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Trump’s Texas Visit Highlights Damage Caused by Anti-Immigrant Policies, COVID-19 Failures

In response to President Trump’s address in Alamo, Texas today, the following quote is attributed to Dr. Ranit Mishori, senior medical advisor at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and professor of family medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine:

“The Donald Trump presidency ends as it began: by attacking immigrants, spewing disinformation, and violating human rights. His visit to Texas is a clear attempt to distract from the violent insurrection at the Capitol he incited last week.

While the President touts his immigration record in Texas, PHR today published a new report that exposes some of the profound damage caused by his administration’s anti-immigrant policies and its abject failure on COVID-19.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) subjected people detained in its facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic to systemic abuses, lack of adherence to public health measures, and medical neglect. Our interviews with 50 formerly detained people revealed widespread medical neglect, lack of basic supplies, and retaliation against immigrants in ICE detention during the pandemic.

After four years of brazen attacks on immigrants – from the family separation policy to forcing migrants to wait months in squalid camps at the border to weaponizing the pandemic to dismantle the asylum system – the President’s true legacy is a health and human rights catastrophe at the border and in U.S. immigration detention facilities.

From Day 1, the Biden-Harris administration must act to reverse Trump administration policies and create an asylum system that is safe, fair, and humane.”

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.

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