‘ICE denied healthcare to migrants’

Challenge to immigration law is tossed on eve of enactment

HOUSTON, Dec 16, (AP): A whistleblower report provided to BuzzFeed News alleges US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has “systematically provided inadequate medical and mental health care” to detained migrants, leading to complications that included the removal of part of an 8-year-old boy’s forehead.

The report published Thursday says poor medical care contributed to two preventable surgeries and contributed to four deaths in detention. It renewed harsh criticism from migrant advocates and Democrats of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, during which there have been reports of squalid conditions in packed cells and crying children left to fend for themselves after being taken from their parents.

At the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, a man who was bleeding through his skin continued to receive aspirin even though he had extremely thin blood. The man was eventually taken to a hospital in critical condition and not expected to survive, according to a report summarizing the complaint that was delivered to ICE leadership in March.

In Arizona, a detainee at the Eloy Federal Contract Facility had “worsening psychosis-related symptoms, but the psychiatrist failed to treat him,” the report says.

And at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, a boy was initially diagnosed with an external ear infection, only to have seizures two weeks later. Doctors at the hospital diagnosed him with Pott’s puffy tumor, an infection that leads to abscesses formed under the skull. They treated it by extracting part of the boy’s frontal bone, BuzzFeed reported.

ICE said in a statement that it “takes very seriously the health, safety and welfare of those in our care, including

North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. All have significant black populations.

“We can acknowledge that 72 hours after South Carolina is Super Tuesday,” Woodfin said. “Since 1992, whoever wins South Carolina wins a majority of the Southern states. Embedded in that math is people. Black women … are the base of the party, and we must respect that.”

Woodfin represents a city with a metro area population of 1.3 million that is 74% African American. He was among four black Southern mayors who issued an open those who come into ICE custody with prior medical conditions or who have never before received appropriate medical care.”

The BuzzFeed report provides the latest series of allegations that ICE and other immigration agencies don’t properly care for the people in their custody as the Trump administration has ramped up its use of detention.

ProPublica last week revealed that surveillance video showed a 16-yearold boy who died of the flu at a Border Patrol station in South Texas laid unresponsive in his cell for several hours before someone noticed. Carlos is one of six children to have died after being detained by border agents since last December.

And advocates have long warned that the ICE Health Service Corps misdiagnoses or disregards symptoms.

The complaint obtained by BuzzFeed lists four adults who died in ICE custody in 2017 and 2018. After one person at Eloy was listed as dying of coronary heart disease, a person alleged that was “very misleading” and didn’t account for “the lack of readily available emergency medications” or the mistakes of the facility’s psychiatrist.

In another case, a man died in what was ruled a suicide after telling jail staff at Stewart that he “would be dead in three days.” The report did not say how he killed himself.

“Trump and ICE officials silently watch as chaos, cruelty and inhumane indifference ensues,” said Pili Tobar, deputy director for the advocacy group America’s Voice. “Rather than use the resources already allocated for medical care, they instead cover up, deflect and turn a blind eye to migrants seeking medical help.”

ALBANY, NY:

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A law that will allow letter earlier this year to 2020 Democratic hopefuls seeking their support, calling on them to address priorities including affordable housing, climate change, health care and criminal justice. One of the letter’s signers, Mayor Steve Benjamin of Columbia, South Carolina, was among Bloomberg’s early endorsers. (AP)

‘White power’ sign probe on:

The US Military Academy and Naval Academy have appointed officers to conduct separate

New Yorkers to get driver’s licenses without having to prove they are in the country legally weathered a second court challenge Friday, days before its enactment.

A federal district judge ruled against Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola, saying he lacked the legal capacity to bring the lawsuit. Merola, a Republican, had argued that the state law conflicts with federal immigration law.

Judge Gary Sharpe wrote in his decision that he was not ruling on the legality of the law, but on whether Merola could bring the suit.

A federal judge in western New York ruled against a county clerk in Buffalo on similar grounds last month.

Starting Monday, license applicants without a valid Social Security number will be able to submit alternative forms of ID that include valid passports and driver’s licenses issued in other countries. Applicants must still get a permit and pass a road test to qualify for a “standard driver’s license.”

Merola is one of more than 50 county clerks who run Department of Motor Vehicles offices as agents of the state. Some clerks have said they’re frustrated with the rollout of the law and several have sued the state. Merola is among a few clerks who have raised the possibility of not enforcing the law.

“I am disappointed, and hopefully, this is only a setback. We will continue to fight to be heard,” Merola said in a prepared statement.

State Attorney General Letitia James noted that two judges have now dismissed claims from county clerks she called meritless. “We expect all public officials to comply with the law, and, as the state’s attorney and chief law enforcement officer, I will continue to vigorously defend it,” she said in a prepared statement.

internal investigations into possible “white power” hand gestures flashed by a few students during a broadcast at the ArmyNavy football game, academy public affairs officers said Sunday.

“Based on findings of the investigation, those involved will be held appropriately accountable,” Cmdr. Alana Garas, a spokeswoman for the academy in Annapolis, Maryland, said via email. “It would be inappropriate to speculate any further while we are conducting this investigation.”

Lt. Col. Chris Ophardt, a spokesman for the US Military Academy at West Point in New York, said officials there were also looking into the matter.

“The United States Military Academy is fully committed to developing leaders of character who embody the army values,” said Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams, West Point’s superintendent. He said he has appointed an officer “to conduct an administrative investigation into the facts, circumstances, and intent of the Cadets in question.”

Several West Point cadets and Naval Academy midshipmen in the stands appeared to display the hand sign during an ESPN broadcast segment Saturday. The gesture is similar to the one used to indicate “OK,” with the thumb and forefinger in a circle and the three other fingers splayed out behind.

US Coast Guard leaders reprimanded an officer who used a similar hand sign during a television broadcast last year.

The Anti-Defamation League recently added the sign to its database of hate symbols. It started as a trolling campaign on the internet message board 4chan, which tried to dupe viewers into thinking the fingers of the “OK” sign formed the letters “W” and “P” to mean “white power,” but the league said extremists had adopted it as a sincere expression of white supremacy. (AP)