Letters to the Editor: How ICE raids could inadvertently encourage the spread of infectious diseases
To the editor: Staff writer Corinne Purtill's article on healthcare avoidance due to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations highlights a crucial gap: the public health threat posed by undetected infectious diseases ('In Southern California, many are skipping healthcare out of fear of ICE operations,' June 20). While missed chronic care appointments create individual health risks, the failure to diagnose and treat contagious conditions threatens our entire community.
When fearful residents stop seeking medical care, avoid routine visits and skip vaccinations, communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, measles or seasonal flu can spread uncontrolled. A single undiagnosed case in L.A.'s densely populated neighborhoods, schools or workplaces could trigger outbreaks affecting everyone — documented and undocumented residents alike.
Public health depends on communitywide participation in disease surveillance and prevention. Immigration enforcement that drives vulnerable populations away from healthcare doesn't just harm those individuals; it also creates dangerous blind spots in our infectious disease monitoring systems.
Los Angeles cannot maintain public health while a significant portion of our population remains hidden from medical care. This crisis demands immediate attention to protect all Angelenos.
Thomas Klitzner, Culver City
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The Hill
14 hours ago
- The Hill
Migrant deaths in ICE custody spark concerns
(NewsNation) — A Canadian citizen held in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Miami became the 11th person to die in an ICE facility since October after he was found unresponsive this week. The agency said Thursday that Johnny Noviello, 49, died in the ICE facility and that his cause of death remains under investigation. The death sparked an inquiry from Canadian government officials, who are 'urgently seeking' more information from U.S. officials about the death. Anita Anand, the Canadian minister of foreign affairs, wrote in a social media post that out of respect for the family's privacy, more details would not be provided about the inquiry. ICE officials say that any death that occurs in a detention facility is a 'significant cause for concern' and that the agency prioritizes the health, safety and well-being of all migrants in ICE custody. Eight people have died in ICE detention centers this year alone — including four in Florida — according to federal data. Noviello became a legal permanent resident in the U.S. in 1991 but was convicted in 2023 of racketeering and drug trafficking in Florida, ICE officials said this week. He was sentenced to spend a year in prison before he was arrested in May by ICE at the Florida Department of Corrections Probation office. He was given a notice to appear and was charged with being deported for violating state law. The number of people who have died in ICE facilities in recent years has grown since 2021, according to data posted on the ICE website. A total of 12 people died in ICE custody in fiscal year 2024, after just four deaths were reported in ICE facilities in fiscal year 2023 and only three in fiscal year 2022. In Noviello's case, ICE officials said that medical staff responded immediately when the Canadian man was found nonresponsive and began CPR and automated external defibrillator shock and called 911. The agency said that comprehensive medical care is provided to detainees from the moment they arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay. In 2024, an American Civil Liberties Union report indicated that 95% of deaths that took place in ICE facilities between 2017 and 2021 could have been prevented or possibly prevented. The investigation, which was conducted by the ACLU, American Oversight and Physicians for Human Rights, analyzed the deaths of the 52 people who died in ICE custody during that time frame. 'ICE has failed to provide adequate — even basic — medical and mental health care and ensure that people in detention are treated with dignity,' Eunice Cho, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU's National Prison Project and report co-author, said last year. 'Abuses in ICE detention should no longer go ignored. It's time to hold ICE accountable and end this failed, dangerous mass detention machine once and for all.' The report alleged that ICE had 'persistent failings in medical and mental care' that caused preventable deaths, including suicides. It also said that the federal agency failed to provide adequate medical care, medication and staffing. Of the 52 deaths that the study analyzed, 88% involved cases in which the organizations found that incomplete, inappropriate and delayed treatments or medications contributed directly to the deaths of migrants being held in ICE custody. In its official response to Noviello's death, ICE officials said that all people in the agency's custody receive medical, dental and mental health screening within 12 hours of entering detention facilities as well as a full health assessment within two weeks. Migrants being housed at the facilities also have access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. 'At no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergent care,' ICE said in a statement. In 2023, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General report indicated that at least 1 in every 5 deaths at ICE and Customs and Border Protection facilities during fiscal year 2021 occurred because they were not given timely or adequate care by detention center medical personnel. However, the report also indicated that there are no underlying systemic factors, policies or processes that led to the deaths. Despite the DHS Office of Inspector General's indication that shows no systemic factors that are contributing to migrant deaths, physicians and advocates for immigrant rights continue to take issue with the level of care those in ICE detention are receiving. 'Having reviewed the publicly available death reports for many of the deaths this year, I am worried that there were many missed opportunities for these people to have reached definitive medical care in area hospitals that may have prevented their deaths,' Dr. Katherine Peeler, medical adviser for Physicians for Human Rights, told NewsNation on Friday. 'As ICE continues increasing its rate of apprehensions and detaining more people in already overcrowded facilities, the quality of care, routine and emergent, is likely only to degrade further.'
CNN
19 hours ago
- CNN
Migrant family sues over US detention in what may be first challenge to courthouse arrests involving kids
A mother and her two young kids are fighting for their release from a Texas immigration detention center in what is believed to be the first lawsuit involving children challenging the Trump administration's policy on immigrant arrests at courthouses. The lawsuit filed Tuesday argues that the family's arrests after fleeing Honduras and entering the US legally using a Biden-era appointment app violate their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizure and their Fifth Amendment right to due process. 'The big picture is that the executive branch cannot seize people, arrest people, detain people indefinitely when they are complying with exactly what our government has required of them,' said Columbia Law School professor Elora Mukherjee, one of the lawyers representing the family. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. Starting in May, the country has seen large-scale arrests in which asylum-seekers appearing at routine court hearings have been arrested outside courtrooms as part of the White House's mass deportation effort. In many cases, a judge will grant a government lawyer's request to dismiss deportation proceedings and then US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will arrest the person and place them on 'expedited removal,' a fast track to deportation. Mukherjee said this is the first lawsuit filed on behalf of children to challenge the ICE courthouse arrest policy. The government has until July 1 to respond. There have been other similar lawsuits, including in New York, where a federal judge ruled earlier this month that federal immigration authorities can't make civil arrests at the state's courthouses or arrest anyone going there for a proceeding. The Texas lawsuit was filed using initials for the children and 'Ms. Z' for the mother. Their identities have not been released because of concerns for their safety. For weeks in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the mother has watched her 6-year-old son's health decline, Mukherjee said. He recently underwent chemotherapy treatment for leukemia and because of his arrest missed his check-in doctor's appointment, Mukherjee said. 'He's easily bruising. He has bone pain. He looks pale,' Mukherjee said, adding that he has also lost his appetite. 'His mom is terrified that these are symptoms that his leukemia situation might be deteriorating.' The mother, son and 9-year-old daughter fled Honduras in October 2024 due to death threats, according to the lawsuit. They entered the US using the CBP One app and were paroled into the country by the Department of Homeland Security, which determined they didn't pose a danger to the community, Mukherjee said. They were told to appear at a Los Angeles immigration court May 29. President Donald Trump ended CBP One for new entrants on his first day in office after more than 900,000 people had been allowed in the country using the app since it was expanded to include migrants in January 2023. During the family's hearing, the mother tried to tell the judge that they wished to continue their cases for asylum, Mukherjee said. Homeland Security moved to dismiss their cases, and the judge immediately granted that motion. When they stepped out of the courtroom, they found men in civilian clothing believed to be ICE agents who arrested the family, Mukherjee said. They spent about 11 hours at an immigrant processing center in Los Angeles and were each only given an apple, a small packet of cookies, a juice box and water. At one point, an officer near the boy lifted his shirt, revealing his gun. The boy urinated on himself and was left in wet clothing until the next morning, Mukherjee said. They were later taken to the processing center, where they have been held ever since. 'The family is suffering in this immigration detention center,' she said. 'The kids are crying every night. They're praying to God for their release from this detention center.' Their lawyers have filed an appeal of the immigration judge's May decision, but they're at risk of being deported within days because the government says they are subjected to expedited removal, Mukherjee said. The arrests of the family were illegal and unjustified, said Kate Gibson Kumar, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights project who is also representing the family. 'The essential question in our case is, when you have these families who are doing everything right, especially with young children, should there be some protection there?' Gibson Kumar said. 'We say 'yes.''
CNN
a day ago
- CNN
Migrant family sues over US detention in what may be first challenge to courthouse arrests involving kids
ImmigrationFacebookTweetLink Follow A mother and her two young kids are fighting for their release from a Texas immigration detention center in what is believed to be the first lawsuit involving children challenging the Trump administration's policy on immigrant arrests at courthouses. The lawsuit filed Tuesday argues that the family's arrests after fleeing Honduras and entering the US legally using a Biden-era appointment app violate their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizure and their Fifth Amendment right to due process. 'The big picture is that the executive branch cannot seize people, arrest people, detain people indefinitely when they are complying with exactly what our government has required of them,' said Columbia Law School professor Elora Mukherjee, one of the lawyers representing the family. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. Starting in May, the country has seen large-scale arrests in which asylum-seekers appearing at routine court hearings have been arrested outside courtrooms as part of the White House's mass deportation effort. In many cases, a judge will grant a government lawyer's request to dismiss deportation proceedings and then US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will arrest the person and place them on 'expedited removal,' a fast track to deportation. Mukherjee said this is the first lawsuit filed on behalf of children to challenge the ICE courthouse arrest policy. The government has until July 1 to respond. There have been other similar lawsuits, including in New York, where a federal judge ruled earlier this month that federal immigration authorities can't make civil arrests at the state's courthouses or arrest anyone going there for a proceeding. The Texas lawsuit was filed using initials for the children and 'Ms. Z' for the mother. Their identities have not been released because of concerns for their safety. For weeks in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the mother has watched her 6-year-old son's health decline, Mukherjee said. He recently underwent chemotherapy treatment for leukemia and because of his arrest missed his check-in doctor's appointment, Mukherjee said. 'He's easily bruising. He has bone pain. He looks pale,' Mukherjee said, adding that he has also lost his appetite. 'His mom is terrified that these are symptoms that his leukemia situation might be deteriorating.' The mother, son and 9-year-old daughter fled Honduras in October 2024 due to death threats, according to the lawsuit. They entered the US using the CBP One app and were paroled into the country by the Department of Homeland Security, which determined they didn't pose a danger to the community, Mukherjee said. They were told to appear at a Los Angeles immigration court May 29. President Donald Trump ended CBP One for new entrants on his first day in office after more than 900,000 people had been allowed in the country using the app since it was expanded to include migrants in January 2023. During the family's hearing, the mother tried to tell the judge that they wished to continue their cases for asylum, Mukherjee said. Homeland Security moved to dismiss their cases, and the judge immediately granted that motion. When they stepped out of the courtroom, they found men in civilian clothing believed to be ICE agents who arrested the family, Mukherjee said. They spent about 11 hours at an immigrant processing center in Los Angeles and were each only given an apple, a small packet of cookies, a juice box and water. At one point, an officer near the boy lifted his shirt, revealing his gun. The boy urinated on himself and was left in wet clothing until the next morning, Mukherjee said. They were later taken to the processing center, where they have been held ever since. 'The family is suffering in this immigration detention center,' she said. 'The kids are crying every night. They're praying to God for their release from this detention center.' Their lawyers have filed an appeal of the immigration judge's May decision, but they're at risk of being deported within days because the government says they are subjected to expedited removal, Mukherjee said. The arrests of the family were illegal and unjustified, said Kate Gibson Kumar, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights project who is also representing the family. 'The essential question in our case is, when you have these families who are doing everything right, especially with young children, should there be some protection there?' Gibson Kumar said. 'We say 'yes.''
