Immigrants are, literally, dying for decent care, according to two new reports that portray the medical care system for U.S. immigration detainees as dangerously inadequate.

The reports, from the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center and Human Rights Watch, call on the federal government to stop locking up immigrants who are not considered dangerous; improve medical care for those jailed; and increase oversight of all detention centers.

The groups' research indicates Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) systematically denied, delayed, and denigrated medical care, causing unnecessary suffering and even death, according to Meghan Rhoad, a Human Rights Watch researcher.

"The detention system routinely subjects women to suffering and humiliation. It is a system that needlessly shackles pregnant women with no criminal background, that ignores requests for care, and does all of this with impunity."

Immigrant detainees are the fastest-growing jail population, adds Cheryl Little, founder of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, although most have committed no crime.

"These are people who have lived here for years - worked hard, paid taxes, have U.S. citizen children, in some cases, have U.S. citizen spouses - and the vast majority have broken no criminal law."

After living and working legally in the United States for 27 years, most recently at Florida Atlantic University, Marlene Jaggernauth was arrested by ICE. Held for more than a year, she was separated from her four young children. The conditions she saw in detention were deplorable, she says - and when she complained, she was placed in solitary confinement.

"We felt truly helpless and frightened. Our requests for care would just be ignored. I saw a great deal of suffering and it was very heartbreaking."

In response to the reports, an ICE spokesperson says the agency is committed to humane and safe treatment of detainees, and spends nearly $100 million annually to achieve those goals. But more than 400,000 immigrants were detained in 2008, and Rhoad says this year's estimate is 440,000, at a total cost to taxpayers of almost $1.7 billion per year.

The reports are available online at www.fiacfl.org or www.hrw.org.



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Saturday is National Drug Take Back Day, and there will be more than 135 events across Wisconsin where folks can dispose of both controlled and noncontrolled prescription drugs.

In part, the annual occasion aims to combat the spread of illicit opioid prescriptions, which have long plagued Wisconsin and the nation.

Josh Kaul, Wisconsin's Attorney General, said at a Stand Up for Recovery Ceremony this week, the state is seeing fewer new opioid prescriptions.

"There has been a significant decline in opioid prescriptions over the last several years," Kaul observed. "That has been really encouraging to see. There is undoubtedly increased awareness that prescriptions can lead to substance-use disorder."

According to a news release, residents can bring e-cigarette devices with the batteries removed,
aerosol sprays, inhalers and pet medications, among other things. Illegal drugs, needles and anything containing a bodily fluid will not be accepted.

While overall new prescriptions may be down, data indicates Wisconsin still struggles with the opioid crisis. According to the state's Department of Health Services, there were more than 1,200 opioid-related deaths in Wisconsin in 2020, the latest full year of available data, the highest annual death count since at least 2014.

Kaul pointed out the pandemic has exacerbated underlying mental-health issues for those working through substance-use disorder.

"The pandemic has led, as we all know, to increased isolation, increased mental-health challenges," Kaul noted. "It has caused many people to lose loved ones as a result of the pandemic, and that has taken a major toll on mental health and on substance-use disorder."

While officials encourage people to dispose of unused prescriptions this weekend, there are nearly 500 permanent drug disposal boxes scattered across the state.

Yesterday, April 20, was an unofficial holiday for marijuana enthusiasts across the country, and here in Wisconsin, lawmakers marked the day by weighing the future of pot in the Badger State.

In a Senate committee hearing, legislators considered a Republican-authored bill which would legalize medical marijuana, with tight controls and regulation from state agencies and doctors.

Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma, noted both Republican and Democrat-controlled states have passed similar bills.

"It's in complete red states, it's in complete blue states, it's in purple states; and I don't think that medical marijuana is a partisan issue," Felzkowski asserted. "This is about a drug, it's not an FDA-approved drug, but it's a drug under a doctor's care that can help people with debilitating diseases."

Democrats have criticized Felzkowski's bill for being too restrictive, as the measure does not allow folks to smoke marijuana and only permits medical pot for a limited range of illnesses, although Felzkowski countered the list is open to additions.

Democrats have tried and failed for years to pass recreational marijuana bills through the GOP-controlled Legislature. Lawmakers are not scheduled to reconvene and vote on any bills until next year.

The measure is opposed by the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association and the Wisconsin Medical Society, and supported by the Business Education Fund and the Wisconsin Hemp Farmers and Manufacturers Association.

Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, said the bill is "half-baked" and doesn't go far enough.

"Senate Bill 1034 doesn't address our racial disparities," Agard contended. "And it doesn't provide a path for expungements and bars people who have been previously harmed by these controlled substances and the prohibition of cannabis from contributing to this important industry."

A recent Marquette Law School poll of Wisconsin voters found 61% of respondents support legalizing marijuana. And 51% of Republican respondents support full legalization, up 10% from 2019. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 37 states, four U.S. territories and Washington, D.C. permit medical cannabis.

A new report confirms what it said CEOs have been telling shareholders for months: Inflation has been very good for business.

Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, the group behind the report, said families in Nebraska and across the U.S. are on the hook, as powerful corporations tap the pandemic's economic fallout to rake in record-breaking profits. Last year, corporate profit margins reached their highest level since 1950.

"Meanwhile, prices were soaring for American families," Owens pointed out. "CEOs and firms are not just passing on their rising costs, right? They're not just asking consumers to pay for inflation effectively. They're going for more."

In just one example uncovered by researchers of CEOs boasting during corporate earnings calls about price hikes and profits, the CEO of Constellation Brands, the parent company of popular beers Modelo and Corona, said the company planned to "take as much as [we] can" from its Hispanic customer base.

Owens noted if the playing field were level, other companies could take customers away from firms raising prices. But she emphasized virtual monopolies consolidated over past decades make it all but impossible. Tyson's CEO told shareholders it was raising prices to cover increased costs, plus a little extra.

"And that 'a little extra' is accelerating price hikes, and bringing in record profits for Tyson," Owens contended. "And because there are really only four major meatpackers, these guys are effectively all running the same pricing strategy. And there is really no one to undercut them."

Constellation Brands and Tyson have not yet responded to a request for comment. Last week Owens testified at a U.S. Senate Budget Committee hearing on price-gouging and corporate greed. She recommended the first option available to lawmakers to hold companies accountable is to make use of the tax code.

"Taxing excess and windfall profits will make profiteering less appealing to the large companies," Owens explained. "The second is thinking about enacting a federal price-gouging statute, and enforcing the laws already on the books."