FACING IMMINENT PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS AND CONCERNED ABOUT CHILDREN IN FEDERAL IMMIGRATION CUSTODY, LA COUNTY URGES CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION TO PROVIDE INFLUENZA VACCINATIONS
LA County initiates first local government action by submitting letter to federal monitor stressing importance of prioritizing immediate immunizations for children held at the border
LOS ANGELES (Jan. 28, 2020) – Responding to repeated insistence by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that it will not provide influenza vaccinations to migrant children held at the border, the Office of the County Counsel for Los Angeles County sent a forceful letter late yesterday urging a court-appointed monitor to compel the border agency to provide potentially life-saving vaccines.
For over a year, the Trump Administration has continually rejected a recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that CBP administer flu vaccines “at the earliest feasible point of entry” to minors held in its facilities. Other public health experts, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have similarly urged the CBP to improve its standard of care. Over the past two years, three children have died from causes related to the flu while in custody at the border. Prior to this time, no children had died in CBP custody for approximately a decade.
Migrant children have a heightened risk of contracting life-threatening influenza, a vulnerability due in part to inadequate access to healthcare earlier in their lives and exacerbated by overcrowding and unsanitary conditions in CBP facilities. The risk of a flu outbreak is expected to rise in the coming months, as immigration rates typically increase beginning in February and continue through the spring, coinciding with the flu’s peak season in the United States.
The Trump Administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy has aggravated these public health concerns. By placing asylum seekers in overcrowded camps that lack access to basic sanitation, healthcare and food, the risk of migrant children falling ill has increased significantly.
Yesterday’s action seeks to avoid additional deaths of detained migrant children kept at border facilities, as many of these deaths could have been prevented. It will also help avert a potential public health crisis in LA County as individuals exposed to the virus while at a border facility could potentially expose other individuals to the flu virus.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s refusal to vaccinate detained migrant children is unconscionable and shortsighted, especially given that Customs and Border Protection is the agency responsible for creating the unsanitary and overcrowded conditions at border detention facilities where infectious diseases, like the flu, spread quickly,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis. "This Administration has a moral responsibility to provide basic humane care to detained migrant children. If migrant children are not vaccinated at the first point of entry, they may expose County residents to the flu virus once they arrive to LA County.”
The letter was submitted by the County Counsel, Public Rights Project, and O’Melveny & Myers LLP, the attorneys representing LA County on this matter, to monitor Andrea Sheridan Ordin, who was appointed in 2018 following a U.S. District Court ruling that the federal government had failed to comply with its obligations under the Flores settlement agreement. The Flores consent decree, which dates back to 1997, requires the federal government to treat minors in immigration custody with “special concern for their particular vulnerability” and to use “safe and sanitary” facilities. As monitor, Ordin is empowered to investigate border detention centers and report noncompliance to the court. The letter asks Ordin to ensure that any agreement concerning the conditions of children at the border require vaccination at CBP border facilities.
On Jan. 14, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors also unanimously approved Supervisor Solis’s motion to explore legal options to challenge the CBP’s anti-vaccination policy.
“CBP’s blatant refusal to provide critically important medical care to children held in custody is unlawful and dangerous,” said Jonathan Miller, Legal Director of Public Rights Project, counsel to Los Angeles County. “Their disregard of clear recommendations from one of the country’s top public health institutions especially in the face of recent deaths in their custody, show the depravity of the Trump Administration when it comes to civil and human rights. Public Rights Project applauds our partners in Los Angeles County for taking this important affirmative step.”
Thousands of migrant children each year are sent to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) detention facilities and eventually released to sponsors in Los Angeles County after their transfer from CBP custody. By refusing to administer vaccinations, the letter argues, CBP creates the risk of additional flu outbreaks in Los Angeles County and risks the health of sponsors, attorneys, ORR staff members, and other children who reside in the County. From Oct.1, 2018 to Aug. 31, 2019, 3,350 unaccompanied immigrant children were released to a sponsor living in the County – the second-highest number in the country.
This matter is being handled by Deputy County Counsel Katherine McKeon and Assistant County Counsel Scott Kuhn of the Office of the LA County Counsel, Counsel LiJia Gong, Legal Fellow Sophia TonNu and Legal Director Jonathan Miller of the Public Rights Project, and Margaret Carter and Dimitri Portnoi of O’Melveny & Myers LLP.
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About Public Rights
Public Rights Project is a national organization that bridges the gap between the laws on the books, what’s happening on the ground and the lack of investment and commitment by the current Federal administration on civil rights. PRP leverages untapped opportunities in state and local law offices, including City Attorneys, District Attorneys, and Attorneys General and provides critical start up capital to help these offices increase capacity and enforcement.
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Contact:
Debbie Mesloh, debmesloh@gmail.com, 415-867-2243 cell
Rachel Tobin, rachel_tobin@outlook.com, 404-276-5930 cell
Rosa Maria Santana, Deputy Communications Director, Supervisor Hilda Solis, rsantana@bos.lacounty.gov, 213-359-0795
