Six months ago, our lives completely changed as COVID-19 spread across state lines amid the failures of the U.S. government to contain the virus. We’re working from home, working on the front lines of the pandemic response or grappling with unemployment. Parents are helping their kids navigate virtual learning. Many of our family members and friends have gotten sick with the virus. Maybe you have, too.

So I just want to take a moment to say thank you. We appreciate the time you spend reading and listening to our stories about how COVID-19 is affecting the people in the U.S. immigration system. At the start of the pandemic, we told you about how the Trump administration was putting immigration workers and immigrants at risk. We took you inside the Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in Louisiana, where asylum seekers felt helpless as they awaited the inevitable arrival of COVID-19 inside their dorms. We broke the story about the government’s refusal to release detained migrant children who have families willing to give them homes.

And we have more reporting coming soon. I can’t wait to share our stories with you. But in the meantime, here’s a look at some of the news we’ve been following the last week:

The U.S. is expanding its network of hotels used to hold migrant children. The Associated Press has learned that the federal government is holding children in more hotel chains than previously thought. The list now includes Hilton, Marriott and Hampton Inn. This is the AP’s latest reporting on the practice after breaking the story that children as young as 1 were being held in hotels in Arizona and Texas – under the supervision of adults not trained in child care – before they’re returned to their home countries. Under the Flores settlement agreement, which safeguards the rights of migrant children in U.S. custody, children are supposed to be sent to government shelters and eventually placed in the care of a family member or other suitable sponsor. But now, the Trump administration is completely circumventing this process. “A Haitian family said contractors at one border hotel told them to feed ice to their 1-year-old daughter in case their temperatures were checked as a screening for COVID-19. Immigration authorities denied the use of ice to circumvent screening measures,” the latest story reads.

A Biden presidency could face a litany of challenges to unravel Trump’s immigration policies. According to an in-depth analysis by Reuters, it could take years to undo the hundreds of immigration policies created under the current administration. This is due to a number of factors. There would be other pressing issues on Joe Biden’s agenda, including the COVID-19 response and floundering economy. And although executive actions could be reversed quickly, “finalized regulations that have gone through a period of public review typically take from several months to a year to unravel, and could take longer, according to four regulatory experts. Lawsuits could delay attempts to undo Trump regulations and smaller-scale memos and guidance issued to agencies,” Reuters writes.

Another immigrant in ICE custody dies from COVID-19. A 50-year-old Honduran man held at the Joe Corley Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, died at a local hospital, BuzzFeed News reports. The preliminary cause of death was respiratory failure due to COVID-19. In early August, BuzzFeed also broke the story about another ICE detainee death: a 70-year-old from Costa Rica who was being held at the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. Six detainees have now died from COVID-19, according to ICE data on the agency’s website. In all, more than 800 detained immigrants with COVID-19 are currently in isolation. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 5,400 detainees have tested positive. 
 

FORMER SHELTER PROVIDER SUES AFTER LOSING FEDERAL FUNDING

Last summer, we partnered with WRAL News on an investigation into the government’s plan to send migrant children to shelter providers with little experience and troubling track records. Among the facilities that had gotten new grants was New Horizon Group Home in North Carolina, which was shut down in 2018 after inspectors found conditions inside that presented “an imminent danger” to the children. 

Since our story was published, state officials denied New Horizon’s application for a license to run the shelter. The federal government is also now instituting new provisions to flag problems like these – requiring that shelter providers disclose past violations in their grant applications, WRAL reporter Tyler Dukes reported in July. Dukes also reported that the U.S. wants New Horizon to repay more than $3 million in taxpayer money that it had disbursed to the group home.

Now, New Horizon is suing the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, accusing the agency of "outrageous violations" that led to the loss of its federal grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency that oversees the care of migrant children.

The suit also mentions our reporting with WRAL and states that “the article purported to be the result of an in-depth, thoroughly-researched investigation done in conjunction with an entity called Reveal.” 

As Dukes explains in his story:

Although WRAL isn't named as a defendant in the lawsuit, the complaint accuses the news organization of parroting false statements from DHHS and "false, negligent and shoddy reporting" that undermined the company's reputation and "likely contributed to the ultimate withdrawal of the ACF Grant."

"WRAL has spent more a year covering New Horizon's grant from the federal government and has given New Horizon and its CEO, Barbara Brockington, multiple opportunities to respond to questions. WRAL stands by its reporting," WRAL News Director Rick Gall said in a statement.

Read the story here.

NEWS BREAK: CANINE CO-PILOTS

Peter Rork is a retired orthopedic surgeon who never imagined he would save thousands of dogs from euthanasia. After his wife died unexpectedly, he found solace in transporting dogs and some cats from overcrowded shelters to rescue organizations in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. In eight years, he has saved nearly 16,000 animals.

From The Washington Post story:

“I always wanted to do something that involved aviation,” Rork said, adding that he got his pilot’s license when he was 16 and still wears the pilot’s watch his mother got him for his 13th birthday.

But when Rork – who lives with three rescue dogs himself – learned that, on average, thousands of healthy animals are euthanized in U.S. shelters every day, he decided to combine his interest in planes, pets and protecting lives.

“I had no idea there were places that kill over 90 percent of stray animals,” Rork said.

Approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized in the United States annually, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). That number was even greater in 2011, when 2.6 million dogs and cats were euthanized in shelters.

“You can be part of the solution or part of the problem,” Rork said. “I’ve always wanted to be part of the solution.”
 

Your tips have been vital to our immigration coverage. Keep them coming: [email protected]. 

– Laura C. Morel

Fact-based journalism is worth fighting for.