- Deaf six-year-old and family deported after legal immigration check-in. Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, and her sons (5 and 6) have been deported after Gutierrez attended her legal immigration check-in appointment. The family’s lawyer was unable to locate them for several days, before confirming their deportation to Colombia. Gutierrez’s 6-year-old is deaf and a student at California School for the Deaf-Fremont.
The child was deported without access to his listening devices, and it’s unclear what, if any, access to language he has within his family. in Colombia, he will be linguistically isolated, as Colombian Sign Language is different from the American Sign Language with which he grew up.
Action Items: Contact the family’s CA Representative, Eric Swalwell at 202-225-5065 and ask him to demand this family’s return home. A call script is here.
If you are able, donate or share the family’s fundraiser to support interpreter and legal costs here.
2. Deaf 12-year-old and family have been moved to undisclosed warehouse location in AZ after speaking to the press at Dilley Detention Center. Deaf 12-year-old Anyeli Valentino Quintero, her three-year-old-brother, and mom had previously been held at Dilley. Their mother had spoken to the press about conditions there, and her son having turned 3 in detention, and the family has since been moved to a warehouse location in AZ, seemingly as retribution. They had one phone call to contact family and do not know exactly where they are being held.
The family, originally from Venezuela, currently has an active appeal on their asylum case.
Action item: Share this story, which hasn’t yet been picked up by the mainstream media. If in Arizona, please call your Representatives and demand transparency about detention locations and conditions in your state.
Category: eugenics
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ICE and Disability Updates (8 March)
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February 2026 Updates
- Border Patrol causes death of blind Rohingya refugee in Buffalo, NY. 56 year-old Nurul Amin Shah Alam was detained on February 19th and released the same day. However, instead of being returned home, Alam was dropped on a corner five miles from his home with no phone or assistance. Alam was blind and did not speak English, and his family was not alerted to his release, so they were unaware they should be looking for him. He died in the cold, his body identified five days later.
DHS/ICE continues to harm disabled people at high rates, both in direct interactions, in substandard access to medical care and basic sanitation in detention, as well as by separating families and caregivers. - HHS announces new cuts targeting medical suppliers, Medicaid/are cuts. This week Dr. Oz created particular confusion in a video announcing a “pause” on Medicare enrollment for medical suppliers; inconsistent captioning made it appear that individuals would be barred from purchasing medical supplies (e.g. oxygen, wheelchairs, crutches, prostheses, etc.).
In actuality, according to the HHS press release, the restriction is on people trying to open up new medical supply stores. While this may affect some folks’ ability to access supplies in places where suppliers are already limited, it will not close existing suppliers or prevent individuals from ordering supplies.
A more concerning development announced in the same briefing is the withholding of $259 million in Medicaid and Medicare funding for Minnesota. The decision, which the Trump administration blamed on a vague concern about “fraud” is more likely retaliatory political move due to recent clashes with DHS, including violent protest repression tactics, illegal arrests, two high-profile murders of American citizens by ICE agents caught on camera. The cuts will affect mostly home and community-based services that serve disabled and chronically-ill people. - Nine states revive a lawsuit against Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This is an updated version of the previous lawsuit Texas vs. Becerra , later Texas vs. Kennedy brought by 17 states, which had argued that both Section 504 and an affiliated, non-legally binding Biden-era “Final Rule” regarding protections for people with gender dysphoria were unconstitutional.
After the Kennedy administration took power and removed trans protections from Final Rule, many states withdrew, but 9 states filed a new version of the lawsuit seeking to declare another part of Final Rule–a piece that protects disabled people’s rights to live in community in “the most integrated setting“–is unconstitutional. If successful, many disabled people will lose access to supports that allow them to be independent and live and work in their home communities, leaving them at high risk for forced institutionalization.
- Border Patrol causes death of blind Rohingya refugee in Buffalo, NY. 56 year-old Nurul Amin Shah Alam was detained on February 19th and released the same day. However, instead of being returned home, Alam was dropped on a corner five miles from his home with no phone or assistance. Alam was blind and did not speak English, and his family was not alerted to his release, so they were unaware they should be looking for him. He died in the cold, his body identified five days later.
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Week 45-46 Updates
- HHS to remove recommendation for infant Hepatitis B vaccine, Trump asks RFK to fast-track a revamp of entire childhood vaccine schedule. The majority of Hepatitis B patients who go on to experience chronic liver disease or liver failure are infants.
While vaccines should still be available for families that want them, these changes will cause confusion, spread misinformation, and give insurance companies the option of whether to pay for them.
They also leave babies too young for the shots and other immunocompromised folks vulnerable as the nation loses its herd immunity and previously eradicated diseases return. - McMahon requests some fired Office of Civil Rights workers return to work at DoEd after seeing overwhelming level of civil rights complaints. 260 OCR employees were recalled to help deal with the backlog, which was already large before March’s mass layoffs.
The firing of other DoEd workers, like those in OSERS, was also supposed to be reversed after the government shutdown ended, but there are conflicting reports about whether those employees have actually returned to work or were put on paid administrative leave. - Trump Administration releases list of “banned” words from Head Start grant programs. The six-page list invalidating grant applications for the education program includes the words disabilities, Black, women, and others.
In addition to being an important lifeline for young children and their families in meeting basic food, hygiene, and education needs, Head Start programs are extremely cost-effective. Each dollar spent in early intervention for a disabled or delayed child saves over $200 in supports later. The ACLU is in the process of filing suit. - Americans brace for 2026 Medicaid cuts and skyrocketing healthcare premiums for all as Biden’s ACA subsidies expire. Overall, already high insurance costs are predicted to rise by about 26%, while folks buying care on the marketplace will see their premiums more than double as subsidies expire.
Medicaid cuts in the form of reduced retroactive coverage for past medical bills, stricter eligibility, work, and immigration status requirements, more frequent eligibility reviews, and less funding for state expansion programs, are also kicking in next year. - Palantir, the surveillance contractor co-founded by anti-democracy billionaire Peter Theil, and used by ICE and the Pentagon, has been embedded into the Dept. of Ed. With a potential contract of up to 61 billion dollars, the highly secretive company will allegedly monitor “foreign influence” specifically in university funding.
- Related service providers report some immigrant families are opting out of early intervention, speech, and OT services for their disabled children, fearing ICE repercussions. Families report distrust of the government, or logos and insignia on government caseworkers’ cars and clothing similar to ICE, as reasons they’re opting out of or no longer requesting services for their disabled children. Similar trends in avoiding medical care and early childhood education were observed earlier in the year.
ICE has continued to show particular cruelty and ignored special protections supposedly in place for the disabled, elderly, and pregnant people throughout their run of arbitrary detainment.
- Trump uses the “r-word” in a tirade against MN Governor Tim Walz on social media, prompting an explosion of use among MAGA followers. (Musk had previously revitalized the slur amongst his neo-nazi followers on X.) The Walz family reports people driving by their family home and shouting the slur at Gus, Tim Walz’s disabled son.
For anyone familiar with Trump’s past behavior, this comes as no surprise–he mocked a disabled reporter while running for election the first time, said disabled people like his nephew should just “go die,” and has been a stalwart supporter of ableist and eugenicist policy, especially since taking office for the second time.
- HHS to remove recommendation for infant Hepatitis B vaccine, Trump asks RFK to fast-track a revamp of entire childhood vaccine schedule. The majority of Hepatitis B patients who go on to experience chronic liver disease or liver failure are infants.
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Weeks 34+35
- Brian Kilmeade of Fox & Friends calls for the mass murder of unhoused people. The discussion, about how to handle growing populations of unhoused people, especially those who are mentally ill, Kilmeade said we should “just kill them” using “involuntary lethal injection.” Unhoused people often have a disability or mental illness, and Kilmeade spoke emphatically about his idea to kill them all in the context of discussion about a murder committed by an unhoused man in North Carolina.
He later apologized, but kept his job.
(In contrast, Karen Attiah of the Washington Post was fired for her social media comments on the rhetoric of the late Charlie Kirk, and Jimmy Kimmel was removed from the air “indefinitely” for criticizing MAGA response to Kirk’s death. In the latter, the head of the FCC got directly involved by pressuring the network to remove Kimmel, then attempting to extort a “meaningful personal donation” to far-right organizations should he seek to return on-air. ) - The Trump administration continues to push arguments that IUDs and birth control pills are actually abortions. The administration used the argument as a pretext to cancel a USAID family planning program and destroy millions in birth control, and has floated attempts to employ reasoning domestically. Pro-choice advocates have warned about this as an an administrative goal since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
- The last of the NIH’s communications and policy specialists are being eliminated. These are the experts who take highly scientific and technical knowledge and make sure it is transparent and understandable for healthcare workers and the general public. Without access to the NIH’s vast work in medical research, RFK Jr. and other anti-science leaders will be able to more easily make and spread false claims, and subsequent policy changes.
- The Department of Ed makes millions in Special Ed cuts, citing anti-DEIA. The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) pulled 25 grants from IDEA-related programs worth nearly $15 million. The Rehabilitation Services Office also canceled 9 disability related grants. The grants supported special ed teacher training, community parent resource centers, brail and interpreter training, and services for DeafBlind children and adults.
Programs across 16 states will be impacted, and the cuts begin October 1st. In a letter sent to the affected programs, the administration said the cuts were made with an anti-DEIA motivation, because the programs don’t “align with Administration’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education.” - Covid vaccines live to see another year based on Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)’s latest vote. Though RFK had attempted to fill the committee with antivaxxers and covid deniers, the group ultimately voted 7-6 to allow people to make their own choices with their physicians about whether they would like the the covid vaccine. Due to these recommendations, vaccines should be available without a prescription in all 50 states.
The ACIP still needs to weigh in on other concerning vaccine related topics, specifically an attempt to delay the administration of the MMRV and Hepatitis B vaccines to babies. Hepatitis B had previously been considered eradicated in child populations thanks to wide vaccine uptake. - States form their own health coalitions, creative workarounds, in light of anti-scientific recommendations from HHS. As the HHS under RFK continues to create barriers to access for vaccines and other preventative care, states who previously relied on CDC recommendations, many of whom had laws tethering state guidance to the CDC, have taken matters into their own hands.
The West Coast Health Alliance (Washington, California, Oregon, and Hawaii) and the Northeast Public Health Collaborative (Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Maryland and Vermont) have been formed to issue evidence-based public health recommendations, remove barriers to vaccine access, and collaborate on emergency preparedness in the absence of organizations like FEMA.
Meanwhile, Michigan public health officials had floated declaring “not having the latest covid booster” an underlying health condition, in order to make it easier for all those who want it to obtain the vaccine.
Large groups of insurance companies have also already committed to continuing to pay for vaccination regardless of current HHS recommendations. - Access to speech and hearing services via telehealth to end this month under Medicare. Under current Medicare provisions, access to speech therapy and audiology services via telehealth will end on September 30th, unless Congress acts to extend them. HR 5081 and 1614 are two possible bills that could extend the services.
Telehealth speech therapy and audiology services are especially important for early intervention in rural areas that wouldn’t otherwise have access to specialists. - Administration declares “Antifa” and trans people terror threats. Trump took to social media this week to announce that he was labeling antifa a “major terrorist organization,” while the FBI declared trans people a “nihilistic violent extremist” threat group.
Antifa, an abbreviation for anti-fascist, is a general ideology, and has no official organization or hierarchy. Further, the president does not have legal authority to designate terror groups.
Trans people are a very small percentage of the population and there is no evidence to suggest they are more violent than cis people; however, they are statistically much more likely to be victims of violent crime.
The move by the administration to label those they disagree with as “terrorists” should concern everyone interested in free speech and bodily autonomy, especially in the wake of a recent attempt by the GOP to allow Rubio’s State Department the ability to strip passports from citizens belonging to “terror” groups. (The bill has been pulled for now after backlash.) - US democratic status in peril as state media censorship and ICE-related deaths spike. We highly recommend this breakdown of the ten steps required to transfer from a democratic to authoritarian form of government (2 min video.)
What to do:
Get your vaccinations up to date as soon as possible, and ask your state to join a state-level public health collaborative if they haven’t yet. If you live in Florida, contact your state representatives and tell them not to remove vaccine guidelines for schoolchildren. Despite rhetoric, state law about this is still in effect.Hit the streets if you are able. March, attend a town hall, school board meeting, or other local action. Don’t RSVP to a protest! Consider purchasing a reusable respirator (gas mask) if attending a mass protest, due to recent escalations in use of tear gas and other “less lethal” force at actions.
Protect your neighbors. Warn and record in the presence of ICE. Push your local officials not to collaborate.
Call your representatives, but also your local officials to ensure special education gaps are being filled in your district.Donate to your local food pantry, library, clinics, cash bail funds, or other mutual aid if you can. Or volunteer your time.
Move to (more) secure encrypted apps when possible. Think about ways to spread information offline. Make flyers and stickers. Make art.
- Brian Kilmeade of Fox & Friends calls for the mass murder of unhoused people. The discussion, about how to handle growing populations of unhoused people, especially those who are mentally ill, Kilmeade said we should “just kill them” using “involuntary lethal injection.” Unhoused people often have a disability or mental illness, and Kilmeade spoke emphatically about his idea to kill them all in the context of discussion about a murder committed by an unhoused man in North Carolina.
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Week 32 Updates
1. RFK Jr’s eugenic rampage continues to burn through the Department of Health and Human Services.
RFK fired Susan Moneraz, Director of the Centers for Disease Control, throwing an already tumultuous climate at the institution in to chaos, and prompting several other high-level resignations at the institution.Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, one of the scientists who resigned, raised alarms as he left about RFK’s love of eugenics and frequent discussion of “superior genetics.” Eugenics, a pseudoscientific school of thought tied to white supremacist ideas about genetic and racial “purity” was behind the US’s forced sterilization and anti-anti-miscegenation laws in the early 20th century. In Germany, the Nazi’s took eugenic ideology to it’s extreme conclusions via the mass murder of Jewish people, as well as Roma, disabled people, LGBTQ people, “race traitors” and others they deemed undesirable.
Daskalakis said RFK applied eugenic theory to internal discussions about bird flu, which he proposed should be allowed to “burn through” chickens, and then children and adults, in order to propagate a “stronger species.” The CDC had ended their emergency bird flu response at RFK’s order last month.
2. RFK and antivax appointees restrict access to covid vaccines, despite saying people would have a choice.
Simultaneously, the FDA placed restrictions on who is allowed to receive this year’s covid vaccines–limiting them to “high-risk” groups or those over 65. CVS and Walgreens in more than 16 states are refusing to administer vaccinations while awaiting the CDC’s vaccine committee approval, while others are requiring prescriptions.Over the past months, RFK has replaced nearly all panel members with known antivaxxers, some of whom have spoken explicitly against covid vaccines and mRNA technology. The panel meeting, which typically occurs in the summer, it has been postponed for unknown reasons to mid-September, with some concern that its antivax members have no intention of holding the meeting.
While vaccines may be accessible in other locations, it’s important to note that CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the country, and often the only option in rural areas. The company also owns Aetna insurance and forces those clients to receive care at only CVS.
3. CDC cuts back foodborne illness surveillance program. The FoodNet program previously required surveillance from eight pathogens to two. They will continue monitoring for e. coli and salmonella, but will no longer require monitoring for campylobacter, cyclospora, listeria, shigella, vibirio and yersinia. Foodborne illnesses are particularly harmful to disabled and immunocompromised people, as well as children and the elderly. In particular, listeria is known to cause stillbirth when a pregnant person contracts the bacteria.4. Pediatric brain tumor research cut. The National Cancer Institute has announced it will no longer fund the work of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, a network of physicians and researchers who have been running clinical trials for patients with childhood brain cancer not responding to other treatments, for over 25 years.
In addition to the loss of groundbreaking treatments for terminally ill children, researchers are mourning the loss of the network that allows them collaborate across institutions, which has led to better outcomes for patents and further scientific innovations over the life of the project.5. The Trump Administration is contracting with private AI companies, using AI to determine whether certain procedures should be covered by Medicare. In addition to the many, many concerns about the efficacy of AI to perform basic functions of preapproval, like reading and drawing logical conclusions, and not making things up, the company will also have incentive to reject–they will receive a portion of the profits for every rejected claim.
6. AI chatbots continue to fuel mental health crises, resulting in multiple deaths by suicide. At least one AI company has said they will combat the problem by flagging chat results for the police, which may cause more danger for those in crisis. AI chatbots have been at the center of a string of mental health crises, including goading suicidal ideation and providing feedback on how best to carry out self-harm (also here and here), a conversation about avoiding salt that led to one man giving himself bromine poisoning, and a Connecticut man who killed his mother, then himself after encouragement from an LLM.
In response, OpenAI has said they have begun scanning ChatGPT conversations in order to report content to the police. The company has said this will not result in wellness checks, so the function of the reporting is unclear. Many murders by police begin as encounters with a person experiencing a mental health crisis or suicidal behaviors–at least 356 such individuals were killed by police between 2017-2020.What to do:
Call your state officials and ask them how they can facilitate access to covid vaccines in lieu of federal leadership. For example, Illinois is exploring how to purchase its own contracts with vaccine manufacturers, while a group of mid-Atlantic and New England states met this week to consider issuing their own recommendations apart from the CDC.
If you have access, please get a covid and flu vaccine to help protect immunocompromised people in your community.Hit the streets if you are able. March, attend a town hall, school board meeting, or other local action.
Protect your neighbors. Warn and record in the presence of ICE. Push your local officials not to collaborate.
Donate to your local food pantry, library, clinics, cash bail funds, or other mutual aid if you can. Or volunteer your time.
Think about ways to spread information offline. Make flyers and stickers. Make art.