1. An abrupt decision by the Trump administration on October 3 left thousands of ICE detainees without access to vital medical care — a crisis that is ongoing — according to previously unreported ICE documents.
🧵
popular.info/p/exclusive-ho…
🧵
popular.info/p/exclusive-ho…
2. For 2 decades, the VA played a limited but essential role in ensuring that people in the custody of ICE received necessary medical care. When an ICE detainee needed medication or outside medical treatment, the VA processed the claims. ICE paid the VA to provide this service.
3. On October 3, the VA “abruptly and instantly terminated” its agreement w/ICE, according to partially redacted documents.
The termination left ICE with “no mechanism to provide prescribed medication” and unable to “pay for medically necessary off-site care.”
The termination left ICE with “no mechanism to provide prescribed medication” and unable to “pay for medically necessary off-site care.”
4. The situation was described by ICE as an “absolute emergency” that needed to be resolved “immediately” to “prevent any further medical complications or loss of life.” 
5. ICE signed two no-bid contracts on October 25 to replace the services previously provided by the VA. But, according to the ICE website, the new system is not yet functioning.
Providers are instructed to “hold all claim submissions while we work to bring the new system online.”
Providers are instructed to “hold all claim submissions while we work to bring the new system online.”
6. In the interim, it is unclear how or if ICE detainees are receiving medication or obtaining outside medical care. According to two federal class action lawsuits, numerous ICE detainees have not been receiving medically necessary care since October 3.
7. One plaintiff in a lawsuit filed on November 12, for example, alleges that since mid-October, “he has been denied regular doses of insulin, leading to elevated blood sugar levels and a large, oozing ulcer on the bottom of his foot.”
8. The abrupt decision to end the VA's role appears to have been prompted by a lawsuit filed by a small right-wing non-profit group three days earlier.
The VA ended its arrangement with ICE with no contingency plans or regard for the human impact of the decision.
The VA ended its arrangement with ICE with no contingency plans or regard for the human impact of the decision.
9. For UPDATES on this story and more accountability journalism you will not find anywhere else, subscribe to Popular Information.
No paywalls. No capitulation. No BS.
popular.info/subscribe
No paywalls. No capitulation. No BS.
popular.info/subscribe
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
