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Detained Immigrants Dying for Lack of Health Care
Overburdened system fails to adequately diagnose and treat detainees, Post finds
By Matt Cantor
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Posted May 11, 08 8:49 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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The number of detained immigrants has skyrocketed since 9/11, and many do not receive critical health care in overburdened federal detention centers, the Washington Post reports. Several immigrants, detained for minor offenses or waiting to seek asylum, received little or no care for life-threatening symptoms which finally killed them, a Post investigation found.
In 2003 the Bush administration handed border security control to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees the centers where over 83 have died in detention in the past 5 years. After a review of thousands of government documents, the Post investigation attributed the deaths to faulty diagnoses, neglect, administrative errors, and short-staffing.