Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Official Accused Of Mishandling Efforts To Reunify Migrant Children To Testify In Hearing After Months Of Resistance
A Trump appointee accused of mishandling efforts to reunify migrant children who were separated at the border will testify before Congress on Tuesday after months of resistance, as newly empowered House Democrats push the administration to hold officials responsible for the policy. Scott Lloyd, who led the HHS refugee office last year as it took custody of thousands of migrant kids separated from their families, will face a grilling on Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee — one of four panels escalating probes into family separations. (Diamond, 2/26)
House Democrats are laying the groundwork to subpoena Trump administration officials over family separations at the southern border. The Oversight Committee will vote Tuesday on whether to approve subpoenas to the heads of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services. With Democrats as a majority, the authorization is expected, but it's still not clear whether the subpoenas will actually be served. (2/26)
In other news —
A 24-year-old woman went into premature labor and delivered a stillborn baby while she was in custody at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in South Texas last week, officials said. The woman, a migrant from Honduras whose identity the agency withheld, was arrested near Hidalgo, Tex., on Feb. 18. She was six months pregnant at the time. Four days later, she went into labor and delivered a premature and unresponsive baby boy. Local doctors pronounced the newborn dead soon after. (Thebault, 2/25)