Congressional Democrats met with Mahmoud Khalil, a detained Columbia graduate student, and Rümeysa Öztürk, a detained Tufts student, and others during their visit to ICE detention centers in Louisiana today. At a news conference after their visit, Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., said many of the detainees “spend an inordinate amount of time in tears.” He added, “They were shaken. They were visibly upset and afraid. They have very small cots that are very uncomfortable, very stiff.”
Carter also described the facilities as “chilly,” saying detainees had “complained of it being extremely cold” and were denied additional blankets. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said that Öztürk has “suffered multiple asthma attacks” and that detainees are “not getting the medical attention which they need and deserve.” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., blasted authorities for denying Khalil’s request for permission to see his wife, who was giving birth to their son. He said, “It’s also the cruelty I just want to point out. It could have been for five hours or could have been for a day. He was denied that.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. said the recommendation of Covid-19 vaccines for children “was always dubious” when he was asked in a Fox News interview tonight about whether he’s considering removing them from the government’s list of recommended vaccines. “The recommendation for children was always dubious, and it was dubious because kids had almost no risk for Covid-19,” Kennedy told Fox News host Jesse Watters.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said today that Trump called him over the weekend to discuss the arson attack on the governor’s home in Harrisburg roughly a week after the incident. Shapiro said that Trump called Saturday morning and that he was “very gracious.” “I appreciated that the president called me,” Shapiro, a Democrat, told reporters at the annual Easter Egg Hunt in Harrisburg. “I actually didn’t take his call because it came from his cellphone and I didn’t have that number in my phone, so I didn’t know who it was. As soon as I heard his message, I called him right back.”
