U.S.
ICE Operations Continue Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
Published
10 months agoon
By
Katie Calo
- As the coronavirus outbreak spreads, reports show that ICE agents have not slowed in their attempts to arrest undocumented immigrants across the U.S.
- Advocates argue that these operations should be suspended in the midst of the public health crisis and are calling for immigration courts to close.
- Some are also pushing for those at high risk for the coronavirus to be released from immigration detainment centers, which are susceptible to high spreads.
- ICE said they are taking precautionary measures but are still continuing daily operations.
ICE Arrests Carry On
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is continuing their arrests of undocumented immigrants during the coronavirus crisis, despite calls from many advocates and experts requesting that they temporarily suspend their operations.
On Sunday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom significantly boosted the state’s response to the pandemic when he ordered the closure of all bars, nightclubs, brewpubs, and wineries and encouraged all people over the age of 65 to stay home. But the Los Angeles Times revealed that just a day after this escalation, a group of ICE officers made rounds in the city to search for four of their targets.
Though the agents greeted each other by bumping elbows instead of shaking hands and had respirator masks on deck just in case, they were not otherwise deterred by the coronavirus in their pursuits, nor by criticism they’ve received from immigrant advocates. According to the Los Angeles Times, this week more than 45 organizations have signed a letter to the Department of Homeland Security requesting that the enforcement actions of ICE be temporarily suspended.
“We’re out here trying to protect the public by getting these criminal aliens off the street and out of our communities,” David Marin, the director of Enforcement and Removal Operations for ICE in L.A., told the Los Angeles Times. “Asking us to stop doing that basically gives those criminals another opportunity to maybe commit more crimes, to create more victims.”
One of the individuals that the Los Angeles ICE agents handcuffed on Monday was Pedro Castillo Bravo, who was confronted on his way to work. Castillo had worries about his lack of food at home and the frenzy of panic buying. He had planned to pick up supplies and food on his way home that day.
“I’m the head of the house,” Castillo told The Los Angeles Times, with the outlet reporting that he was teary-eyed. “If they have me here locked up, what about rent and food?”
ICE arrests don’t seem to be faltering anywhere else around the country either. In El Paso, Texas, raids in recent weeks have targeted small, Latino-owned businesses, which are prone to struggle during the outbreak. In Denver, there have been reports of arrests of at least two parents in the past week amid school closures.
“It is reckless and extremely dangerous for ICE to be out there conducting hands-on arrests of people and then putting them in detention in what is a crowded facility that is just ripe for a disastrous outbreak,” Arash Jahanian of the Meyer Law Office, which handles local Denver immigration cases, told the Denver Post.
Calls for Action
ICE said it is continuing daily operations. On their website, the agency noted that it does not conduct its operations at medical facilities “except under extraordinary circumstances,” which has been a concern of both public health and legal experts as it might deter undocumented immigrants from seeking needed medical help.
ICE also noted that its agents are following CDC guidelines in terms of handling possible cases.
“ICE transports individuals with moderate to severe symptoms, or those who require higher levels of care or monitoring, to appropriate hospitals with expertise in high risk care,” its website reads. “Detainees who do not have fever or symptoms, but meet CDC criteria for epidemiologic risk, are housed separately in a single cell, or as a group, depending on available space.”
While the ICE has suspended all social visits to immigration detention centers nationwide in efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus, many still have high concerns about the virus spreading among those detained. Similar fears have been rippling through the countries for those placed in federal prisons as well. In these places, the detainees typically live together in very tight quarters, making the preventative measure of social distancing impossible. Others have criticized and are worried about these facilities’ past displays of inadequate medical care and neglect.
“Immigration detention is like a cruise ship but obviously worse for many reasons,” Eunice Cho, a senior staff attorney and detention expert at the American Civil Liberties Union, told Mother Jones.
On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Northwest Immigration Rights Project filed a lawsuit demanding that nine individuals who are at high risk for the coronavirus be released from the Tacoma, Washington ICE detention center where they’re currently being held. The plaintiffs include those with an autoimmune disorder, lung disease, and epilepsy, among other ailments.
“Release protects the people with the greatest vulnerability to COVID from transmission of the virus, and also allows for greater risk mitigation for all people held or working in a prison, jail, or detention center,” the lawsuit argues.
“Release of the most vulnerable people from custody also reduces the burden on the region’s limited healthcare infrastructure, as it lessens the likelihood that an overwhelming number of people will become seriously ill from COVID-19 at the same time,” it said.
On Tuesday, immigration judges, attorneys for ICE employees, and public health agencies called for the immediate closure of all immigration courts for the time being to combat potential sharing of the virus during these gatherings.
Also on Tuesday, in a turn of events, Guatemala closed its borders to U.S. deportations in fear of coronavirus cases striking their country. On their website, the ICE notes that it has been screening people’s temperatures before air charter removal from the country, but the Honduran government announced last week that three of its citizens who were deported from the U.S. exhibited symptoms of the coronavirus.
See what others are saying: (Los Angeles Times) (CBS) (Washington Post)

- Florida is now requiring that people show proof of either full-time or part-time residency in the state in order to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
- The state has been hit with “vaccine tourism” as many people, predominantly wealthy individuals, fly to the state from other parts of the U.S. and abroad just to get the shot.
- So far, nearly 41,000 of the 1.3 million doses administered in Florida went to out-of-staters, though it is unclear if all those people were tourists or if this figure includes some part-time residents.
Florida Requires Proof of Residency
Florida is cracking down on “vaccine tourism” and requiring that people show proof of either full-time or part-time residency in the state in order to get a COVID-19 shot.
Previously the state was allowing anyone 65 and older, including non-residents, to get the vaccine. This resulted in people flying to the Sunshine State from across the U.S. and abroad just for the purpose of receiving it.
According to state data, nearly 41,000 of the 1.3 million doses Florida has administered have gone to out-of-staters. It is unclear if all these out-of-staters are tourists or if this figure includes some part-time residents.
Now, people must show a form of identification like a driver’s license or mortgage payment to receive it. Exceptions will be made for healthcare workers.
Vaccine Supply Continues to Be Limited
Wealthy people in particular were quick to schedule travel plans to Florida for this reason. According to the Wall Street Journal, there was an influx of Canadians booking private jets to Florida. Some were looking to book flights there and back on the same day, leaving just enough time for them to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, people in Florida and across the country are waiting in long lines and struggling to book appointments on glitching websites to get their shots. Vaccine supply continues to be incredibly limited and not everyone in high-risk groups have received them.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said this rule is not made to impact snowbirds, people who live in Florida during the winter to escape cold weather up north.
“They go to doctors here or whatever, that’s fine, DeSantis said, according to CNN. “What we don’t want is tourists, foreigners. We want to put seniors first, but we obviously want to put people that live here first in line.”
See what others are saying: (Wall Street Journal) (CNN) (Travel + Leisure)
U.S.
Amanda Gorman Wows the Nation With “The Hill We Climb”
Published
5 days agoon
January 21, 2021
- Amanda Gorman, a 22-year-old poet, impressed the nation when she read “The Hill We Climb” at President Biden’s inauguration, making her the youngest inaugural poet in the nation’s history.
- Gorman’s said the Jan. 6 attack on the nation’s Capitol inspired her to focus on a message of hope, community, and healing in her poem.
- Big names like Oprah Winfrey, Anderson Cooper, Barack Obama, and Lin-Manuel Miranda have all praised her work.
Amanda Gorman Becomes Youngest Inaugural Poet
Inaugural poet Amanda Gorman wowed the nation on Wednesday as she spoke of healing, unity, hope, and what it means to be American while reading her poem, “The Hill We Climb.”
At 22-years-old Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in the nation’s history. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she was the youth poet laureate of Los Angeles in 2014 at the age of 16. She then became the first national youth poet laureate in 2017.
Now, her books are topping Amazon’s Best Sellers list and they are not even scheduled to be released until the fall.
I AM ON THE FLOOR MY BOOKS ARE #1 & #2 ON AMAZON AFTER 1 DAY! Thank you so much to everyone for supporting me and my words. As Yeats put it: "For words alone are certain good: Sing, then"
— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) January 20, 2021
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden became a fan of Gorman after watching her give a reading at the Library of Congress. She then suggested that Gorman be a part of the ceremony.
“Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped That even as we tired, we tried,” Gorman recited during inauguration. “That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat but because we will never again sow division.”
Like President Biden, Gorman has struggled with a speech impediment and has been open about her experience overcoming it. She actually used poetry as a tool to correct it. First, she used it as a way of expressing herself without having to speak. Then she used it to bring her poems to life.
“Once I arrived at the point in my life in high school, where I said, ‘you know what? Writing my poems on the page isn’t enough for me,” she told CBS News. “I have to give them breath, and life, I have to perform them as I am.’ That was the moment that I was able to grow past my speech impediment.”
What Inspired “The Hill We Climb”
Gorman said the inaugural committee gave her freedom and flexibility when it came to choosing what to write about. She was well on her way before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Those events then influenced her writing.
“It energized me even more to believe that much more firmly in a message of hope, community and healing. I felt like that was the type of poem that I needed to write and it was the type of poem that the country and the world needed to hear,” she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
That message came across clearly and the insurrection was depicted in part of “The Hill We Climb.”
“It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we step into and how we repair it. We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy and this effort very nearly succeeded,” she said. “But while democracy can be periodically delayed it can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future history has its eyes on us.”
Nation Impressed by Gorman
“Wow…Wow, I just, wow you’re awesome,” Cooper said when closing his interview with her. “I am so transfixed.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda also cheered Gorman on. “The Hill We Climb” notably references a line of scripture that appears in a “Hamilton” song. Gorman also said she used to sing the song “Aaron Burr, Sir” to help her say her R sounds and correct her speech impediment.
YES @TheAmandaGorman!!! -LMM
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) January 20, 2021
“I have never been prouder to see another young woman rise!” Oprah Winfrey wrote. “Brava Brava Amanda Gorman! Maya Angelou is cheering—and so am I.”
I have never been prouder to see another young woman rise! Brava Brava, @TheAmandaGorman! Maya Angelou is cheering—and so am I. pic.twitter.com/I5HLE0qbPs
— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) January 20, 2021
Winfrey also gave Gorman a ring with a caged bird on it—a reference to the famous Angelou poem— which Gorman wore during the inauguration.
Your words will lead us through. Thank you for that beautiful expression of our grace, and our potential, and the wrongs that we can always right.
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) January 20, 2021
Actor Mark Ruffalo joined the onslaught of praise, saying that her words will lead the nation.
Former President Barack Obama echoed that idea as well, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Gorman promised to run for president one day.
On a day for the history books, @TheAmandaGorman delivered a poem that more than met the moment. Young people like her are proof that "there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it; if only we're brave enough to be it." pic.twitter.com/mbywtvjtEH
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 20, 2021
Wasn't @TheAmandaGorman’s poem just stunning? She's promised to run for president in 2036 and I for one can't wait. pic.twitter.com/rahEClc6k2
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 20, 2021
See what others are saying: (CBS News) (New York Times) (Los Angeles Times)
U.S.
SAT Drops Subject Tests and Optional Essay Section
Published
7 days agoon
January 19, 2021By
Cory Ray
- The College Board will discontinue SAT subject tests effective immediately and will scrap the optional essay section in June.
- The organization cited the coronavirus pandemic as part of the reason for accelerating these changes.
- Regarding subject tests, the College Board said the other half of the decision rested on the fact that Advanced Placement tests are now more accessible to low-income students and students of color, making subject tests unnecessary.
- It also said it plans to launch a digital version of the SAT in the near future, despite failing to implement such a plan last year after a previous announcement.
College Board Ends Subject Tests and Optional Essay
College Board announced Tuesday that it will scrap the SAT’s optional essay section, as well as subject tests.
Officials at the organization cited the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the reason for these changes, saying is has “accelerated a process already underway at the College Board to simplify our work and reduce demands on students.”
The decision was also made in part because Advanced Placement tests, which College Board also administers, are now available to more low-income students and students of color. Thus, College Board has said this makes SAT subject tests unnecessary.
While subject tests will be phased out for international students, they have been discontinued effective immediately in the U.S.
Regarding the optional essay, College Board said high school students are now able to express their writing skills in a variety of ways, a factor which has made the essay section less necessary.
With several exceptions, it will be discontinued in June.
The Board Will Implement an Online SAT Test
In its announcement, College Board also said it plans to launch a revised version of the SAT that’s aimed at making it “more flexible” and “streamlined” for students to take the test online.
In April 2020, College Board announced it would be launching a digital SAT test in the fall if schools didn’t reopen. The College Board then backtracked on its plans for a digital test in June, before many schools even decided they would remain closed.
According to College Board, technological challenges led to the decision to postpone that plan.
For now, no other details about the current plan have been released, though more are expected to be revealed in April.
See what others are saying: (The Washington Post) (NPR) (The New York Times)

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