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We @latimes reported on the ground March 17 when Guatemala became the first country to refuse deportation flights from the US amid fears the Trump administration could export coronavirus to the vulnerable and relatively unaffected region: https://lat.ms/2wYQuYE
And same day how US was already taking steps to close border to most all migrants under new 'expulsion' policy, before officially announcing closure with Canada and Mexico, but was determined to continue deportations w/ @mollyhf https://lat.ms/3asL8SR
We reported a day later on how there were signs of outbreaks already in immigration detention across the United States, not yet acknowledged, where many of the deportees are coming from @theCindyCarcamo @andreamcastillo @mollyhf @mauradolan @brittny_mejia https://lat.ms/2KmPEaZ
Within days, fears shared by Guatemala and other countries that Trump administration would deport coronavirus were first realized - and the US was using the same flights to return U.S. citizens. Experts said then ICE protocol ineffective. @theCindyCarcamo https://lat.ms/2RV6wKd
We obtained March 30 internal DHS report showing at ~9k employees sidelined by COVID-19 already - continues to grow, despite DHS not informing its employees or the public on the total confirmed cases, or tested, among ~240k workers, ~32k migrants detained https://lat.ms/3eBFxNx
Meanwhile, citing CDC, CBP bypasses laws protecting asylum seekers & unaccompanied kids & 'expels' nearly 11k migrants at border in less than month with virtually no processing or medical check- CBP not testing or tracking how many ultimately test positive https://lat.ms/3cwaC3l
Inevitable result: Guatemala health minister says roughly 50% deportees from US have virus. Forced to partially walk back amid diplomatic fallout, but since on at least two flights, infection rate appears to be even higher: https://lat.ms/3eEU7ng @PmcdonnellLAT @theCindyCarcamo
After Guatemala stops flights again, CDC deploys to 'validate' its tests, a move Foreign Minister told @theCindyCarcamo was welcome so US could see how bad it is. Re-testing ongoing, but 12/12 randomly selected from deportation flight tested positive: https://lat.ms/2VMMO4z
After refusing to say how many tested, ICE acting dir tells Congress Fri of ~300-400 detainees tested-~1% total detained population-105 tested positive. Hours later that number was 124 confirmed. (Plus 30 ICE employees in detention; 91 other ICE employees) https://bit.ly/2z9MIfw
And now-Mexico officials say at least 15 at one shelter in Tamaulipas infected, believed to be from one deportee from Houston https://reut.rs/2KmMST8 Haiti officials report at least 3 deported from US have tested positive for COVID-10 https://reut.rs/3btBrFe @Reuters
This was not, and is not, unavoidable or unpreventable.
