Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Democrats Introduce Legislation To Prevent Family Separations, Though It Stands Slim Chance Of Becoming Law
Democratic lawmakers filed legislation Wednesday to end President Trump鈥檚 travel ban, asylum ban and 鈥渆xtreme vetting鈥 of refugees, a measure that is unlikely to pass the Senate or gain White House approval but attempts to prevent family separations and rally support for immigration leading up to the 2020 elections. Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) announced the bill with support from freshman lawmakers Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and others. (Sacchetti, 4/10)
The White House met with Senate Democrats to discuss possibly jump-starting talks to fix the situation at the southern border on Wednesday afternoon. Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump's acting chief of staff, huddled in a closed door meeting with Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in Feinstein鈥檚 office. (Levine, 4/10)
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has approved a request to identify locations to potentially house up to 5,000 unaccompanied migrant children if asked, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. In March, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requested Pentagon support to identify locations to house unaccompanied migrant children through September 30. (4/10)
A 27-year-old man died in a California hospital after he suffered a brain hemorrhage while detained by U.S. immigration authorities, his wife said Wednesday, demanding to know what caused his injury and whether he received appropriate medical care in custody. Melissa Castro said she was called Feb. 8 by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official and told that her husband had a 鈥減assing out episode鈥 while in the custody of detention officials in Adelanto, California, and had been taken to the hospital. (Taxin, 4/10)
The White House is considering nominating the former head of an anti-immigration group to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to a White House official and three people briefed on the deliberations, the latest development in a series of staffing shakeups that have alarmed some Republican senators. (Hesson, Kumar and Restuccia, 4/10)
President Donald Trump is in a fight over immigration 鈥 with himself. Trump denied on Tuesday that he is 鈥渃leaning house鈥 at the Department of Homeland Security. But on Wednesday, the White House was eyeing a replacement for a senior DHS official whose job congressional Republicans are trying to save. (Johnson, Cook and Kumar, 4/10)