The Boston Globe - 20.08.2019

A2 The Boston Globe TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2019

The Nation

LOS ANGELES — Immi-

grants in US detention facili-

ties filed a lawsuit Monday de-

crying what they called shoddy

medical care and a failure by

authorities to provide accom-

modations for disabilities.

In the suit filed by disability

and civil rights advocates in

US District Court, immigrants

said they’re placed in isolation

as punishment and denied rec-

ommended medical treatment

and surgery. Some said they’ve

been denied wheelchairs and a

deaf detainee who communi-

cates in American Sign Lan-

guage said he has not been

provided an interpreter.

ICE, which largely con-

tracts with private companies

and law enforcement agencies

for detention space, declined

to comment specifically about

the lawsuit.

Advocates said they want to

see changes in medical treat-

ment and policies for the im-

migrants, who are fighting de-

portation, and the release of

immigrants under alternative

programs.

The number of immigrants

in detention has grown in re-

cent years. There are an aver-

age of 55,000 immigrants in

detention each day, ICE said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lawsuit filed on behalf of detainees

The shipment of jalapeño

peppers was even spicier than

they expected.

At the Otay Mesa cargo fa-

cility in San Diego last week, a

37-year-old Mexican citizen at-

tempted to drive a tractor-

trailer carrying heaping

mounds of jalapeño peppers

through a port of entry, au-

thorities said.

But before Custom and

Border Protection let him pull

into California, an officer re-

ferred the truck for a second-

ary inspection. Dogs sniffed

out something suspicious

among the peppers.

The peppers fell away, ex-

posing stacks of 314 packages

of marijuana tightly wrapped

in bright green packaging.

The shipment weighed

7,560 pounds — nearly 4 tons

— and was valued at $2.3 mil-

lion, according to law enforce-

ment.

WASHINGTON POST

4 tons of pot hidden among jalapeños

ORLANDO — Foreign-born

residents had higher rates of

being employed full time than

those born in the United

States last year, and natural-

ized immigrants were more

likely to have advanced de-

grees than the native-born, ac-

cording to figures released

Monday by the US Census Bu-

reau.

The new figures show that

the economic gap between the

native-born and foreign-born

in the United States appears to

narrow with citizenship.

Immigrants who weren’t

citizens had higher rates of

poverty, lower income, and

less education last year com-

pared to native-born citizens.

But immigrants who were citi-

zens had less poverty, close to

equal earnings, and higher

rates of advanced degrees than

native US citizens.

The 2018 figures from the

Current Population Survey of-

fer a view of immigrants’ edu-

cation levels, wealth, and the

jobs they work in.

Overall, naturalized immi-

grants had a slightly smaller

median income than the na-

tive-born — $50,786 com-

pared to $51,547 — but non-

citizen immigrants trailed

them both with a median in-

come of $36,449.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Data show citizenship boosts immigrants

NEW YORK — Since their

founding in New York City in

2016, the far-right Proud Boys

have cultivated a rough-and-

ready image, often declaring:

“We don’t start fights. We fin-

ish them.”

But Monday, jurors in state

Supreme Court in Manhattan

rejected claims by two mem-

bers of the group, who had

said they had been acting in

self-defense last fall when they

took part in the beating of four

people described by police as

antifascists connected to a

loose-knit group called Antifa.

The defendants, Maxwell

Hare and John Kinsman, were

convicted for attempted gang

assault, attempted assault, and

riot for their part in a melee af-

ter an appearance by the

founder of the Proud Boys at

the Metropolitan Republican

Club on East 83rd Street.

Although members of the

male-only Proud Boys have

battled leftists across the coun-

try, the trial in Manhattan ap-

peared to mark the first time

people connected to the group

had been before a jury.

NEW YORK TIMES

2 Proud Boys convicted in NYC brawl

Reportingcorrections

The Globe welcomes information about errors that call for

corrections. Information may be sent to [email protected] or

left in a message at 617-929-8230.

Daily Briefing

By Pam Belluck
NEW YORK TIMES
NEW YORK — Planned Par-
enthood said Monday that it
would withdraw from the fed-
eral family planning program
that provides birth control and
other health services to poor
women rather than comply
with a new Trump administra-
tion rule that forbids referrals
to doctors who can perform
abortions.
Planned Parenthood re-
ceives about $60 million given
annually through the federal
program known as Title X. The
funds have enabled the group
to provide more than 1.5 mil-
lion low-income women each
year with services like birth
control and pregnancy tests, as
well as screenings for sexually
transmitted diseases and
breast and cervical cancer. In
some rural communities,
Planned Parenthood is the only
provider of such services.
In states like Utah, where
Planned Parenthood is the only

organization receiving Title X

funds, and Minnesota, where

Planned Parenthood serves 90

percent of the Title X patients,

those seeking care may face

long waits for appointments,

the group said, while other pa-

tients may delay care or go

without.

Overall, Planned Parent-

hood gets more Title X money

than any single group, and it

serves 40 percent of all Title X

patients.

The group’s decision to stop

accepting the money was

cheered by anti-abortion

groups that have long sought to

deprive Planned Parenthood of

federal support. “It is a long-

awaited victory that will ener-

gize the prolife grassroots,” said

Jeanne Mancini, president of

the March for Life.

Planned Parenthood has

continually received Title X

money since the program was

enacted in 1970 during the

Nixon administration.

Alexis McGill Johnson, act-

ing president of Planned Par-

enthood, on Monday accused

the administration of forcing

Planned Parenthood out of the

Title X program. “When you

have an unethical rule that will

limit what providers can tell

our patients, it becomes really

important that we not agree to

be in the program,” she said.

The Department of Health

and Human Services said in a

statement Monday that groups

that refused to comply with the

rule “are now blaming the gov-

ernment for their own actions.”

The agency added: “They are

abandoning their obligations

to serve their patients under

the program.”

The rule says that while

clinics accepting Title X funds

may continue to talk to pa-

tients about abortion, they may

not refer women to an abortion

provider or suggest where to

obtain an abortion.

Planned Parenthood and

many other organizations, in-

cluding the American Medical

Association, say the restriction

would force physicians and

clinics to withhold medical in-

formation from patients,

would interfere with the doc-

tor-patient relationship and

could deny pregnant women

the range of options available

to them.

“We will continue to defend

the right for patients to talk

freely with their physicians

about all their health care op-

tions,” Dr. Patrice A. Harris,

president of the American

Medical Association, said in an

e-mail.

The Trump administration

has steadily shifted federal

health programs toward con-

servative preferences like pro-

moting abstinence in teen

pregnancy prevention pro-

grams and allowing exemp-

tions to insurance coverage of

birth control for employers

with religious objections.

Withdrawing from Title X

will not deprive Planned Par-

enthood of all government

funding, a longtime goal of

many conservatives.

Figures from Planned Par-

enthood’s 2017-18 annual re-

port showed that the organiza-

tion received about $500 mil-

lion from Medicaid, the joint

federal and state health care

program for low-income peo-

ple. Federal funds cover most

of that spending.

The immediate effect of a

Planned Parenthood withdraw-

al is unclear and likely to vary

by state. Hawaii, Illinois, New

York, Oregon, and Washington

have said their states would

not participate in Title X under

the new rule.

Legislatures in Massachu-

setts and Maryland have

passed laws that essentially

have the same effect. Planned

Parenthood expects some of

the states to make up some of

themoney.

The rule, announced in Feb-

ruary, is being challenged in

court by Planned Parenthood,

other organizations and more

than 20 states, but a federal

Appeals Court in July said the

policy change could take effect

while the legal cases were

pending.

Planned Parenthood and

some other organizations that

receive Title X funds had decid-

ed to stop using the money un-

til the legal challenges were re-

solved, although they had not

officially withdrawn from the

program.

Last week, Planned Parent-

hood sent a letter to the 9th US

Circuit Court of Appeals, ask-

ing a panel of judges to stay the

deadline until the legal cases

could be decided. On Friday,

the court declined to do so.

Planned Parenthood to leave family program

Official calls US

abortion referral

rule ‘unethical’

GREG GILBERT/THE SEATTLE TIMES VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

DRIVE-IN SUB SHOP —A dump truck hit vehicles and a pedestrian before slamming into a Subway sandwich shop

on Monday in Seattle, injuring multiple people. Seattle police said the truck “allegedly suffered a catastrophic

mechanical failure.”

By Devlin Barrett
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — Attorney
General William Barr an-
nounced Monday he is replac-
ing the head of the Bureau of
Prisons, marking the latest
fallout from the death in feder-
al custody of multimillionaire
sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Hugh Hurwitz, the agency’s
acting head, will be replaced
by Kathleen Hawk Sawyer,
who served as Bureau of Pris-
ons director from 1992 to
2003.
The move shows how the
death of a single high-profile
suspect is likely to have far-
reaching and long-lasting con-
sequences for the $7 billion
agency that has operated for
years in relative obscurity.
‘‘I am pleased to welcome
back Dr. Hawk Sawyer as the
director of the Federal Bureau
of Prisons,’’ Barr said in a state-
ment. ‘‘Under Dr. Hawk Saw-
yer’s previous tenure at the bu-
reau, she led the agency with
excellence, innovation, and ef-
ficiency, receiving numerous
awards for her outstanding
leadership.’’
Barr said Hurwitz would re-
turn to his previous role as an
assistant director for the bu-
reau’s reentry programs. The
attorney general did not men-
tion the Epstein case in his an-
nouncement.
Epstein’s death has already
led to a shake-up at the federal
detention center where he was
being held. The warden of the
Metropolitan Correctional
Center was reassigned, and the
two guards who were sup-
posed to be checking on his
cell were placed on leave.
Union officials have said such a
death was inevitable because
of short staffing and the forced
overtime guards are working.
The Justice Department
sent additional Bureau of Pris-
ons lieutenants from across
the country to buttress the
MCC workforce, and a suicide
reconstruction team was sent
to the facility to determine ex-
actly how Epstein died, accord-
ing to a person familiar with
the matter.
Critics of the Bureau of Pris-
ons have said Epstein’s death,
along with other security fail-
ures, such as the still-un-
charged killing of Boston gang-
ster James ‘‘Whitey’’ Bulger at
a West Virginia prison last
year, should spur changes in-
side the federal prison system,
which was hit with a hiring
freeze in the beginning of the
Trump administration. That
freeze has since been lifted, but

unionofficialssayMCCand

many other facilities are

straining under the long-term

effects of not having enough

employees to operate effective-

ly.

In a speech last week, Barr

decried what he called a ‘‘fail-

ure’’ of Bureau of Prisons per-

sonnel to keep Epstein secure.

‘‘We are now learning of seri-

ous irregularities at this facility

that are deeply concerning and

demand a thorough investiga-

tion,’’ he said while speaking to

law enforcement officials in

New Orleans.

On Friday, the New York

City chief medical examiner,

Barbara Sampson, ruled that

Epstein died as a result of sui-

cide by hanging.

The 66-year-old was found

in his cell early Aug. 10. An of-

ficial said he hanged himself

with a bedsheet attached to the

top of a bunk bed. He was tak-

en to a nearby hospital, where

he was pronounced dead.

Epstein’s attorneys said

they did not accept the medical

examiner’s findings and said

they would conduct their own

investigation.

Also Monday, it was re-

vealed that Epstein signed a

will just two days before he

killed himself, according to

court records. Court papers

filed last week in the US Virgin

Islands list no details of benefi-

ciaries but valued the estate at

more than $577 million, in-

cluding more than $56 million

in cash.

The existence of the will,

first reported by the New York

Post, opened a new legal front

in what could be a long battle

over the financier’s fortune.

Epstein had been held at

the detention facility in Lower

Manhattan since his arrest Ju-

ly 6 on sex trafficking charges.

He was accused of abusing nu-

merous teenage girls over sev-

eral years.

Material from the Associated

Press was used in this report.

Bureau of Prisons

chief replaced after

Epstein’s death

SUSAN WALSH/AP/FILE 2019

Hugh Hurwitz is being

replaced as head of the

Bureau of Prisons.

JEFF ROBERSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS/FILE

Planned Parenthood’s top official said the organization

would try to make up for the loss of federal money.