{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-delauro-colleagues-reiterate-urgent-concerns-with-border-protection-agencys-unconscionable-failure-to-provide-flu-vaccines-for-migrants-in-custody", "Warren, DeLauro, Colleagues Reiterate Urgent Concerns With Border Protection Agency's \"Unconscionable\" Failure to Provide Flu Vaccines for Migrants in Custody", "2019-12-16", "2019", "2019-12", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 16, 2019\n\t\t\t Warren, DeLauro, Colleagues Reiterate Urgent Concerns With Border Protection Agency's \"Unconscionable\" Failure to Provide Flu Vaccines for Migrants in Custody \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Letter Follows Disturbing New Details About Death of 16-Year-Old Migrant Who Died of Flu in CBP Care\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t 2019-2020 Flu Season Already\r\nUnderway Letter\r\nto CBP (PDF) | CBP\r\nResponse to Senators (PDF) | CDC\r\nResponse to Rep. DeLauro (PDF) |CDC\r\nResponse to Senator Warren and Colleagues (PDF) Washington, D.C. - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren\r\n(D-Mass.), member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and\r\nPensions, and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Chair of the U.S. House\r\nAppropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Related\r\nAgencies, led a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) expressing\r\ntheir disappointment and alarm about the failure of CBP to provide recommended\r\nflu vaccinations to migrants in its custody. The lawmakers' letter -- which\r\nfollows disturbing revelations about the deaths of three children in CBP\r\ncustody over the past year due at least in part to the flu: Wilmer Josue\r\nRamirez Vasquez (2  years old), Felipe Gomez Alonzo (8 years old), and Carlos\r\nGregorio Hernandez Vasquez (16 years old) -- comes as the flu season is\r\nofficially underway and after repeated requests by members of Congress for CBP\r\nand the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide flu vaccinations to\r\ndetainees. In August 2019, Chair DeLauro requested\r\ninformation from DHS and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)\r\non flu vaccinations, screening, testing, surveillance, and post-exposure\r\nprophylaxis. In September 2019, thirteen Senators -- led by Senator Warren\r\n--wrote\r\nto DHS and HHS urging CBP to implement a flu vaccination program for detainees\r\nand asking a series of questions about the agency's failure to do so. In a\r\nseparate letter\r\nto the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Chair DeLauro\r\nrequested information on CDC's coordination and communication with CBP\r\nregarding its flu vaccination program. However, despite these repeated requests from Congress and the clear risk of\r\nflu transmission to migrants and CBP agents, CBP is still not vaccinating\r\nmigrants in its custody against the flu. Instead, CBP has failed to respond to\r\nHouse appropriators, and its response\r\nlast month to the senators' inquiry failed to provide an adequate rationale for\r\nits unwillingness to vaccinate detainees. In response\r\nto Chair DeLauro's letter, the CDC revealed that it made specific recommendations\r\nto CBP in January 2019 to implement a robust flu vaccination program for\r\ndetainees -- making the CBP's ongoing inaction even more inexplicable. CDC\r\nprovided additional information in a response\r\nto the senators' inquiry to HHS. In their latest letter to CBP, the lawmakers sharply criticized CBP for\r\nignoring the CDC's recommendations, and raised questions about CBP policies for\r\ndetection and treatment of flu in its facilities. \"CBP acknowledges that there is an 'unprecedented' humanitarian crisis\r\nat the Southwest Border, and yet, despite this admission, insists on adhering\r\nto its 'long-standing practice' of not conducting vaccinations for the flu in\r\nits facilities,\" the lawmakers continued. \"This\r\ndecision is unconscionable and continues to endanger the health and safety of\r\nmigrant families, CBP personnel, and the American public.\" The lawmakers called on CBP to immediately reverse its decision, and asked\r\nthe agency to answer a series of questions about its ongoing failure to provide\r\nrecommended flu vaccines to detainees. The lawmakers requested a response to\r\ntheir letter by December 30, 2019. CBP's response to Senator Warren and colleagues' initial inquiry can be read\r\nhere.\r\nCDC's response to Chair DeLauro's inquiry can be read here.\r\nCDC's response to Senator Warren and colleagues' initial inquiry can be read here. Joining Senator Warren and Chair DeLauro in sending the letter are Senators\r\nRichard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.),\r\nKamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-Ore.), Cory A. Booker\r\n(D-N.J.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.),\r\nSherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.),\r\nRobert Menendez (D-N.J.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Patty\r\nMurray (D-Wash.), and Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), and Representatives Juan\r\nVargas (CA-51), Filemon Vela (TX-34), Gregory W. Meeks (NY-05), Grace\r\nNapolitano (CA-32), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL), Rashida Tlaib (MI-13),\r\nBarbara Lee (CA-13), Judy Chu (CA-27), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Bonnie Watson\r\nColeman (NJ-12), John Garamendi (CA-03), Rick Larsen (WA-02), James P. McGovern\r\n(MA-02), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), John B. Larson (CT-01), Norma Torres (CA-35),\r\nSheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Jahana Hayes (CT-05), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07),\r\nMarcia L. Fudge (OH-11), Derek Kilmer (WA-06), C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger\r\n(MD-02), Cedric Richmond (LA-02), Frederica Wilson (FL-24), Jos E. Serrano\r\n(NY-15), Dina Titus (NV-01), Ral M. Grijalva (AZ-03), Adriano Espaillat\r\n(NY-13), Cheri Bustos (IL-17), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Donna E. Shalala (FL-27),\r\nSteve Cohen (TN-09), Jackie Speier (CA-14), Mark Takano (CA-41), Mike Levin\r\n(CA-49), James A. Himes (CT-04), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Ben Ray Lujn (NM-03),\r\nLauren Underwood (IL-14), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Jess G. \"Chuy\" Garca\r\n(IL-04), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Adam Schiff (CA-28), Linda T. Snchez\r\n(CA-38), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), and Pete Aguilar (CA-31). ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-delauro-colleagues-reiterate-urgent-concerns-with-border-protection-agencys-unconscionable-failure-to-provide-flu-vaccines-for-migrants-in-custody"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0887777898460627, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}