Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Judge Demands Better Oversight Of Children's Health In ICE Detention
A federal judge this week found that officials at immigration detention centers in Texas and California had likely housed children and other detainees at unsafe temperatures and had denied them soap and adequate sleeping conditions. In an order issued on Monday, Judge Dolly M. Gee of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles said she was appointing an independent monitor and a special master 鈥 an expert assigned to assist her 鈥 as she tracks the government鈥檚 compliance with a 1997 legal agreement that sets basic standards of care for immigrant children in U.S. custody. (Ulloa, 8/18)
Immigration agents with prior records of sexual and gender-based violence have drawn attention in Trump鈥檚 second term amid questions about training and vetting. (Norwood, 8/18)
Citing reporting by ProPublica, eight Democratic U.S. senators have criticized the Trump administration鈥檚 demands to access the health data of millions of people as a condition of giving lifesaving aid to other countries. In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the senators, including minority leader Chuck Schumer, said the U.S. demands were 鈥渦nprecedented and at odds with U.S. policy concerning the data of American citizens.鈥 (Lerner and Barry-Jester, 8/19)
The person Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted in Maine last month when an officer shot and killed a motorist was a roommate who was not subject to a final removal order, a Democratic congresswoman from the state said. Johan Sebasti谩n Dur谩n Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in a car near his Biddeford home on July 13. Rep. Chellie Pingree said during a hearing in Maine on Monday that ICE鈥檚 intended target was Dur谩n Guerrero鈥檚 roommate, who was the owner of the car Dur谩n Guerrero was driving. (Whittle, 8/18)
The Trump administration has been quietly deporting migrants from Mexico to different countries in Central America despite the Mexican government's willingness to accept the return of all its citizens, two Department of Homeland Security officials told CBS News. (Montoya-Galvez, 8/18)