This article features Government Accountability Project’s whistleblower clients, Drs. Scott Allen and Josiah “Jody” Rich, and was originally published here.
Immigrant advocates say the rollout of COVID-19 boosters at federal immigration detention centers in California has been sluggish and uneven, and they’re asking the state to intervene to protect detainees’ health.
Confirmed coronavirus cases among people locked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement skyrocketed from about 300 to more than 3,100 last month, as omicron infections peaked nationwide.
That figure dropped to 1,660 this week. But many detainees still need boosters as outbreaks continue at some ICE facilities in the state, said Edwin Carmona-Cruz, with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice.
“There are massive efforts across the state and across the nation to be vaccinated, to be boosted, right? And so when you look at this population that’s in immigration detention, they’re forgotten,” said Carmona-Cruz, who directs community engagement at his organization.
For months now, booster vaccinations have been one of the federal government’s top priorities in fighting COVID. Since November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended booster shots for all adults, and in mid-December, it endorsed Pfizer and Moderna shots, because they have been shown to be more effective than Johnson & Johnson against COVID-19.
But as of early January, only about 3% of people held in ICE...
CNN is defending its reporting on a statement given by Iranian officials regarding a ceasefire agreement the U.S. and Iran reached just hours before President Trump was set to launch an attack on ...