AUGUST 27, 2019

On MSNBC Tuesday, Rachel Maddow reported on the Trump administration's abrupt ending of the "medical deferred action" program that allows non-citizens to remain in the U.S. to continue receiving life-saving treatment. Families in this program are now being given 33 days to leave the country.

A growing number of families with sick children are receiving notices from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of a recent policy change, attorneys said Monday. They are being told that the agency will no longer renew any applications to stay in the U.S. under the program.

Maddow profiled at least four children who are relying on U.S. medical care to stay alive, and who now have received letters stating they must voluntarily leave the country within 33 days.

“This is not something the Trump administration announced with great fanfare… they didn't make any public pronouncements about getting rid of this program... [But] they’re singling out the families of sick children to facilitate their deaths by sending them to places they can no longer get treatment," said Maddow.

Jonathan Sanchez, who has been getting treatment for cystic fibrosis in Boston over the past three years, is not sure what he will do if he is forced to return to Honduras. The 16-year-old spoke to radio station WBUR in tears, saying, “If they deny the program, then I’ll need to go back to my country. I will probably die, because in my country there is no treatment for CF (cystic fibrosis)."

“We’ve reached the most inhumane of all of Donald Trump’s policies,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) at a briefing about the subject at an immigrant center.

"This was a program that existed on the assumption there was some humanity left in the U.S. government," said Anthony Marino, immigration legal services director of the Irish International Immigrant Center, on MSNBC.

"I don't know how they expect people to pull children from their hospital beds, pull them from life-saving treatment, and go somewhere where they know the child is going to die… and if they don't, they’ll drag them through deportation proceedings."

In Case You Missed It:
Videos from MSNBC Today

Tim Ryan says pharma getting ‘away with murder’ in opioid epidemic

A court has ruled that pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson helped fuel the opioid epidemic in Oklahoma, ordering the company to pay more than $570 million. This could set a precedent for the roughly 1500 cases across the country. (Hardball)

Deutsche Bank in crisis could spell catastrophe for Trump

Rachel Maddow looks at the troubles plaguing Deutsche Bank, from money laundering investigations to associations with Jeffrey Epstein to finding itself at the center of the investigation into Donald Trump's sketchy finances, against which Donald Trump is fighting a losing battle. (Maddow)

Trump pushes Doral for G-7, swats at bed bug infestation reports

Despite reports of settling a lawsuit in 2017 for bed bugs claims, Trump is pushing his Doral resort for next year’s G-7 summit. Former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance critiques Trump’s 'for profit presidency' saying, Trump continues to use the office 'to advertise for these businesses that create income for him and his family.' (The Beat)

OPINION. How Trump's G-7 agenda was derailed by a smooth-talking Emmanuel Macron. As Air Force One was touching down at Bordeaux, Macron was already going on French television to set the tone and the agenda. He stressed the importance of working to mitigate climate change (and Trump’s reluctance to do so) while also finding some common ground with Iran and keeping Russia at bay. Macron then promptly ambushed Trump, waiting at the opulent Hôtel du Palais for him to arrive and shanghaiing the president into a 90-minute, unanticipated lunch. By David A. Andelman, Executive director of The RedLines Project.

OPINION. Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson opioid cases expose Big Pharma's addiction lies. Though Johnson & Johnson prefer you remember it as the company that makes your baby powder and Band-Aids, Balkman ruled that they were guilty of helping to create the kind of public nuisance now being experienced in Mayberry and across America: crowded jails, overwhelmed foster care systems and the kind of human suffering faced when paramedics find a couple three-days-dead from a heroin overdose with their baby beside them, left to die of dehydration and starvation. By Beth Macy, author of “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America."

What to watch Wednesday

Two pollsters — Quinnipiac University and USA Today/Suffolk University — will release polls on the 2020 Democratic presidential race Wednesday, just under the wire before the Democratic National Committee's deadline for candidates to qualify for the next debate in mid-September.

Liberal billionaire Tom Steyer is just one qualifying poll away from joining the 10 other candidates who have already qualified. Others closest to qualifying are Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, followed by author Marianne Williamson and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. We'll bring you the latest on the polling-- and news on who will make the debate stage. Find out who isn't expected to make the cut here.

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