DHS Under Pressure Over Alleged Violation Of Policies On Sensitive Locations

By John Burnett

Published October 20, 2017 at 4:35 PM EDT

Democrats in Congress have blasted federal immigration agents, saying they're violating their own policy by making arrests at so-called sensitive locations such as hospitals, schools and churches. One recent case involved an undocumented couple apprehended by Border Patrol in a South Texas hospital while their infant son awaited a serious operation.

John Burnett

As NPR's Southwest correspondent based in Austin, Texas, John Burnett covers immigration, border affairs, Texas news and other national assignments. In 2018, 2019 and again in 2020, he won national Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for continuing coverage of the immigration beat. In 2020, Burnett along with other NPR journalists, were finalists for a duPont-Columbia Award for their coverage of the Trump Administration's Remain in Mexico program. In December 2018, Burnett was invited to participate in a workshop on Refugees, Immigration and Border Security in Western Europe, sponsored by the RIAS Berlin Commission.

See stories by John Burnett