Maloney, Raskin Release Troubling New Report on Pregnant Women in DHS Detention
Yesterday, U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) released a sobering report entitled “Care of Pregnant Women in DHS Facilities”.
According to the report, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detained more than 2,000 pregnant women in 2018 alone. The report also documents the complaints those detainees have made against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials. The most common complaint against the former was that they failed to provide adequate medical care; the most common against the latter was that they physically and verbally abused the detainees.
“This independent report documents troubling instances of inadequate care and complaints of mistreatment of these vulnerable pregnant women,” said Maloney. “This report comes at a time when the Administration is refusing to release hundreds of pregnant women and other medically at-risk individuals who are vulnerable to the coronavirus in crowded detention facilities.”
Stringer Calls on TC Energy to Stop Construction of Keystone XL Pipeline
Yesterday, City Comptroller Scott Stringer (D) urged the natural gas company TC Energy to stop construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter to TC President and CEO Russ Girling, Stringer cited reports that the company was transporting workers to construction sites as recently as last month. He argued that those sites could become vectors for the virus, endangering their workers. Furthermore, he said, there is no compelling reason to continue construction, given the drop in demand for oil.
We are in the middle of a global public health crisis, and there is no reason to prioritize the construction of this pipeline over people’s lives,” said Stringer. “People come first, and we must do everything in our power to protect the health and safety of our workers, families, neighbors, and communities. Millions of people are sheltering in place and forgoing their daily routines to help flatten the curve. It is simply unconscionable that TC Energy would risk the spread of COVID-19 to its own workers, to residents of rural communities, and to indigenous communities living in close proximity to active construction sites.”
Read the full letter here.
Cuomo Announces First Insurance Fraud Action Against Major Opioid Manufacturer
Yesterday, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) announced that the Department of Financial Services (DFS) has filed charges against the pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt for its role in the opioid crisis.
According to DFS, the company accounted for 39 percent of the opioids on the market in New York from 2006 to 2014. From 2009 to 2019, they supplied New York’s commercial insurance customers with over a billion opioid pills.
DFS has charged the company with insurance fraud, on the grounds that they fraudulently overstated the benefits of their drugs and downplayed the health risks.
“The worst frauds are those that go beyond individual harm to institutionalized systemic fraud – and the opioid scheme is no exception,” said Cuomo. “The opioid manufacturers knew how addictive and dangerous their products were and they used it as a business model for their own financial gain at the cost of thousands of human lives and billions of dollars. The damage they have caused by creating and perpetuating the opioid epidemic that is devastating our state and nation has been immeasurable, and we are taking action to ensure these big pharmaceutical companies are held responsible for their fraudulent practices.”
Espaillat Urges Feds to Honor MTA’s COVID-19 Relief Request
Last Friday, U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-Washington Heights, Sugar Hill) sent a bipartisan letter requesting relief for public transit systems across the nation – particularly the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA).
Recently, the MTA publicly requested $3.9 billion in federal aid to keep its operations running through the COVID-19 crisis. In a letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Espaillat and 16 other representatives expressed their support for the MTA’s request, noting the vital services it provides for New York.
The MTA is transporting thousands of nurses, doctors, critical care staff, public utility employees and other essential workers to deal with the nation’s largest COVID-19 outbreak,” wrote Espaillat. “At the same time, the MTA has worked with the public to take aggressive action to limit non-essential travel that has helped to mitigate the spread of this pandemic. These efforts have come at the expense of revenue, tax support, and most importantly the lives of 68 MTA employees. We know the MTA and other transit agencies will carry on in meeting the needs of the public, but we
must ensure they receive federal support to continue operations at all of their facilities.”
Read the full letter here.
