SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
From now through the November elections NPR's reporters are bringing us the immigration briefing. That's a weekly look at the administration's ongoing nationwide crackdown.
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SIMON: This week, what happens after someone dies in an ICE detention facility? And who gives their loved ones answers about what happened? Also, pediatricians are raising alarm that these immigration sweeps may be keeping migrant children from getting healthcare. NPR's Vanessa Romo joins us. Vanessa, thanks so much for being with us.
VANESSA ROMO, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
SIMON: Pediatricians report the immigration crackdown might be putting migrant children in jeopardy. What did doctors find?
ROMO: A new national survey from the American Academy of Pediatrics found that 40% of pediatricians say they've noticed families staying away from care due to fears that they'll be detained. Another 30 say immigrant parents are reluctant about applying for public health services and support. They've also noticed that there are families in their practices who are avoiding sending their children to school. Here's Dr. Lee Beers. She's the chief medical officer of the association.
LEE BEERS: They can receive health services within the school. They can receive mental health services within the school. It's a place where they have strong relationships with caring and supportive adults who can help identify if perhaps there's an emerging health issue or an emerging mental health issue.
ROMO: And there are worries that it could get even worse after the administration proposed new changes to public benefit rules this week.
SIMON: Vanessa, another story you've been looking at - the number of deaths that happen in ICE detention facilities and the battle that families often face to find answers about what happened to their loved ones. What can you tell us?
ROMO: So far, according to the Department of Homeland Security, there have been 57 migrants who have died while in the government's care during Trump's current term, usually in ICE detention facilities. And nearly all of the families I've spoken with are left with a slew of questions about what exactly happened.
You know, their loved ones were living out in the world, even those with serious medical ailments were living relatively normal lives before they were picked up by ICE. And once they were taken into detention, their health rapidly deteriorates, and then some of them die in custody - in many instances, in a matter of days or weeks. Meanwhile, the families are left shattered, and when they ask for answers or an explanation, they often find that they're stonewalled by ICE, DHS and the for-profit private companies that are running the detention facilities.
There's actually no federal law that requires ICE to tell a family when a loved one dies, is hospitalized or has a medical emergency in custody. That gap is why two House members - both Democrats - introduced the Families Deserve to Know Act this year after visiting a New Jersey detention facility where a man died, and his mother says she never heard from ICE at all.
SIMON: And you've talked to families in this situation, haven't you?
ROMO: Yes. I've been speaking with Mariel Garcia (ph) from Northridge, California. Her father, who had a legal work permit, was picked up by ICE while he was on his bicycle on his way to a car wash where he worked. This was in October of last year. She spoke to him one time that same day after he'd been taken into a temporary holding facility. Here's what she says he told her.
MARIEL GARCIA: Immigration got me. Like, I'm already going to Mexico. See you over there. But he sounded fine, and I told him, no, don't sign anything. But he was already - like, in his head, like, he was already going to go back to Mexico. And then after that, I never heard back from him.
ROMO: The next time she heard anything about him was more than a week later. Officials from Adelanto ICE Processing Center, about an hour and a half outside of Los Angeles, called her to tell her that her father was near death at a nearby hospital. He'd been transferred there less than 24 hours after arriving at Adelanto. When she got to the hospital, she says he had a mouthful of broken teeth. His tongue looked like it had been bleeding, and he had facial scabs. And she says no one, to this day, has explained why he was in that condition.
SIMON: What has the family discovered about what happened to him?
ROMO: Not much yet. Garcia filed a lawsuit against ICE and The GEO Group, the company that operates Adelanto. Nearly a year later, it looks like the family is finally getting access to internal records from the detention center, any video and audio recordings that may exist and her father's medical records. Her lawyer, Jesus Arias, told me it's been a long slog.
JESUS ARIAS: That's the reason why we have to bring lawsuits. We have to do this on behalf of the family. Otherwise, the families are basically left in limbo without any information, without reasons, without the answers to why their loved one died in custody.
ROMO: The GEO Group referred us to ICE. In a statement to NPR, ICE said it takes the health and safety and well-being of all detainees in its custody seriously. The agency added that it follows established procedures for notifying the detainee's next of kin and conducts required reviews and reporting. But, you know, the Garcia case is not unique. There are dozens of families we've heard from who've all experienced the same frustrations with ICE and DHS' lack of transparency after a loved one's sudden death.
SIMON: NPR's Vanessa Romo with this week's immigration briefing. Vanessa, thanks so much.
ROMO: Thank you, Scott.
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