year that 1 in 5 homes on the Navajo Nation and more than one-third of homes on the neighboring Hopi reservation are without electricity.
BIDEN ADMIN BEGINS ENFORCING NATIONWIDE LIGHTBULB BANS
Newland described Tuesday's announcement as a historic investment to fund long-overdue needs in tribal communities.
"It will have a fundamental and significant impact on businesses, communities and families," he said in a statement.
Tribes will have to apply for the funding — and federal officials will choose projects based on need, readiness, risks of climate change impacts, new job opportunities and other factors.
Jayden Long starts the generator behind his Kaibeto home on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona on May 8, 2019. According to a 2022 report, thousands of homes among U.S. tribal communities don’t have electricity. (AP Photo/Jake Bacon, File)
The program will provide financial and technical assistance to tribes to connect homes to transmission and distribution that is powered by renewable energy. Funding can also be used to transition electrified homes in tribal communities to zero-emissions energy systems and to cover the costs of repairs, as well as retrofitting that is necessary to install the new systems.
Newland had previously estimated that it will cost roughly $70,000 per home to deliver electricity to areas that are not already on or immediately near a power grid, or wired for electricity.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Energy experts have said that the work could require developing micro-grids or installing solar panels so residents can power refrigerators, and charge up cellphones and laptops. The Energy Department earlier this year said it would tap tribal colleges and universities to help build out an renewable energy economy in Indian Country that could support the work.
The Interior Department consulted with tribes late last year as officials developed the new program. The plan is to award the funding during two rounds by the end of 2024.
| 583
|
Declaring a 'Right' to Housing Won't Solve Homelessness
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-14-0703/housing-and-homelessness-declaring-right-housing-wont-solve-homelessness
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://reason.com/2023/07/14/declaring-a-right-to-housing-wont-solve-homelessness/
|
HOUSING POLICY
Declaring a 'Right' to Housing Won't Solve Homelessness
Instead, try making it easier to build more housing!
STEVEN GREENHUT | 7.14.2023 8:00 AM
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Reddit
Share by email
Print friendly version
Copy page URL
(Photo by Naomi August on Unsplash)
Several California Assembly members this year introduced a constitutional amendment that declares housing a Who knew? Lawmakers have wrestled with innumerable complex issues over the years, but finally someone realized that all they needed to do to magically solve any problem is to pass a new "right" to something.
| 584
|
DeSantis Signs Legislation Eliminating Diversity, Equity And Inclusion In Higher Education
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-15-0959/education-desantis-signs-legislation-eliminating-diversity-equity-and-inclusion
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://dailycaller.com/2023/05/15/ron-desantis-signs-legislation-eliminating-dei-higher-education/
| 585
|
|
Colleges expand 'segregated' graduation events
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-05-1158/education-colleges-expand-segregated-graduation-events
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/may/5/colleges-expand-segregated-graduation-events/
|
-
| 586
|
The Push To Eliminate Fossil Fuels Is Hurting Poor People
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-04-20-0753/climate-change-push-eliminate-fossil-fuels-hurting-poor-people
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://reason.com/2023/04/19/the-push-to-eliminate-fossil-fuels-is-hurting-poor-people/
|
FOSSIL FUELS
The Push To Eliminate Fossil Fuels Is Hurting Poor People
"When we look at solar and wind around the world, it always correlates to rising prices and declining reliability."
JOHN STOSSEL | 4.19.2023 3:40 PM
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Reddit
Share by email
Print friendly version
Copy page URL
(Stossel TV)
| 587
|
Biden signs 'racial equity' order requiring federal agencies to build 'equity action plan'
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-02-16-1559/joe-biden-biden-signs-racial-equity-order-requiring-federal-agencies-build
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-signs-racial-equity-order-requiring-federal-agencies-build-equity-action-plan
|
DIVERSITY
Biden signs 'racial equity' order requiring federal agencies to build 'equity action plan'
Agencies must boost their presence in 'underserved communities'
By Peter Kasperowicz Fox News
Published February 16, 2023 5:36pm EST
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
Print
Email
Video
Biden snaps at question about his family's business relationships: 'Give me a break, man'
President Biden didn't take kindly to some questions after his remarks about taking down flying objects on Thursday.
President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order that directs all federal agencies to produce an annual "equity action plan" aimed at removing barriers to agency resources for "underserved communities."
The move follows Biden’s 2021 executive order, "Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government," which asked agencies to launch a "whole-of-government approach to equity." That order has already directed billions of dollars in federal resources to "disadvantaged" communities since it was signed.
‘WHITE’ FEDERAL WORKERS WOULD NO LONGER INCLUDE MIDDLE EASTERN, NORTH AFRICAN HERITAGE UNDER NEW BIDEN PLAN
President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order to advance racial equity in the U.S. (AP/Patrick Semansky)
Biden’s new order, "Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government," is aimed at building on that progress, and the White House said more still needs to be done.
"Despite the meaningful progress that the Biden-Harris Administration has made, the reality is that underserved communities — many of whom have endured generations of discrimination and disinvestment — still confront unacceptable barriers to equal opportunity and the American Dream," the White House said in a statement. "It is imperative that we reject the narrow, cramped view of American opportunity as a zero-sum game."
The new order asks agencies to create annual plans that explain what steps they’ll take to "address the barriers underserved communities may face in accessing and benefiting from the agency’s policies …"
PENTAGON PROMOTES CRITICAL RACE THEORY, GENDER IDENTITY ‘INSANITY’: GOP REPORT
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images | Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
It calls on federal agencies to build "agency equity teams" and create senior leadership positions that will be held accountable for carrying out the order. Those teams will be involved in carrying out another requirement to improve efforts to reach out to "impacted communities."
The order instructs the Office of Management and Budget to support the implementation of these efforts by reserving money in the budget, which the Biden administration has yet to deliver this year despite an early February deadline required by law.
HOUSE VOTES TO SHIELD FEDERAL WORKERS FROM TRUMP 2.0 ‘DRAIN THE SWAMP’ PLAN
President Biden speaks during his State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 7, 2023. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Also related to funding, the order says 50% of federal contracting dollars at federal agencies should be awarded to "small disadvantaged businesses." It also includes new instructions on how agencies should deal with "emerging civil rights risks."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"The Executive Order instructs agencies to focus their civil rights authorities and offices on emerging threats, such as algorithmic discrimination in automated technology; improve accessibility for people with disabilities; improve language access services; and consider opportunities to bolster the capacity of their civil rights offices," the White House said. "It further directs agencies to ensure that their own use of artificial intelligence and automated systems also advances equity."
Pete Kasperowicz is a politics editor at Fox News Digital.
| 588
|
Joe Manchin traveling to World Economic Forum in Davos as part of US delegation
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-01-16-1354/inequality-joe-manchin-traveling-world-economic-forum-davos-part-us-delegation
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/manchin-among-u-s-delegation-to-wef-in-davos
|
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Joe Manchin traveling to World Economic Forum in Davos as part of US delegation
by Jack Birle, Breaking News Reporter
January 16, 2023 12:53 PM
Latest
Social Security update: Direct payment worth $914 arrives in eight days
By: Misty Severi
Social Security update: Third round of direct payments worth up to $4,555 to arrive in six days
By: Misty Severi
Recent polls reveal potential ominous signs for Biden’s reelection campaign
By: Christopher Tremoglie
Videos
Merrick Garland hearing: Six takeaways on Hunter Biden investigation
Merrick Garland hearing: Texas representative grilled Garland over whether his department was still targeting parents
WATCH: Dusty Johnson on the farm bill: 'Farmers will fight you if you do anything to damage their land'
Fed holds interest rates steady amid recent upswing in inflation
Newsletters
Sign up now to get the Washington Examiner’s breaking news and timely commentary delivered right to your inbox.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is among the U.S. delegation making its way to Davos, Switzerland, for the annual World Economic Forum.
The meeting of dozens of heads of state and hundreds of government ministers has the theme "Cooperation in a Fragmented World," stressing working together as reduced economic development affects countries amid the coronavirus pandemic and war in Ukraine.
SENATE 2024: HERE ARE THE EIGHT SEATS MOST LIKELY TO FLIP CONTROL
The delegation being sent by the U.S. government includes Cabinet members, senators, and House representatives, according to a release by the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
The members of President Joe Biden's Cabinet making the trip to Davos include Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, FBI Director Christopher Wray, U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power, and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.
People gather in the Davos Congress Center prior to the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is taking place in Davos from Jan. 16 until Jan. 20, 2023.
Markus Schreiber/AP
Members of Congress attending the forum include Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Joe Manchin (D-WV), along with Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Maria Salazar (R-FL), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), and Juan Vargas (D-CA).
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) was invited to be part of the delegation but will not be attending, a spokesperson for the congressman told the Washington Examiner.
Other notable attendees to the forum include BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, among other world leaders and business executives.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The WEF, which will end on Jan. 20, has been criticized for being a meeting of elites who are out of touch, with the key examples critics pointing to being calls at previous meetings to cut emissions while several attendees take private jets to Davos.
World Economic Forum Davos Joe Manchin News Switzerland
Share your thoughts with friends.
| 589
|
Democrats seek reparations, ‘national apology’ for slavery: ‘We are moving closer’
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-01-12-0840/inequality-democrats-seek-reparations-national-apology-slavery-we-are-moving
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-seek-reparations-national-apology-slavery-we-are-moving-closer
|
DEMOCRATS
Democrats seek reparations, ‘national apology’ for slavery: ‘We are moving closer’
The bill makes no recommendation on what kind of payment should be offered or how a national apology would be issued
By Peter Kasperowicz Fox News
Published January 12, 2023 9:36am EST
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
Print
Email
Video
Tucker: Democrats panic over new House GOP committee
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, discusses the need for accountability to the American taxpayers and why they deserve government transparency over how their money is being spent, on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'
Dozens of House Democrats this week renewed their push for reparations and a national apology for slavery by reintroducing legislation that would set up a commission to consider these steps as way to address the "cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery" in the U.S.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and 52 House Democrats proposed the legislation this week in an effort to keep the issue alive. Her legislation, which was considered by the House Judiciary Committee in the last Congress when Democrats were in charge, is unlikely to taken up in the 118th Congress led by Republicans.
Still, Jackson Lee said she is hopeful a commission can be formed not just to recommend monetary compensation, but to help America understand how slavery still affects the country today.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND SETS ASIDE £100M TO ‘ADDRESS PAST WRONGS’ OVER SLAVERY
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, R-Texas, re-upped legislation this week to create a commission to examine slavery and reparations. (AP)
"Though some have tried to deflect the importance of these conversations by focusing on individual monetary compensation, the real issue is whether and how this nation can come to grips with the legacy of slavery that still infects current society," she said. "Through legislation, resolutions, news and litigation, we are moving closer to making more strides in the movement toward reparations."
The new House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, said in November he supports the idea of a commission because of the lingering effects of slavery and ongoing discrimination against Black Americans.
"We’re not going to move on because after slavery, [there was] Jim Crow and the rise of the KKK," Jeffries said in 2021. "And the lynching epidemic. And Plessy v. Ferguson. And Black Wall Street in 1921 destroyed."
Jackson Lee said that while progress has been made, including through the election of a Black president, "the legacy of slavery lingers heavily in this nation." She said monetary compensation needs to be part of the discussion because slavery created an economic impact on Black Americans that can still be felt today.
DEMOCRATS PRESSURE BANKS TO ATONE FOR SLAVERY-ERA ACTIVITIES TO ‘REDRESS PAST WRONGS’
Legislation on reparations advanced in the Democrat-led House in the last Congress, but is unlikely to move in the GOP-led House. (Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"These economic issues are the root cause of many critical issues in the African American community today, such as education, healthcare and criminal justice policy, including policing practices," she said. "The call for reparations represents a commitment to entering a constructive dialogue on the role of slavery and racism in shaping present-day conditions in our community and American society."
The bill makes no recommendation on what kind of payment and should be offered or how a national apology would be issued but leaves it to the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans. Aside from examining the ways the federal government promoted slavery, the commission would examine the "lingering negative effects of the institution of slavery . . . on living African Americans."
The commission would examine how to provide "full reparations" for slavery, who would be eligible for compensation, how the federal government would offer a "formal apology" for slavery, and how to eliminate those lingering effects of slavery.
HAKEEM JEFFRIES, PELOSI'S LIKELY REPLACEMENT, SUPPORTS COMMISSION TO STUDY SLAVERY REPARATIONS
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, says a commission is needed not just to recommend monetary compensation, but to help American "come to grips" with the legacy of slavery. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Jackson Lee noted that the legislation was first developed by former House Member John Conyers of Michigan in 1989, and the idea has been offered in the years since he first proposed it. She said the bill is more relevant than ever given what she called the "over-criminalization and policing of black bodies."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"The principal problem of slavery continues to weigh heavily on this country," she said. "A federal commission can help us reach into this dark past and bring us into a brighter future."
Pete Kasperowicz is a politics editor at Fox News Digital.
| 590
|
Biden Administration Approves Washington’s Plan To Subsidize Illegal Immigrants’ Healthcare
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2022-12-12-1343/healthcare-biden-administration-approves-washington-s-plan-subsidize-illegal
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/12/biden-administration-obamacare-section-1332-illegal-immigrants-healthcare/
| 591
|
|
Eric Adams' Plan To Involuntarily Hospitalize Mentally Ill Homeless People Will Face Legal Challenges
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2022-12-02-1006/civil-rights-eric-adams-plan-involuntarily-hospitalize-mentally-ill-homeless
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://reason.com/2022/11/30/eric-adams-plan-to-involuntarily-hospitalize-mentally-ill-homeless-people-will-face-legal-challenges/
|
CIVIL LIBERTIES
Eric Adams' Plan To Involuntarily Hospitalize Mentally Ill Homeless People Will Face Legal Challenges
Civil liberties groups say Adams' plan violates constitutional rights protecting people with mental illness from being confined against their will simply for existing.
C.J. CIARAMELLA | 11.30.2022 4:10 PM
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Reddit
Share by email
Print friendly version
Copy page URL
| 592
|
Americans Now Need A Six-Figure Salary To Afford A Median-Priced Home
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2022-11-28-1007/economy-and-jobs-americans-now-need-six-figure-salary-afford-median-priced-home
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://www.dailywire.com/news/americans-now-need-a-six-figure-salary-to-afford-a-median-priced-home
|
— NEWS —
Americans Now Need A Six-Figure Salary To Afford A Median-Priced Home
By Ben Zeisloft
•
Nov 28, 2022 DailyWire.com
•
Facebook
Twitter
Mail
David Jay Zimmerman via Getty Images
Homebuyers in the United States must earn six-figure salaries in order to afford a median-priced home, according to an analysis from real estate brokerage Redfin.
As housing prices remain elevated and the monthly mortgage payment on the typical home surges more than 45% since the same time last year to reach $2,682, the annual salary required to afford such a property has increased from $73,668 to $107,281. Average hourly wages have nominally increased 5% over the same period as inflation continues to erode consumer purchasing power.
“High rates are making buyers rethink their priorities, as many of them can no longer afford the home they want in the location they want,” Redfin Agent Chelsea Traylor, who works in Washington, D.C., commented. “If you had a $900,000 budget a few months ago, rising rates mean it’s now around $700,000 — and sellers aren’t dropping their prices enough to make up for the change. So buyers are searching further away from the city in more affordable areas.”
Four of the five metropolitan areas with the most rapid increase in annual income required to afford a median-priced home are located in the state of Florida. Buyers in the city of North Port must earn $131,535 to afford a $3,288 monthly payment, while those in Miami, Tampa, and Cape Coral must likewise collect six-figure salaries.
Meanwhile, the five metropolitan areas requiring the highest income are all in California, with buyers in San Francisco needing a $402,821 salary to afford a $10,071 monthly payment. A previous report from the National Association of Home Builders likewise found that all of the least affordable real estate markets in the country are in the Golden State.
Florida saw the nation’s largest net domestic migration between July 2020 and July 2021, with more than 220,000 people moving to the state, according to data from the Census Bureau. Florida was followed by Texas and Arizona, while New York, California, and Illinois led the nation in terms of population decline.
Traylor remarked that some buyers are waiting for prices or rates to decrease before they purchase a home. “I’m encouraging buyers to think long term,” she continued. “Prices are unlikely to fall drastically in the long run, so buying a home now — if you can afford the monthly payment — will still help you build wealth over time, especially if you plan to live in it for several years. Even though rates are high, another advantage of buying now is the lack of competition and opportunity to negotiate with sellers.”
As of one year ago, homebuyers only needed six-figure salaries to afford a median-priced home in 16 metropolitan areas considered by Redfin. Today, however, such conditions exist in 45 cities.
Recent declines in housing affordability occur as mortgage rates witness one of the largest sustained increases in decades. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate remained below 3% for much of the past two years, according to data from government-backed mortgage company Freddie Mac. The rate surged from approximately 3% earlier this year to more than 7% earlier this month, with most of the increases occurring after the Federal Reserve hiked target interest rates at four consecutive 0.75% increments.
Read more in:
California,Economy,Florida,Housing,Inflation,Real estate,U.S.
Facebook
Twitter
Mail
Around The Web
Anyone With Arthritis Should Watch This (Big Pharma Companies Hate This!)
The Daily Survivor
Anyone with Diabetes Should Watch This (What They Don't Tell You)
Control Sugar Levels
Enter the Intergalactic War
XCraft
Ringing In The Ears? Do This Immediately (Watch)
The Daily Survivor
Doctor Discovers Natural Remedy for Constant Ear Ringing (Watch)
Healthier Living Tips
The 50 Most Romantic Hotels in the World for 2023
Best Hotel
Drink This Before Bed, Watch Your Body Fat Melt Like Crazy! (Video)
Healthier Living Tips
The 20 Most Luxurious Hotels Collection Across the Globe
Hotel
Take on a Challenge: Make Pasta Al Limone at Home
Up Next
Recommended for you
Create a free account to join the conversation!
Start Commenting
Hotwire
Our Most Important Stories Right Now
| 593
|
Poor Grapple With Inflation as Rich Spend This Holiday Season
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2022-11-25-1235/inequality-poor-grapple-inflation-rich-spend-holiday-season
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/economy-federal-reserve-inflation/2022/11/25/id/1097934/
|
-
| 594
|
Blue Vs. Red: Income Inequality Far Worse In Dem-Run States, New Census Data Shows
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2022-10-11-1119/inequality-blue-vs-red-income-inequality-far-worse-dem-run-states-new-census
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://www.dailywire.com/news/blue-states-have-worse-inequality-than-red-ones-new-census-data-shows
|
— INVESTIGATION —
Blue Vs. Red: Income Inequality Far Worse In Dem-Run States, New Census Data Shows
By Luke Rosiak
•
Oct 11, 2022 DailyWire.com
•
Facebook
Twitter
Mail
Daily Wire
The more liberal a state is, the more likely it is to be home to income inequality, according to a Daily Wire analysis of newly-released Census data.
New York, Connecticut, and California had the biggest gulf between rich and poor, according to a Census Bureau yardstick called the Gini Index that measures how far an area is from “perfect equality (where everyone receives an equal share).” Utah, Indiana, and South Dakota had the least inequality. The Census Bureau’s detailed annual population study, the American Community Survey, was released September 15, and covered 2021.
Although liberals prioritize reducing the “gaps” between people — known more recently as promoting “equity” — a statistical regression shows that the more liberal a state is, the more likely it is to have inequality.
“This shows that all of the things that [Democrats] complain about actually come from Democrat policies,” said David Gordon, a conservative political consultant. “When they complain about poor outcomes for blacks, for example, that is primarily in the areas where they have governed for generations, to catastrophic effect.”
The Daily Wire focused on the 10 most-liberal and 10 most-conservative states by selecting those where one party controlled the legislature and governor’s mansion, and ordering them by the share of state legislature seats controlled by that party. Hawaii was the most liberal state, with 93% Democrats in its legislature, but it was excluded because it is not part of the mainland and is subject to unique economic forces.
That left Rhode Island, with an 87%-Democrat legislature, as the most Democratic state, followed by California, New York, and Delaware. The most conservative state was South Dakota, with a 90%-Republican legislature, followed by Wyoming, North Dakota, and Idaho.
The stratification of blue states compared to red ones is also evident in other measures, including race. When it comes to median income, Rhode Island, New York, and Connecticut had the largest gap between whites and Hispanics. Six of the 10 blue states had larger gaps between foreign-born residents and whites than every red state.
In California, the average foreign-born resident made only a third of what native-born Californians earned. By contrast, in Idaho, the average black resident made 85% as much as the average white person, the closest thing to racial equity of any state. In Indiana, Hispanics made close to 90% as much as whites.
Conservative states feel less poverty
Popularly-repeated statistics that show red states as being more impoverished – and the Census’s main poverty measure does show that – are highly misleading because the Census does not adjust for an area’s cost-of-living, and instead sets a uniform dollar amount as the poverty line for every family of a given size. This makes it next to useless, given the housing, food and other costs in an area like New York City compared to an area like rural Alabama.
The Census Bureau has another metric, called the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which partially addresses this problem. It adjusts for the cost of housing in an area, but not for other localized items. It also counts welfare benefits as income. By this measure, conservative states have less poverty than blue states. The four states with the lowest poverty are also the four most-conservative states in the country. And California, the second-most-liberal state, has by far the highest poverty rate, at more than 18%.
Quality of life
What matters more than the total amount of one’s income is the lifestyle it affords.
Median incomes are higher in blue states, but so are rent and home price. Overall, blue-staters spent a larger portion of their household income on housing. Almost no one in red states spent more than $3,000 a month on housing, while it is not uncommon in blue states. Except for Utah and New Mexico, every blue state had higher housing costs than every red state. Blue-staters also paid up to six times more in real estate taxes.
Families of every race in conservative states are more likely than their blue-state counterparts to own their homes rather than rent, and they are also more likely to have more rooms in their home.
Conservative-state residents also own more vehicles and are less likely to have long commutes.
The crunch for housing in blue states, which is driven up by having more people than available homes, may be explained partly by blue states’ load of immigrants. There is a close correlation between how many immigrants there are in a state, and how hard it is for Americans to afford a home there.
“It’s basic economics. We’re raising the demand for housing without raising the supply,” said Gordon.
Education
Despite liberals’ professed support of the public school system, and the Democrat Party’s close relationship with teachers unions, the more liberal a state, the more likely parents are to send their kids to private school rather than public schools. Rhode Island and New York, two of the three most-liberal states, topped the list at more than 26%.
The unequal nature of blue states was also visible in education. Every blue state had higher shares of people with graduate degrees than every red state. But blue states also had some of the highest shares of people who did not even graduate high school.
Family
Blue-state denizens are more likely to never marry, and more likely to be cohabitating with a significant other rather than married. Among children, more are adopted in red states. However, divorce rates are similar among both groups.
When people in liberal states do marry, it comes later in life. In every liberal state, the median marriage age for men was higher than every conservative state. It was about 32 in New York and California compared to 27 in Utah.
Best and worst
Among the most conservative states in America, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota excelled by most measures (and also were the most conservative of red states), while Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Indiana often lagged in social indicators.
The data also highlight how New Mexico – the seventh-most-liberal state based on composition of its state legislature – has emerged as, by many measures, one of the most-troubled states in the union. It eclipses West Virginia for the highest percentage of residents on welfare. It also has the highest percent of residents below the poverty line.
It had the second-highest portion of residents who lack a high school diploma, and by far the lowest median income for foreign-born residents of any state.
Read more in:
Census Bureau,Economy,Equity,Housing,Marriage,Poverty,Red States
Facebook
Twitter
Mail
Around The Web
Learn to Operate Space
XCraft
Anyone with Diabetes Should Watch This (What They Don't Tell You)
Control Sugar Levels
Anyone With Arthritis Should Watch This (They Hide This From You)
The Daily Survivor
Tinnitus? Do This Immediately (Watch)
The Daily Survivor
Drink This Before Bed, Watch Your Body Fat Melt Like Crazy! (Video)
Healthier Living Tips
The 50 Most Romantic Hotels in the World for 2023
Best Hotel
Doctor Discovers Natural Remedy for Constant Ear Ringing (Watch)
Healthier Living Tips
The 20 Most Luxurious Hotels Collection Across the Globe
Hotel
The Close Relationship Between Stress and Sleep
Up Next
Recommended for you
Create a free account to join the conversation!
Start Commenting
Hotwire
Our Most Important Stories Right Now
| 595
|
As Americans Continue To Suffer, One Industry Is Raking In Massive Profits: DC Lobbyists
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2022-07-22-0924/americans-continue-suffer-one-industry-raking-massive-profits-dc-lobbyists
|
Inequality
|
rights
|
https://dailycaller.com/2022/07/22/lobbyists-k-street-dc-inflation-profits/
| 596
|
|
CEOs promised a new era. Little has changed.
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-07-1436/business-ceos-promised-new-era-little-has-changed
|
Inequality
|
lefts
|
https://www.semafor.com/article/09/07/2023/ceos-promised-a-new-era-little-has-changed
|
Sign up for Semafor Business: The stories (& the scoops) from Wall Street. Read it now.
In this article:
Little has changed four years after the CEOs of America’s biggest companies promised a more egalitarian approach to business, according to a Semafor analysis of corporate filings.
The splashy 2019 commitment from the Business Roundtable and its 181 CEO signatories redefined the “purpose of a corporation” as more than just a blind pursuit of profits.
Yet corporate spoils are still shared overwhelmingly with shareholders, not employees. While executive compensation wasn’t specifically called out in the pledge, CEO pay has continued to soar, outpacing raises handed out to hourly workers, less out of generosity than a post-pandemic scramble to hire workers.
In 2018, the year before the BRT made its commitments, the average CEO made about 140 times what his or her average worker took home. Last year, that ratio was 186 to 1.
Among the BRT’s 20 largest firms, CEO pay has risen from 324 times that of the median worker in 2018 to 441 times in 2022.
Twelve of them spent more of their free cash flow last year buying back stock than they did five years ago. Six, including Exxon, Procter & Gamble, and Coca-Cola, spent less on physical investments and technology in 2022 than in 2018, despite soaring profits. Six now have lower ESG scores from S&P Global than when they signed the BRT statement.
The Business Roundtable meets next week in Washington with a more earthly agenda as corporate bosses worry about rising tensions with China, push for reforming the permitting process for big infrastructure projects, and lobby for retaining expiring tax benefits.
I think CEOs mostly meant it in 2019. Their failure to follow through says a lot about the cold wind that’s swept in the past two years through a business community that is desperate to drop the do-gooderism, quit getting yelled at by Vivek Ramaswamy, and get back to business.
Larry Fink has dialed back the ESG talk after becoming a target of conservatives. Salesforce ditched its “wellness culture” for one of “high performance,” and CEO Marc Benioff has stopped touting his liberal politics. At Davos this year, executives were largely absent from the conference’s virtue-signaling, Ukraine-toasting, turnip-juice-guzzling mainstage, packing their schedules instead with client meetings in cloistered hotel suites.
Marc Pritchard, Procter & Gamble’s chief brand officer, said last year that companies have “gone a bit too far into the good” at the expense of growth, and entrants at this summer’s Cannes Lions advertising awards were advised by one juror to dial down the politics and focus on “selling shit.”
A development that feels closely related: Nearly a third of those who joined companies in diversity-related roles after the 2020 death of George Floyd — which spurred a flood of statements and new goals from big companies — have already left, according to Live Data Technologies, which tracks employment trends.
The corporate softening of the 2010s, when CEOs set diversity goals and shared dog photos on Instagram, feels like a relic. It was hustled along by the #MeToo movement and hit a gauzy peak during 2020, with the pandemic and widespread racial-justice protests. A wave of anti-Asian violence and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were also morally unambiguous issues on which to take a stand.
But today’s questions are more deeply divisive — see: Bud Light boycott— and CEOs are all too happy to stick their heads back below the parapets.
The S&P 500 ESG index, which excludes about a third of the S&P 500 index for one unsavory practice or another, has beaten the market each of the past four years, so there’s clearly value in standing for something.
And over the past few months, companies have trimmed buybacks in favor of physical investments, suggesting a longer-term view of value.
| 597
|
Government's own experts found 'barbaric' and 'negligent' conditions in ICE detention
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-16-0647/immigration-governments-own-experts-found-barbaric-and-negligent-conditions-ice
|
Inequality
|
lefts
|
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/16/1190767610/ice-detention-immigration-government-inspectors-barbaric-negligent-conditions
|
INVESTIGATIONS
Government's own experts found 'barbaric' and 'negligent' conditions in ICE detention
August 16, 20235:01 AM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
Tom Dreisbach
11-Minute Listen
Enlarge this image
Immigrants await processing at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Adelanto, California. By filing a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act, NPR obtained a trove of inspection reports detailing serious problems at this ICE facility and others across the United States.
Chris Carlson/AP
In Michigan, a man in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was sent into a jail's general population unit with an open wound from surgery, no bandages and no follow-up medical appointment scheduled, even though he still had surgical drains in place.
A federal inspector found: "The detainee never received even the most basic care for his wound."
In Georgia, a nurse ignored an ICE detainee who urgently asked for an inhaler to treat his asthma. Even though he was never examined by the medical staff, the nurse put a note in the medical record that "he was seen in sick call."
"The documentation by the nurse bordered on falsification and the failure to see a patient urgently requesting medical attention regarding treatment with an inhaler was negligent."
And in Pennsylvania, a group of correctional officers strapped a mentally ill male ICE detainee into a restraint chair and gave the lone female officer a pair of scissors to cut off his clothes for a strip search.
"There is no justifiable correctional reason that required the detainee who had a mental health condition to have his clothes cut off by a female officer while he was compliant in a restraint chair. This is a barbaric practice and clearly violates ... basic principles of humanity."
These findings are all part of a trove of more than 1,600 pages of previously secret inspection reports written by experts hired by the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. In examining more than two dozen facilities across 16 states from 2017 to 2019, these expert inspectors found "negligent" medical care (including mental health care), "unsafe and filthy" conditions, racist abuse of detainees, inappropriate pepper-spraying of mentally ill detainees and other problems that, in some cases, contributed to detainee deaths.
These reports almost never become public.
For more than three years, the federal government — under both the Trump and Biden administrations — fought NPR's efforts to obtain those records. That opposition continued despite a Biden campaign promise to "demand transparency in and independent oversight over ICE."
NATIONAL
Dozens Of Women Allege Unwanted Surgeries And Medical Abuse In ICE Custody
The records were obtained in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by NPR. After two years, a federal judge found that the government had violated the nation's public records law and ordered the release of the documents.
The reports provide an unprecedented look at the ICE detention system through the eyes of experts hired to investigate complaints of civil rights abuses, who provide an often unvarnished perspective. These experts have specific expertise in subjects such as medicine, mental health, use of force and environmental health. Sources familiar with these inspections tell NPR that they often uncover problems that other government inspectors miss.
"These reports are chilling. They are damning," said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project and an expert on ICE detention, when NPR shared the reports' findings. "They really show how the government's own inspectors can see the abuses and the level of abuses that are happening in ICE detention."
The reports obtained by NPR depict a wide spectrum of problems in ICE detention.
Most immigration detention facilities are managed by private, for-profit corporations that contract with the government, including GEO Group and CoreCivic. Local jails, typically operated by county sheriff's departments, also enter into contracts with the government to hold detainees on behalf of ICE.
Legally, immigration detention is considered civil — not criminal — in nature. "Detention is non-punitive," ICE states on its website. Immigration detention is primarily for holding people who are awaiting the adjudication of their immigration cases. That can include immigrants apprehended at the border who are seeking asylum; people who entered the U.S. illegally and whom the government wants to deport or deems a public safety risk; and permanent residents who are hit with deportation orders.
The main goal of ICE detention is to make sure immigrants show up for their court dates. But the conditions revealed in the inspection reports often appear indistinguishable from prison.
NATIONAL
Despite Findings Of 'Negligent' Care, ICE To Expand Troubled Calif. Detention Center
The inspectors found what they described as racist harassment of immigrants and retaliation against detainees who filed complaints.
"Examples of mistreatment include a Sergeant entering the female unit and greeting the female detainees by yelling, 'Hello a**holes and bitches,'" an inspector found at the Orange County Jail in Goshen, New York. "Multiple staff make comments such as, if detainees do not like the treatment, they should not have come to our country. A [correctional officer] working in a male unit confronted a group of detainees stating, 'Who's the f***ing p**** who made the complaint against me?'"
The Orange County Sheriff's Office did not answer NPR's questions for this story.
At the Houston Contract Detention Facility, which is operated by CoreCivic, detainees alleged "harassment by custody staff, discrimination of detainees by facility staff based on race, and retaliation by facility staff," but the inspector found that the facility did not investigate the complaints.
"These now outdated reports are from 4-6 years ago and are not reflective of current facility operations," said Ryan Gustin, CoreCivic's director of public affairs, in a statement. "CoreCivic policy prohibits harassment and discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age or any other protected classification in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Our staff are trained and held to the highest ethical standards."
Inspectors also found incidents of unjustified use of force by detention staff.
NATIONAL
Exclusive: Video Shows Controversial Use Of Force Inside An ICE Detention Center
At the Calhoun County Correctional Facility in Battle Creek, Mich., an inspector found that the jail staff was locking mentally ill detainees in restraint chairs without justification and using pepper spray when it was not warranted.
"The use of chemical agents or Use of Force with mentally ill detainees, who because of their mental illness are unable to conform their behavior, has been opined as a violation of constitutional rights in Florida and California," the inspector wrote.
The Calhoun County Sheriff's Office referred NPR's questions about this report to ICE.
The most consistent — and sometimes deadly — problems relate to medical and mental health care.
Experts told NPR that prisons and jails often fail to provide adequate care to people who are locked up. ICE detention, they say, is even more problematic because detainees are frequently transferred between facilities, which increases the odds that medical records and care plans fail to move with people, and because the facilities are often located in remote areas that lack access to high-quality health care.
In one instance cited in the reports, a pregnant woman held at the El Paso Service Processing Center slipped and fell in the shower. "As a best practice, a pregnant female with abdominal pain must have an ultrasound to rule out an ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside of the uterus) as this is a life threatening condition," the inspector who examined the medical records wrote. But the medical staff did not perform an ultrasound, and as a result, "the medical care did not meet the standard of care of a pain in pregnancy," the inspector wrote.
The medical experts sometimes criticized a lack of adequate staffing for ICE medical clinics, including physicians who did not regularly work on-site.
An inspector who investigated conditions for ICE detainees at the St. Clair County Jail in Port Huron, Mich., described a phone call with the facility's new medical director.
"During our conversation I learned that this position is new for him and he is not yet well integrated into the medical care at the jail," the inspector wrote. "When asked if he was 'in charge of the medical care at the jail,' [the medical director] responded 'I guess so'."
The inspector concluded that "it is unclear whether he is providing the oversight needed to ensure adequate medical care and treatment of ICE detainees at the facility."
The St. Clair County Sheriff's Office did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
Detention and the bitter debate over immigration policy
The ICE detention system has become a major point of contention in the bitter political debate over U.S. immigration policy. The Biden administration says it has increasingly relied on alternatives to detention, like GPS monitoring, and has prioritized detention in cases where there are threats to public safety and national security. A majority of people in ICE detention have no criminal record, according to government data compiled by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
Critics of the Biden administration's border policies, including many Republicans in Congress and presidential candidates, have proposed tougher policies that would likely send tens of thousands more people into ICE custody.
Advocates and lawyers for immigrants, meanwhile, have criticized the Biden administration for breaking a campaign promise to "end" the use of for-profit detention centers and for roughly doubling the number of people in ICE detention since President Biden's inauguration.
In one instance, a prison that closed following a Biden administration order to phase out privately run Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities was essentially converted into a privately run ICE detention center. ICE is also fighting New Jersey's effort to close a for-profit detention center in the state — an ICE official said in a court filing that closing the facility would be "catastrophic."
The Biden administration has stopped using a handful of sites as detention centers due to concerns about poor conditions, while some other facilities have voluntarily ended their contracts with ICE. The inspection reports document several findings of inhumane treatment at some of the facilities that ICE no longer contracts with.
An inspection report obtained by NPR found filthy conditions at Alabama's Etowah County Detention Center, including communal nail clippers with "blood on the blades," medical exam rooms with no hand-washing sink and living conditions that were "unsanitary" and "unsafe for occupancy." In March 2022, ICE announced that it would stop working with the facility because it "has a long history of serious deficiencies identified during facility inspections and is of limited operational significance to the agency."
Separately, the York County Prison in York, Pa., stopped working with ICE in July 2021 in a dispute over the cost of incarcerating ICE detainees. The 2019 inspection of the facility revealed some of the most serious violations of ICE detention standards in the eyes of the government's inspectors.
"Female detainees reported staff would verbally threaten them with being locked up in the segregation unit and 'going to the hole' for behaviors that did not violate the rules and did not warrant isolation," the inspector wrote. "Female detainees also reported that staff would tell them they cannot cry and are quick to put them on suicide watch just for crying."
A majority of the records NPR obtained relate to facilities that remain active.
Internal government watchdogs have found that ICE detention facilities frequently fail to meet their own standards and that inspections have not led to systemic improvements. The ACLU's Cho says the problems identified in the reports that NPR obtained have largely persisted, an assessment echoed by immigration attorneys across the U.S., as well as sources familiar with the inspection process.
"If anything, conditions have probably gotten worse," Cho says, noting widespread reports of poor treatment and increased use of solitary confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. In several instances, the reports obtained by NPR warned ICE officials that overcrowding and poor cleaning practices were contributing to the risk of contracting infectious diseases.
"ICE wants to keep as many of these facilities open and running," Cho says, "so there's often a blind eye turned to what's happening and the abuses people are actually facing."
Over the course of several weeks, NPR requested interviews with representatives of the Biden White House and ICE. Neither was willing to make any officials available.
"ICE takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement, noting that the agency had scaled back or closed multiple ICE detention facilities. "The agency continuously reviews and enhances civil detention operations to ensure noncitizens are treated humanely, protected from harm, provided appropriate medical and mental health care, and receive the rights and protections to which they are entitled."
In a statement, a White House spokesperson said, "These reports concern conditions in the prior Administration." The statement did not contend that conditions have since improved.
"President Biden continues to support moving away from the use of private detention facilities in the immigration detention system," the statement went on, noting the Biden administration's greater use of alternatives to detention. "We could be making a lot more progress if Congress would give us the necessary funds and reforms that we've been asking for since day one."
Donald Trump's presidential campaign did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
Enlarge this image
Neda Samimi-Gomez says she is still haunted by the December 2017 death of her father, Kamyar Samimi, in ICE custody. "I think more than anything, I just don't want anyone to deal with what I've been dealing with for the last five years," Samimi-Gomez says. "Nobody should have to feel this way."
Joanna Kulesza for NPR
"At every step of the way, my dad was failed"
Out of all the incidents cited in the more than 1,600 pages of inspection reports NPR obtained, the death of Kamyar Samimi stands out. NPR examined other public records and legal filings about the case and interviewed Samimi's daughter regarding what an inspector called an "astonishing" series of failures.
In November 2017, Neda Samimi-Gomez wanted to invite her father to Thanksgiving, as she did every year.
But Kamyar Samimi wasn't picking up the phone.
Growing up, Neda remembers spending time in the garage watching her dad at work as an auto mechanic, a can of Pepsi in his hand, and sitting down together to watch NASCAR, George Lopez and Law & Order. "That was our thing. Like, he wanted me to become a lawyer because of Law & Order," she says.
Enlarge this image
Kamyar Samimi worked as a mechanic in the United States. His daughter says he loved watching NASCAR on TV.
Neda Samimi-Gomez
Kamyar Samimi was born in Iran and came to the U.S. in the 1970s, becoming a lawful permanent resident.
"He loved it here," Neda says.
He also sometimes struggled with drugs.
His daughter says it started when he was a kid back in Iran and was given opium for tooth pain.
In the U.S., he was prescribed methadone, which he took to manage opioid use disorder for more than two decades.
By 2017, Neda was in her 20s, Kamyar was 64 years old — and even though they both lived in the Denver area, she says, they saw each other only "from time to time."
Thanksgiving came and went without hearing from her dad.
Enlarge this image
Kamyar Samimi holds his daughter, Neda Samimi-Gomez, at a birthday party in the 1990s.
Neda Samimi-Gomez
Neda and her family were unaware that on Thanksgiving Day 2017, Kamyar was being held in an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colo., a facility run by GEO Group.
Kamyar Samimi was a lawful permanent resident. But back in 2005, he pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine — less than a gram in total — and was sentenced to community service.
Twelve years later, ICE decided that this conviction rendered him deportable. Federal law allows the government to revoke an immigrant's lawful permanent resident status and deport them for a variety of reasons, including for committing crimes of "moral turpitude" or committing an "aggravated felony."
Kamyar's family was worried when they learned about his situation after Thanksgiving, Neda says, but they thought it was just a paperwork issue.
Then two weeks after Kamyar's arrest, an ICE officer dropped off a business card at Neda's work and said to call.
"The officer picked up the phone and said, 'We don't know if anyone's been in touch with you, but we wanted to let you know that your father passed away over the weekend,'" Neda recalls.
Neda and her family worked with the ACLU to gather information about Kamyar's death and ultimately filed a lawsuit against GEO Group.
They discovered a detainee death review conducted by ICE showing that the staff at the Aurora ICE Processing Center had cut Kamyar Samimi off his medication cold turkey. Nurses relied on withdrawal guidelines for alcohol instead of opioids and thought Samimi was "faking" his withdrawal symptoms, including a seizure.
The facility's doctor never examined Samimi.
After a sleepless night when he screamed in his cell that he couldn't breathe, Samimi's condition worsened and he vomited blood clots. A nurse said, "He's dying." But the staff delayed several more hours before calling 911.
On Dec. 2, 2017, only two weeks after being arrested by ICE, Kamyar Samimi was pronounced dead.
The medical expert inspecting the Aurora ICE Processing Center for the Department of Homeland Security looked into the case and appeared to be stunned.
"The complete lack of medical leadership, supervision and care that this detainee was exposed to is simply astonishing and stands out as one of the most egregious failures to provide optimal care in my experience," the medical expert wrote.
"The magnitude of failures to care for this detainee is only surpassed by the number of such failures. It truly appears that this system failed at every aspect of care possible," the inspector went on.
That finding had previously been referenced in a congressional staff report. Neda Samimi-Gomez said she had never seen it before.
"It says it right here," Samimi-Gomez says of the report. "At every step of the way, my dad was failed."
Samimi-Gomez and her family sued GEO Group. The lawsuit resulted in a confidential settlement in which GEO Group did not admit wrongdoing.
She said she never received an apology from ICE, and she is still left with flashbacks from the moment she broke the news of her dad's death to her mom.
"I can still hear my mom's scream on the phone when I told her," she says. "It's just always under my skin."
Another death in Aurora
In addition to the Samimi case, the expert who inspected the Aurora ICE Processing Center identified other examples of negligent medical care, including a detainee who was found to have contracted HIV but was never told of the diagnosis and a detainee who had persistent blood in their urine "without a proper investigation" into its cause.
The inspector wrote that if these problems were found in a hospital, it could be forced to shut down.
"Any of these findings alone can be considered an 'Immediate Jeopardy' according to the Center[s] for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and can lead to the closure of large health systems," the inspector wrote.
The facility did not close, and it currently holds about 700 immigrant detainees. Lawyers who have clients at the Aurora ICE Processing Center say they have not seen an improvement in the medical care since that report and have continued to file complaints about the conditions there.
A recent detainee death at the Aurora facility sparked renewed protests and calls for the detention center to close.
On Oct. 13, 2022, the staff at the Aurora ICE Processing Center, once again, called 911 to report a medical emergency.
NPR obtained a copy of the call under the Colorado Open Records Act, and the audio, which has not previously been made public, reveals a series of lapses in communication in a time-sensitive medical crisis and raises questions about the training at the facility.
Credit: Jackie Lay/NPR
First, the unnamed detention officer who called 911 gave the dispatcher the wrong address for the facility where he worked.
Then he placed the dispatcher on hold when asked how paramedics could access the building.
He did not know any of the specifics of the medical emergency, stating only that it was a "code blue."
He also did not know the patient's age — eventually, the detention officer stated that the patient was in his "late 20s."
In fact, the patient, Melvin Ariel Calero-Mendoza, was 39 years old.
What the detention officer failed to communicate was that Calero-Mendoza, an immigrant from Nicaragua, had collapsed at the facility. According to a subsequent autopsy report, Colorado Public Radio reported, the cause of death was a pulmonary embolism.
Experts in emergency medical response told NPR that getting accurate information about a patient's symptoms is key because that information can help determine how many paramedics are needed, how quickly they need to respond and what kind of medical equipment they might need. These experts also underscored the need for jails, prisons and detention centers to have a clear plan for how to get paramedics access to patients in need.
"At a minimum, a professional caller should have an address available and know where the patient is in that complex," said Brett Patterson, an expert in emergency dispatch and chair of the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch's Medical Council of Standards.
"In this kind of scenario, every second counts," said Elizabeth Jordan, an attorney for Calero-Mendoza's family.
"The depth of indifference that this caller displayed was shocking," Jordan said, especially given the previous death of Kamyar Samimi.
"The family is disappointed and horrified by this call," Jordan added.
In response to NPR's request for comment for this story, GEO Group spokesperson Chris Ferreira said in a statement, "We are unable to comment on specific cases as it relates to individuals in the care of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."
"We take our role as a service provider to the federal government with the utmost seriousness and strive to treat all those entrusted to our care with dignity and respect," the statement went on. "As previously and publicly expressed, we offer our condolences to Mr. Calero-Mendoza and Mr. Samimi's families and their loved ones and remain committed to ensuring the health and safety of all those in our custody and care."
The news of another death at the Aurora ICE Processing Center under seemingly similar conditions to her father's hit Neda Samimi-Gomez hard.
"I think more than anything, I just don't want anyone to deal with what I've been dealing with for the last five years," Samimi-Gomez said. "Nobody should have to feel this way."
How NPR reported this story
In 2019, I became aware of the confidential inspection reports written by experts working for the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL). A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request I had filed for records related to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California revealed a scathing report about the facility, which described how one immigrant detainee was placed in solitary confinement for about two and a half years. The medical expert found that it was likely that problems with medical care at the facility "contributed to medical injuries, including bone deformities and detainee deaths."
In December 2019, NPR and I filed a FOIA request for all the CRCL inspection reports for adult ICE detention facilities.
The government responded that it had identified more than 1,000 pages of "responsive documents," but it refused to provide a single page.
After exhausting the FOIA appeals process, NPR filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security in September 2020.
The government argued in court that releasing the records without major redactions, which covered dozens of pages, would make it difficult for inspectors to provide their "uninhibited opinions and recommendations" and could "cause public confusion."
Two years after NPR filed its lawsuit, federal Judge Royce Lamberth rejected the Department of Homeland Security's arguments, found that the Biden administration had violated the Freedom of Information Act and ordered the government to release the files. After initially appealing the ruling, the government provided the documents in the spring of 2023.
Even then, I discovered that the government had failed to include several reports covering several more facilities, including some of the largest in the United States. The government acknowledged that it had "inadvertently" omitted more than 600 pages of additional records, which it ultimately turned over.
We continue to seek more recent CRCL inspection reports as well as records held by local jails that incarcerate ICE detainees, like the 911 call made from the Aurora ICE Processing Center. If you have information you would like to share about ICE detention, you can contact me at [email protected] or [email protected].
—Tom Dreisbach
"This man could die"
In addition to examining the experts' inspection reports, NPR also sought to corroborate their accounts by speaking to immigrants who have been locked up in these facilities.
In interviews, immigrants told NPR their experience in ICE detention had left them with physical and emotional scars.
In the late 1980s, José fled the civil war in his home of El Salvador and came to the U.S., where he found work as a handyman. He did not have legal authorization to remain in the country, and in 2022, José was arrested and sent to ICE detention at the Orange County Jail in Goshen, New York. He says his cell was filthy and smelled like urine.
José, who is now 57 years old, asked NPR not to disclose his last name because he's concerned about facing retaliation for speaking out about conditions in ICE detention.
The inspector from the Department of Homeland Security found problems with a failure to track medical issues at the Orange County Jail. In 2017, according to the inspection report NPR obtained, the jail did not use a modern electronic medical record system. Instead, the jail relied on paper records. The Orange County Sheriff's Office did not respond to NPR's question about whether it still uses paper records.
Five years after that inspection report, José says those problems persisted and nearly killed him.
José, according to medical records viewed by NPR, has had heart issues going back a decade, as well as diabetes. When he arrived at the Orange County Jail, he was taking prescription medications to manage his health problems. José says that the Orange County Jail did not provide him with his medications and that his health immediately began taking a turn for the worse.
He started experiencing nausea, shortness of breath and chest pain that radiated down his left arm. He says he fainted two days after being booked into the facility.
When he came to, he overheard a guard say, "This man could die."
José was taken to a nearby hospital, where the doctors found that he had symptoms consistent with a heart attack. The doctors performed surgery to place a stent in his coronary artery. The doctors eventually sent José back to the jail but with strict instructions to continue taking his medications, including a new set of prescriptions to take post-surgery. But again, José and his lawyers say, the jail failed to provide him with his medications for multiple days once he got back to the facility.
Ultimately, his lawyers were able to secure his release from the jail, citing the problems with medical care. José's immigration case remains ongoing.
José says he believes his time in jail did permanent damage to his heart.
A spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff's Office initially said they would provide comment for this story but ultimately did not respond to NPR's questions.
"It feels like hell on earth"
Dalila Yeend says she's still coping with the trauma of her experience in ICE custody.
Yeend was born in Australia and was brought to the U.S. by her mother. She says she and her family worked with an immigration lawyer who assured them — apparently wrongly — that they had filed the paperwork to obtain legal status. She eventually had two kids of her own.
But when Yeend rolled through a stop sign in Troy, N.Y., in 2018, she was arrested and ultimately brought to ICE's Buffalo Service Processing Center to face deportation charges.
"It feels like you're in jail," she says. "It feels like hell on earth."
Yeend says she had struggled with mental illness for a lot of her life and has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. At the time she was arrested, she was taking an antidepressant and an antipsychotic medication.
Now, she found herself at a facility where, according to a 2018 inspection report, mentally ill detainees were "'falling through the cracks,' their distress was being exacerbated, increasing their risk of suicidal behavior."
Yeend says she was not provided with her medications when she was locked up and was not seen by a psychiatrist for close to a month.
"I just was crying and crying and crying," she says. "My children were left alone at home and I didn't know that they were going to be OK and I also didn't know what was going to happen."
Over the course of about three months locked up, Yeend says, she saw two mental health providers over Zoom, "and the Zoom calls were maybe 10 minutes, if that." Rather than resume the medications she had been taking, Yeend says she was prescribed a sedative to make her sleep.
Eventually, Yeend was able to secure her release from the facility and reunite with her children. She has obtained legal immigration status and become an advocate for immigrant rights. She is also a plaintiff in an ongoing lawsuit against the private operator of the facility, Akima Global Services, over the system of detainee labor. ICE detainees are sometimes paid $1 a day to work as custodians or in the kitchen as part of ICE's "voluntary work program." A number of lawsuits have alleged that ICE detainees are essentially forced to perform work for meager wages or face retaliation. Akima Global Services did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
Yeend says she has post-traumatic stress disorder from her time in ICE custody.
"I don't think anyone's mental health is their concern whatsoever," she says. "I don't think they care."
The audio for this story was produced by Monika Evstatieva and edited by Barrie Hardymon. Digital production by Meg Anderson; research by Barbara Van Woerkom; copy editing by Preeti Aroon; photo editing by Emily Bogle and Grace Widyatmadja; visuals and graphics editing by Alyson Hurt and Connie Hanzhang Jin; video production by Jackie Lay. NPR's Tirzah Christopher, Chiara Eisner, Asma Khalid and Ayda Pourasad also contributed to this story.
ice detention
core civic
office for civil rights and civil liberties
geo group
immigration detention
ice
white house
aclu
immigration and customs enforcement
joe biden
department of homeland security
Dappled Cities
Facebook
Flipboard
Email
| 598
|
I regret to report the economic anxiety theory of Trumpism is back
|
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-05-1403/economy-and-jobs-i-regret-report-economic-anxiety-theory-trumpism-back
|
Inequality
|
lefts
|
https://www.vox.com/2023/8/4/23818817/trump-support-david-brooks-economic-anxiety
|
FILED UNDER:
POLICY
I regret to report the economic anxiety theory of Trumpism is back
In David Brooks’s new column, he asks the American elite if they’re the baddies. But he’s actually telling them a comforting fiction.
By Zack Beauchamp@[email protected] Aug 4, 2023, 12:10pm EDT
Share this story
Share this on Facebook
Share this on Twitter
SHARE
All sharing options
Supporters of President Donald Trump participate in a boat rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on October 3, 2020. Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
Zack Beauchamp is a senior correspondent at Vox, where he covers ideology and challenges to democracy, both at home and abroad. Before coming to Vox in 2014, he edited TP Ideas, a section of Think Progress devoted to the ideas shaping our political world.
The question of why Donald Trump manages to maintain such a grip on the Republican base, to the point where he can remain a nationally viable candidate despite all of his misdeeds and legal woes, is one of the most important issues in American politics. It’s a subject that has been explored extensively, with the best evidence converging on the same general story: Trump is the avatar of a kind of resentful reactionary politics, one uncomfortable with a changing America, that defines the worldview of a plurality (if not a majority) of the GOP faithful.
But this answer offers few easy solutions and makes some people uncomfortable, as it feels a bit too much like a judgment of Trump supporters. So we get efforts to reject the evidence, often relying on long-debunked alternative arguments.
The latest example of this phenomenon is David Brooks’s new column in the New York Times. In a piece titled “What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?”, Brooks criticizes those that would explain Trump’s persistent political support as a product of racism and anxious attachment to hierarchy. This explanation has some truth, he concedes, but is “also a monument to elite self-satisfaction.”
In its place, Brooks urges his readers “to try on a vantage point in which we anti-Trumpers are not the eternal good guys.” In this counterstory, Trump represents a boiling up of decades of working-class frustration with an economic system rigged in favor of those with college degrees. The elite’s unwillingness to face this hard truth, Brooks argues, is both a failure of introspection and a social disaster in the making.
“We can condemn the Trumpian populists all day until the cows come home, but the real question is when will we stop behaving in ways that make Trumpism inevitable,” Brooks writes.
Brooks’s column has been widely celebrated by American elites since its publication, reflecting the fact that — contrary to Brooks’s depiction — economic explanations for right-wing populism’s rise have long been the preferred theory of the elite. The guy who runs the annual global elite confab at Davos — Klaus Schwab, the head of the World Economic Forum — has embraced them. So have leading Democrats and many writers at America’s top journalistic outlets, including some of Brooks’s New York Times colleagues. J.D. Vance went from obscure venture capitalist to US senator entirely because he could sell a version of this narrative in his book Hillbilly Elegy (recently made into a Ron Howard movie starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close).
But the popularity of a narrative among the elite does not determine its truth or falsity; evidence does. And the data supporting this narrative is weak at best.
Rather, the best evidence typically points toward identity-based explanations: Racial and cultural conflicts are far, far more important than the kind of economic alienation Brooks wants to highlight. This is true not only in the United States but in other countries facing similar challenges from far-right populist movements — important comparison points that Brooks entirely leaves out.
Brooks’s column makes some important points, particularly about the flaws in the American economic model. But it’s one thing to point out those flaws, and another thing to posit that (as a matter of fact) they are behind the great divides in our politics — when in fact they are not.
And if we keep getting this wrong, we will never fully understand the nature of our democratic crisis — or what can be done to address it.
What Brooks gets wrong about Trump's support and the economy
Since Trump’s surprise victory in 2016, people have been positing that “economic anxiety” drove his success, arguing that (for example) job loss from increased trade with China has been at the heart of Trump’s support. To Brooks’s credit, he puts a somewhat novel spin on these arguments, describing Trump’s support as a kind of class-based ideological resentment: a sense that the economy and society are rigged against people without college degrees.
“It’s easy to understand why people in less-educated classes would conclude that they are under economic, political, cultural and moral assault — and why they’ve rallied around Trump as their best warrior against the educated class,” he writes.
This is plausible in theory, but Brooks does nothing to support it. And when I say nothing, I mean literally nothing. His argumentative strategy is to note a series of ways in which the American socioeconomic model favors college-educated elites, and then assert that Trump support must be rooted in those factors without bothering to cite evidence that this is something Trump voters really care about.
This leads him to very odd places. Brooks asserts, for instance, that working-class voters have been alienated from the elite due to a divergence in child-rearing practices. “Members of our class still overwhelmingly married and then had children within wedlock. People without our resources, unsupported by social norms, were less able to do that,” he writes.
Yet unmarried parents have actually leaned Democratic for quite some time. A study of the 2016 election results published by the University of Virginia’s Institute for Family Studies finds that “Trump’s vote share decreased by 5.7 percentage points for every 10 percentage point increase in the share of single parents in a county.”
This illustrates a contradiction at the heart of the column. Brooks is trying both to critique America’s unequal political economy and explain why Trump’s support has proven durable. The problem is that things that are relevant to the first goal might not be relevant to the second one, and Brooks never bothers to distinguish between the two.
Even at times when Brooks does hit on economic structures that could plausibly matter, he does no work to show that they do.
Take the rural-urban divide, one of the most important features of American (and global) politics. Brooks suggests that the reason that Republicans are gaining in the hinterland is because it’s being left behind economically. “In 2020, Biden won only 500 or so counties, but together they are responsible for 71 percent of the American economy. Trump won over 2,500 counties, responsible for only 29 percent,” he writes.
A 2022 paper by two political scientists, Kristin Lunz Trujillo and Zack Crowley, examined this theory explicitly: testing a sense of political and cultural alienation (what they call “symbolic” concerns) versus a sense of economic deprivation in predicting rural voter support for Trump.
They found that “only the symbolic subdimensions of rural consciousness positively and significantly correlate with Trump support.” If anything, they found, rural voters who feel more economically deprived are less likely to vote for Trump than their peers.
Similarly, a 2020 paper found that Trump supporters in poorer areas tend to be the “locally affluent whites:” people whose incomes might not put them in the national one percent, but who are doing a fair sight better than others in the same zip code. Think plumbers and auto dealers, not laid-off factory workers.
The distribution of resources in modern America is indeed unfair, and poverty in rural America is something to take seriously — perhaps more seriously than some urban liberals do.
But the mere fact that an inequality exists, and is bad, does not mean it is What Caused Trump.
The overwhelming evidence for a cultural explanation
Let me propose an alternative theory — one that aligns much better with the available evidence than the economic anxiety idea.
This story starts with the late 20th-century revolution in social values: the end of segregation, mass nonwhite immigration, feminist challenges to patriarchy, a decline in traditional Christianity, and the rise of the LGBTQ movement. This revolution has transformed America at fundamental levels: the kinds of people who hold positions of power, the ideas that command cultural respect, and even the kinds of food Americans eat and languages they speak in public.
For millions of Americans, these changes made them feel unmoored from their country— “strangers in their own land,” as the sociologist Arlie Hochschild put it. Whether because of pure bigotry or a more diffuse sense of cultural alienation from the mainstream, a large number of Americans came to believe that they are losing America. For historical reasons owing largely to the legacy of the civil rights movement, these voters became concentrated in the Republican party — forming at least a plurality of its primary electorate. The election of Barack Obama, a self-described “Black man with a funny name,” pushed their sense of social alienation to the breaking point.
This cultural anxiety created room for Trump, who rode this group’s collective resentments to control of the Republican party. It is not the only reason he won the presidency — in a close election like 2016, a million different things likely made the difference — but it is the most important reason why he has maintained a lock on the Republican party for the better part of a decade.
We know this, primarily, because social scientists have been testing the theory since 2016 — and comparing it with Brooks’s preferred explanations rooted in resentment at a rigged economic game. Again and again, the cultural theory has won out.
A Trump rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on July 29, 2023. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
For example, in 2018, a trio of scholars used survey data to compare explanations of Trump support based on racism, sexism, and a sense of economic alienation. The former two are far more powerful predictors than the latter, almost entirely explaining Trump’s surge in support among white non-college voters. “Controlling for racism and sexism effectively restores the education gap among whites to what it had been in every election since 2000,” they write.
A 2018 report from the Voter Study Group, authored by pollster Robert Griffin and political scientist John Sides, tested what they called the “prevailing narrative” of the 2016 election that “focused heavily on the economic concerns of [the white working class].” They found that typical methods of measuring economic distress were flawed and that more precise measurements show little effect on the 2016 outcome. “Instead,” they write, “attitudes about race and ethnicity were more strongly related to how people voted.”
A 2018 paper by Alan Abramowitz and Jennifer McCoy, two leading political scientists, tested correlations between white voters’ favorable views of Hillary Clinton and Trump and a battery of different variables. What they found, at this point, shouldn’t surprise you.
“After party identification, racial/ethnic resentment was by far the strongest predictor of relative ratings of Trump and Clinton — the higher the score on the racial/ethnic resentment scale, the more favorably white voters rated Trump relative to Clinton,” they write. “The impact of the racial/ethnic resentment scale was much stronger than that of any of the economic variables included in the analysis, including opinions about free trade deals and economic mobility.”
These are three studies from a single year. There are dozens of other papers, reports, and even entire books coming to similar conclusions. These studies don’t explain everything about Trump or Republican support — such as the party’s recent gains among Black and especially Latino voters — but they do an excellent job answering the question that Brooks poses in his column: Why does Trump maintain such a hard core of support despite everything that he’s done?
There’s also vital global context.
The United States is not the only country to be experiencing a rise in far-right populism. Countries that have very different economic trajectories — like Israel, Brazil, and India — have all seen the rise of Trump-style politics. That alone should raise questions about a narrative focusing on the specific economic problems of the United States, especially since those countries are wracked by significant cleavages surrounding ethnicity, race, religion, and gender.
Western European countries which have seen the rise of far-right parties are also a useful comparison. Like the US, those countries have experienced rising inequality — albeit to a lesser degree. But they’ve also experienced the same cultural convulsions in the second half of the 20th century alongside mass nonwhite migration that fundamentally challenged white Europeans’ sense of place and self.
And there’s a reason that immigration has been the number one most important issue for European far-right parties. Rigorous statistical studies of these peer countries, such as the conservative scholar Eric Kaufmann’s book Whiteshift, suggest cultural anxiety about Europe’s changing demographic makeup, rather than any fears about wage competition or economic inequality more broadly, is the key issue for those parties’ supporters.
“A comprehensive review of the academic literature on immigration attitudes in the West ... found that personal income and economic circumstances explained little,” Kaufmann writes. “Cultural attitudes emerged as the most consistent predictor of anti-immigration attitudes. Survey experiments can prove causation rather than mere correlation.”
So, on the one hand, there is Brooks’s largely unevidenced theory — and, on the other, an absolute mountain of social scientific research.
Why Brooks’s column matters
I try to be fairly forgiving of newspaper columnists: Coming up with an actually interesting and original column idea multiple times a week is a lot harder than you think. But this Brooks column is important to talk about on its own, for at least two reasons.
First, Brooks’s column contributes to a false perception that non-college voters form a uniform bloc that moved entirely into the Republican corner. In reality, as the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent points out, a majority of Biden’s supporters did not have college degrees — owing primarily to his strength among nonwhite, non-college voters. The racial split among non-college voters has lessened but are still pronounced — a testament both to the diversity of the American working class and the primary salience of race in American politics.
Second, Brooks’s column is frustrating because it turns an important factual debate into a conversation about elite Americans’ feelings.
In his column, Brooks talks a lot about “narratives” and “stories” one could tell about Trump’s enduring popularity. What he wants, his stated objective, is to get his readers to feel differently about both Trump supporters and themselves.
“Let me try another story on you. I ask you to try on a vantage point in which we anti-Trumpers are not the eternal good guys. In fact, we’re the bad guys,” Brooks writes.
But this isn’t literary analysis. We’re talking about questions of fact: Competing social scientific theories about why a particular phenomenon, Trump’s persistent and enduring hard core of political support, exists out in reality. The question is not how David Brooks and his friends feel about Trump’s base, but whether what they believe about them is true.
To figure out how to get the country past its current impasse, we need to look at reality as it is, not as we imagine it might be. And the reality is that our deep political divide is rooted, first and foremost, in profound and largely irreconcilable views of who America is for and what its social hierarchy should look like. That may be unpleasant for Brooks — and all of us — to contemplate, but reality’s ugliness doesn’t provide an excuse for ignoring it.
We're here to shed some clarity
One of our core beliefs here at Vox is that everyone needs and deserves access to the information that helps them understand the world, regardless of whether they can pay for a subscription. With the 2024 election on the horizon, more people are turning to us for clear and balanced explanations of the issues and policies at stake. We’re so grateful that we’re on track to hit 85,000 contributions to the Vox Contributions program before the end of the year, which in turn helps us keep this work free. We need to add 2,500 contributions this month to hit that goal. Will you make a contribution today to help us hit this goal and support our policy coverage? Any amount helps.
One-Time Monthly Annual
$5/month
$10/month
$25/month
$50/month
Other
Yes, I'll give $5
/month
We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via
NEXT UP IN POLICY
THE LATEST
A fatal crash shows us everything that’s wrong with traffic enforcement
By Marin Cogan
What climate activists mean when they say “end fossil fuels”
By Rebecca Leber
The Supreme Court will decide if Alabama can openly defy its decisions
By Ian Millhiser
The wild allegations about India killing a Canadian citizen, explained
By Zack Beauchamp
It’s time to replace urban delivery vans with e-bikes
By Liz Scheltens
Lead poisoning kills millions annually. One country is showing the way forward.
By Kelsey Piper
| 599
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.