Earlier this year, our reporter Patrick Michels brought us the story of one community – Yolo County, California – that was wrestling with its role in detaining migrant children.

Following family separation, some residents believed the county should cancel its contract with the federal government to hold children in the Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility. Others in the Northern California community thought they were better equipped to help the children than other places and should keep the contract.

“If these kids go, we don’t know where they’ll end up,” one community organizer told Patrick.

Things weren’t perfect at Yolo, either. Children have complained about the use of pepper spray and physical restraints, lawsuits show. In February, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra released a report ([link removed]) that found that Yolo was a troubling place for children. Inspectors interviewed 19 children in the facility; nine reported having attempted suicide or cutting themselves.

Ultimately, in June 2018, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors decided to keep the contract ([link removed]) because, as one supervisor put it, it would be “morally wrong” to turn the children away.

However, last week, the supervisors changed their minds. They voted to terminate the contract, The Sacramento Bee reported ([link removed]) . During the meeting, some board members said the facility, which is nearly empty, could be used for other purposes. The facility has 90 beds but housed fewer than 17 migrant youths per day in the first few months of the year, The Bee reported.

“We have a responsibility to our own youth,” said Supervisor Jim Provenza. “We have other demands for needs and space. This seems to be a crossroads where it makes sense to me not to renew.”

Read Patrick’s original story here. ([link removed])

WHY WE HAVE TO SUE TO GET PUBLIC RECORDS

Patrick recently spoke to the Columbia Journalism Review about our reporting into private contractors hired by the government to house unaccompanied children. We often use the federal Freedom of Information Act to submit requests for copies of these federal contracts. But actually getting the records we’re entitled to under the law presents other challenges.

In November 2017, Patrick requested copies of all current contracts for private companies housing migrant children. After seven months without a response, we sued the government ([link removed]) for the records. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the care of unaccompanied children, has been steadily releasing documents to us.

In summer 2018, reporter Aura Bogado broke the story ([link removed]) about a contractor, MVM Inc., that was holding children in a Phoenix office building. After Immigration and Customs Enforcement failed to provide the contract, we sued again. ([link removed])

“Lawsuits, the two reporters found, were a critical tool for prying information from those private entities contracted to handle the nation’s youngest immigrants,” the article reads.

Read the article here. ([link removed])

COURTS BLOCK NEW ‘PUBLIC CHARGE’ RULES

Federal judges in three states have blocked ([link removed]) new regulations that would deny legal immigrants using public benefits from obtaining green cards.

The “public charge” rules ([link removed]) are among the Trump administration’s latest attempts to further limit legal immigration to the U.S. They were scheduled to take effect this week.

Under the new regulations, the Department of Homeland Security would consider factors such as education, health and financial status to decide which immigrants would be allowed to live in the U.S. The agency also could deny green cards to legal immigrants using public benefits such as Medicaid and Section 8 housing. When the rule first was proposed last year, immigrant advocates expressed concerns that it would affect U.S.-born children who have immigrant parents. One study ([link removed]) found that 1 in 7 adults in immigrant households in 2018 declined to enroll in public benefits for fear of losing their status.

Judge George B. Daniels of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan wrote in his ruling ([link removed]) that the regulations are “repugnant to the American Dream of the opportunity for prosperity and success through hard work and upward mobility.”

3 THINGS WE’RE READING

1. Undocumented workers hired to rebuild communities ravaged by hurricanes often face wage theft and threats of deportation from employers. (The New York Times ([link removed]) )

At a recent meeting in Bay County, Florida, immigrants spoke to commissioners about the challenges they’ve faced in obtaining their paychecks from local contractors. One speaker said she is owed $6,713.

The kicker: The meeting also featured workers who shared their own stories. Ana Salazar, 58, said she had come from Venezuela with her two sons to do debris removal and reconstruction. The immigrant said that she represented several workers employed by Winterfell Construction, owned by one of the county commissioners, Tommy Hamm. They had received “absolutely no payment from the company,” she said, weeping as she recounted her experience in Spanish.

2. Thousands of Mexican citizens are crossing legally into the U.S. every week to donate plasma to pharmaceutical companies. (ProPublica ([link removed]) )

Some donors can make up to $400 a month for donating twice a week, even though donating plasma too often can weaken a person’s immune system. In the U.S., donors can give plasma up to 104 times a year.

The kicker: When our reporters asked Genesis to get her blood levels examined, the lab results confirmed what Genesis felt. The test showed a dangerously low immunoglobulin G level. According to Paul Strengers of the International Plasma Fractionation Association, a trade group for not-for-profit collectors of blood plasma, the loss of antibodies can damage the immune system and lead to serious infections like pneumonia. The doctor who conducted the blood tests suggested that she stop donating plasma until her body is fully recovered. But, Genesis said, “stopping is a luxury I cannot afford.”

3. Immigration authorities moved more than 700 women from a Texas detention center without telling their lawyers where to find them. (HuffPost ([link removed]) )

Lawyers from the nonprofit Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services say they don’t know where their clients are being held, and some of the women have serious medical conditions.

The kicker: The situation highlights a common problem for migrants in ICE custody: They can be transferred between facilities with little notice and yet their new locations are not promptly updated in the system. If their existing lawyers and family members can’t find them, they may have to go through their cases without legal representation, especially in remote areas where legal counsel is sparse. And those with serious health issues could die if advocates who don’t know where their clients were transferred are unable to fight for their right to medical treatment.

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

– Laura C. Morel
Fact-based journalism is worth fighting for.
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