Kamala Harris demands officials affirm immigration agents will stay away from health facilities

Kamala Harris demands officials affirm immigration agents will stay away from health facilities
NewsColony

The letter follows a call from immigration policy experts from the Center for American Progress last week, who urged a halt to enforcement actions around healthcare facilities for now. “This proposal is not complicated—and it should not be controversial,” they said. “Consistent with past practice, DHS should issue a formal public statement affirming that there will be no ICE and CBP immigration enforcement actions at hospitals, health care facilities, and other COVID-19 testing sites … In addition, it would also promote the national interest of limiting the further spread of the coronavirus.”

But as Harris noted, a statement reaffirming the “sensitive locations” policy is needed because on the ground, agents have defied it. “I am concerned by recent reports that sensitive locations policies are inconsistently enforced and that ‘[t]he presence of immigration authorities is becoming increasingly common at health care facilities around the country,’” Harris said. In one example noted by CAP, ICE “in August 2018 arrested 35-year-old Joel Arrona-Lara at a gas station as he was driving his pregnant wife to the hospital for a scheduled cesarean section. Arrona-Lara, who had no criminal record in the United States, remained in ICE custody while his son was born.”

Last week, Washington state Rep. Pramila Jayapal pressured Cuccinelli during a hearing into publicly committing that the administration’s public charge rule won’t punish families who are trying to seek care during this current crisis, tweeting “that he committed to me [at] an all-member briefing that he’d publicly and explicitly clarify that the rule does not apply during COVID-19 outbreak.” Of course, the worry is to what extent officials will go to make sure the policy, along with the sensitive locations policy, are fully obeyed so that families can be protected.

Source: Daily Kos NewsColony: Politics

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