In the first days of his second term, President Donald Trump has already made clear his intention to dismantle some policies and guidelines that Black and Brown Americans depended on for improved access to health care and protection from the ravages of climate change. URL Media and our partners will continue covering these issues and how they affect our communities.As always, share thoughts about this newsletter with us at [email protected].

Credit: Documented

ICE Officers Can Now Raid Churches and Hospitals Under New DHS DirectiveThe big idea: Hospitals are losing their “sensitive zone” status under a new directive issued by the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers can now arrest people in hospitals and churches, Fisayo Okare writes for our partner Documented. Schools and domestic violence shelters also won’t be considered sanctuaries under the new directive. The policy existed so undocumented immigrants could access basic services and goods without fear of deportation.The Trump administration says it “will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.” ICE formerly was restricted from entering the safe zones for arrests.How big a change is this?: The overall guidance for ICE about these sensitive zones has been in place since 2011, but former President Biden strengthened it and added facilities providing social and other emergency services.From the source: “This policy has nothing to do with common sense. […] With today’s order they are stooping so low as to detain worshippers, the sick, and children in schools. Now it’s up to us to keep our families safe,” said Theo Oshiro, co-executive director of Make The Road, a group that works with immigrant and working class communities. There’s more at Documented →

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America's health care system is bleeding us dry. Who's really to blame?The big idea: The public killing of a health insurance CEO in New York City isn’t the only evidence we have that Americans are worried about health care costs, Ambar Castillo writes for our partner Epicenter NYC.“It’s becoming a tear, a growing tear, in the social fabric of this country,” Mustafa Hussein, PhD, an assistant professor of health policy at CUNY’s Graduate School of Public Health, told Epicenter.We are paying so much for care in part because we have a physician shortage, in part because we spend a lot of money on medical technology but mostly because our health administrative costs are so high, according to Epicenter.What the numbers say: The U.S. spends 17% to 18% of its gross domestic product on health care, about double the percentage of similar nations. We spend about 40% more on administrative costs than Canada, our neighbor to the north. US health care spending is expected to reach 20% of GDP by 2032.What you can do: Contact your elected officials and urge them to work on reducing healthcare costs and ideally seeking a public option. From the source: “If you leave matters into the hands of private businesses [in health care], even if you try and classify them as nonprofit [hospitals], they’re going to seek their bottom line,” Hussein said.Read at Epicenter NYC →

Credit: Adam Mahoney/Capital B

Trump’s fossil fuel agenda puts Black communities at riskThe big idea: Trump’s return to the Oval Office has already seen him prioritize fossil fuel production, even though wind and solar are cheaper sources of energy and have brought millions of jobs to the country. His energy priorities are likely to endanger already-at-risk Black communities, writes Adam Mahoney for Capital B.For example: Biden’s Justice40 initiative was designed to direct 40% of US climate investments to underserved communities. Trump is expected to abandon it.From the source: “Trump’s highest performing states benefit the most from the massive investments and millions of jobs from the Inflation Reduction Act, so he’d be a fool to reverse course,” the Green New Deal Network, a progressive climate legislative organization, wrote in a statement to Capital B.More at Capital B →

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What does it mean to be fat and Black in America?Black History Year, a podcast from our partner PushBlack, asked this question in a key archival episode featuring Da’Shaun L. Harrison, who is also co-executive director of our partner Scalawag magazine.The resulting discussion sets a framework for looking at the ways Black people are described and pictured in America. Harrison studies historical references to fatness, how they have been applied to Black people and how little any of it has to do with concerns about health.“I am interested in … destroying that idea that fatness is something to be solved,” said Harrison, who also is author of “Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness.”Listen to Harrison on Black History Year