Surprise! Lots of People on a Packed ICE Deportation Flight Now Have Coronavirus

By Ashley Reese  |  April 15, 2020 | 10:00pm
NewsPolitics
Surprise! Lots of People on a Packed ICE Deportation Flight Now Have Coronavirus
Image:Getty

Guatemala, as well as El Salvador and Honduras, have asked the Trump administration to administer a moratorium on deportations as the covid-19 pandemic rages on. Makes sense. The United States is the global epicenter of the coronavirus—as of Tuesday, there have been 624,000 confirmed covid-19 cases in the United States and over 27,000 deaths. Other countries obviously don’t want people coming in from the pandemic hot spot, potentially infecting others and causing an outbreak.

But instead of halting deportations, President Trump went full speed ahead in the opposite direction and signed legislation punishing countries who refuse to accept deportees. ABC News reports that a single flight transporting deported migrants from the United States to Guatemala resulted in 75 percent of the passengers testing positive for covid-19, according to Guatemala’s health minister.

From ABC News:

But last Friday, President Donald Trump instead signed a memorandum to authorize sanctions against any country that doesn’t accept removals from the U.S. — a threat to all four countries, despite concerns about the ability of their fragile health systems to handle severe outbreaks.

And what does Immigration and Customs Enforcement have to say about all of this? To the surprise of absolutely no one, nothing good!

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to request for comment Tuesday. Deportation flights resumed Monday with 182 migrants on two separate flights, according to the AP, after a week-long pause because of concerns that deportees were carrying the virus.
An ICE spokesperson previously told ABC News that the agency does not deport ill detainees and conducts a “visual screening” and temperature check before deportation, ensuring a deportee’s temperature is below 100.4 degrees.

Fuck—and I cannot stress this enough—ICE.

I was lucky enough to receive my $1,200 stimulus check via direct deposit Tuesday night. But millions of unlucky Americans will receive their Trump Bux in the form of a check that prominently displays President Trump’s Sharpie-ass signature on it.

The Washington Post described the move as “unprecedented,” an adjective we should all be used to three years into the Trump era:

…when recipients open the $1,200 paper checks the IRS is scheduled to begin sending to 70 million Americans in coming days, “President Donald J. Trump” will appear on the left side of the payment.
It will be the first time a president’s name appears on an IRS disbursement, whether a routine refund or one of the handful of checks the government has issued to taxpayers in recent decades either to stimulate a down economy or share the dividends of a strong one.

But even that wasn’t good enough for Trump:

Trump had privately suggested to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who oversees the IRS, that he allow the president to formally sign the checks, according to three administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
But the president is not an authorized signer for legal disbursements by the U.S. Treasury. It is standard practice for a civil servant to sign checks issued by the Treasury Department to ensure that government payments are nonpartisan.

It’s some king shit…and I don’t mean it as a compliment

  • In peak piss baby fashion, Trump is cutting off funding to the World Health Organization. [Guardian]
  • Senator Elizabeth Warren has another plan! This one focuses on child care amidst the covid-19 crisis. [Vox]
  • Speaking of covid-19… Kellyanne Conway, everyone!
  • But somehow this isn’t the stupidest thing you’ll see today. Check out some scenes from a rally in Michigan full of people who are skeptical of covid-19’s severity
  • In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a horror movie like this before…
  • Senator Susan Collins thinks that throwing some lukewarm criticism over Trump’s handling of covid-19 is going to make us forget that she is complicit. [Politico]
  • Local lawmakers in San Francisco are demanding the mayor let homeless people lease hotel rooms during the covid-19 pandemic. [NPR]
  • The ACLU is challenging an Idaho law that targets transgender and intersex girls and could subject them to invasive screening.
  • And here’s Donald Trump Jr and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle talking about Joe Exotic. Countdown until President Trump pardons the guy.

 
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