(NEW YORK) — Two of the Christian missionaries who were kidnapped in Haiti last month have been released, according to the ministry.
Nineteen people — including 17 missionaries, five of them children — were kidnapped by a Haitian gang on Oct. 16 during an airport run, a source at the U.S. embassy told ABC News last month.
The Ohio-based ministry the missionaries are affiliated with, Christian Aid Ministries, announced in a statement Sunday that two of the hostages have been released and “are safe, in good spirits, and being cared for.”
“We welcome reports that two individuals held hostage in Haiti have been released. We do not have further comment at this time,” a White House official told ABC News.
The Haitian National Police also confirmed the release of the two hostages to ABC News.
The ministry could not provide the names of those released, the reasons for their release or their current location, according to the statement. Further details about the remaining hostages were not provided.
“We encourage you to continue to pray for the full resolution of this situation,” the statement read. “While we rejoice at this release, our hearts are with the fifteen people who are still being held. Continue to lift up the remaining hostages before the Lord.”
The Haitian government suspects the gang known as 400 Mawozo to be responsible for the abductions, the source at the U.S. embassy said last month. The FBI made contact with the 400 Mawozoa on Oct. 18 and was assisting in negotiations, the agency told ABC News.
The group, which included 16 Americans and one Canadian, was abducted while on a trip to an orphanage, according to the ministry.
The country is experiencing a rise in gang-related kidnappings, many demanding ransom, which stalled after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7 and a 7.2-magnitude earthquake on Aug. 14 that killed more than 2,200 people.
The U.S. State Department issued a warning in August about the risk of kidnapping for ransom in Haiti.
ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — While Thanksgiving will be a time to gather again this year for many people, thanks to COVID-19 vaccines, it may for other people be the start of a difficult holiday season.
Some people may be home alone on Thanksgiving by choice, following safety guidelines, while other families will be missing loved ones at the Thanksgiving table who are hospitalized with COVID-19 or who have passed away from the virus over the past nearly two years.
Still others may be coping with a non-COVID related illness that is keeping their family separated or coping with a deployment or a divorce, separation or estrangement that unfolded during the pandemic.
“What many people are going to experience this year, for a variety of reasons, is that their holiday table is not going to be as full as it normally is,” said Kory Floyd, Ph.D., an author and professor of interpersonal communication at the University of Arizona. “Many American households are going to experience a sense of deprivation this year.”
“Especially on a holiday, when it’s a time to celebrate and be around loved ones, that accentuates a sense of loneliness,” he said.
Here are five tips to make Thanksgiving a joy-filled day regardless of who you are, or are not, spending it with.
1. Make a plan:
Planning ahead the fun things you’ll do on Thanksgiving, or the new traditions you’ll start, can both help ease the stress and uncertainty of the day and help you from obsessing over what could have been, according to Floyd.
“Think now of things you’ll plan for that day that will be positive distractions,” he said. “The benefit of [planning ahead] is we’re ready and we’re prepared, and we’re prepared to enjoy and find meaning and find joyfulness in whatever we do with that time.”
Planning ahead can be as detailed as what time you’ll eat meals and do activities to a more general list of the movies you want to watch or the activities you can do outside in fresh air, experts say.
Floyd recommends planning something that feels indulgent on what is still a special day of the year.
“What feels indulgent to people will vary from person to person,” he said, giving examples of a bubble bath or a decadent dessert. “But make it something that goes beyond the ordinary and feels really special and allow yourself the freedom to enjoy it, to lean into it.”
2. Find ways to help other people:
Doing something good for someone else can take the focus off yourself and help ease feelings of loneliness or discontent, according to Nicole Beurkens, Ph.D., a holistic child psychologist and the founder and director of Horizons Developmental Resource Center in Caledonia, Michigan.
That could mean dropping items off at a nursing home, preparing boxed meals for neighbors or delivering books and needed items to women’s and children’s centers, recommends Beurkens.
“Sometimes the best way to soothe ourselves is to do something outside of ourselves,” she said.
3. Phone a friend or loved one:
Even if you can’t physically be with your loved ones on Thanksgiving, it’s important to find ways to stay in touch with people, recommend both Floyd and Beurkens.
Plan ahead to make sure you can call, Skype or Zoom with friends and relatives on Thanksgiving, whether it’s just talking to catch up or taking part in holiday traditions together via technology. If the technology is too much, spend the down time you may have that day writing letters to family and friends or simply thinking about who in your life you’re grateful for, according to the experts.
4. Think ahead to next year:
While it’s normally important to stay in the moment and not look ahead or behind, experts say this year it can be healthy to look ahead to a more hopeful time.
“It gives a sense of forward-looking motion that helps people not feel as heavy a sense of what is going on now,” said Floyd. “It reminds people that this is temporary and things will get better.”
Floyd said he is reminding his patients that no matter how bad this year feels, it is temporary, and it is okay to start thinking ahead to things like travel and gathering again in-person with family and friends.
His advice is to be specific when thinking about the future, picturing things like exactly where you want to travel to, who you will spend Thanksgiving with next year and what new traditions you may want to start.
5. Be okay with shedding some tears:
Both Floyd and Beurkens say it’s okay and perfectly normal to spend a few moments on Thanksgiving shedding tears or sitting for a bit with grief over what a strange holiday, and year, this has been.
“It’s not getting over the emotions, but getting through them,” said Floyd. “The last thing people should do is be ashamed of those emotions.”
“We can still generate joy even though there’s a sense of sadness or a sense of loss,” he said.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.
(WASHINGTON) — Millions of American workers have returned to the office, and most children are back to in-person learning at schools, but dozens of members of the U.S. House of Representatives are still literally phoning in their votes to Washington, citing an “ongoing public health emergency.”
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, House Democrats took the unprecedented step to establish rules allowing any lawmaker to vote by proxy if he or she could not attend proceedings in-person because of the pandemic.
As the virus recedes and most members of Congress are vaccinated, critics say some members of Congress are abusing a public health policy for personal convenience, politics or other family matters.
A total of 103 U.S. Representatives had active proxy letters filed with the House Clerk as of publication.
“We do want members to take seriously their responsibilities to participate in a legislative process, to cast votes on the floor of the House,” said Molly E. Reynolds, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and expert on how Congress functions. “Figuring out how to prevent abuse of the practice while also making it available for people who need it is a real challenge.”
Each time a proxy is used, a member of Congress must attest in writing to the House Clerk that they are “unable to physically attend proceedings” for health or safety reasons related to COVID-19. Enforcement is by the honor system.
“They don’t want to come in unless they are vaccinated and unless others are vaccinated,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explained in March.
At least 343 representatives — Democrats and Republicans — have filed a notice to vote remotely at least once this year, according to data compiled by Reynolds. The U.S. Senate did not enact a proxy system during the pandemic.
During Friday’s major vote on Democrats’ sweeping $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan, 98 lawmakers who voted didn’t show up in person, a review of voting records found.
“Graph the number of proxies, and look at how they increase exponentially on Fridays,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., one of the most outspoken critics of proxy voting. “It’s incentivizing the worst behavior among members, which is to say prioritizing fundraising and deprioritizing legislating.”
Nearly all House Republicans opposed proxy voting when it began last year, but some have since taken advantage of the flexibility. In one of the most prominent examples, 13 Republicans voted remotely in February while attending the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference in Orlando.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., who was among the CPAC attendees, voted by proxy more than a dozen times this year, despite strong public opposition to the policy and criticizing Democrats who used it as “cowards” for not showing up.
Cawthorn declined comment to ABC News when approached on Capitol Hill. His office also did not respond to an email from ABC.
“I think it’s a bad thing; personally, I don’t think we need to be doing it at this point,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who has criticized proxy voting but also used it. “It’s in the rules. You can use it.”
Rule or not, Republican Party leaders have argued in court that proxy voting is outright unconstitutional. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has even appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to strike it down.
“I think people should be here to work to have to be paid when you don’t. When you proxy vote, you’re not here to debate the bill. You’re not in committee [hearings]. It’s wrong,” McCarthy told ABC News in an interview.
McCarthy would not comment on why so many fellow Republicans have disregarded his admonishment and voted by proxy.
Democrats have voted by proxy more often than Republicans, according to data tabulated by Reynolds at the Brookings Institution. Sometimes for reasons clearly related to COVID-19, but sometimes for reasons that are less clear, she told ABC News.
Democratic Congressman Ron Kind, of Wisconsin, for example, voted remotely on seven bills in June while President Joe Biden was visiting his state. When approached by ABC News, he said that some of his recent proxy votes came after a positive COVID diagnosis for a member of his staff.
“It’s a good thing when you have legitimate reasons to be away,” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass. “I have two young girls… I used [proxy voting] when my daughter was born, for example, and I’ve used it when my daughter was sick just the week before last.”
Members of both parties have used remote voting while caring for a sick or dying parent, or when flight delays have kept them stranded far from Washington. Each time, however, they officially attested to the Clerk that the “ongoing public health emergency” kept them from being unable to attend.
“My wife had our first child 16 months ago, I missed votes. But that’s how it was,” Gallagher said. “You missed votes for legitimate reasons, but proxy voting gets us closer to a nonessential Congress, or a Congress that’s just, you know, zooming in to work every day.”
Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., who regularly casts votes for absent Democratic colleagues, told ABC News it’s about time everyone gets back to debating and voting in person in Congress.
“The original purpose was just for people who either, where it just wasn’t safe to fly or they had some preexisting condition, including being too old,” Beyer said. “Now, when people start going to conferences or something, that’s a little different.”
Florida Democrats Charlie Crist and Darren Soto voted by proxy last year the same day as attending a planned SpaceX rocket launch in their home state, but told the House Clerk they couldn’t vote in person because of the pandemic.
Several Republicans and Democrats have used the proxy system while attending political events outside Washington.
“That’s something voters should be worried about,” Reynolds said, “but I don’t think they should automatically assume that just because their member has been voting by proxy, their member hasn’t been working.”
On Nov. 12, Pelosi announced an extension of proxy voting through the end of the year.
“While some have misused proxy-voting for non-pandemic reasons, it remains a vital protection for the health of Members who may be immunocompromised or be particularly at risk for life threatening complications from COVID,” a House leadership aide told ABC News in a statement.
“All across the country, people are getting back to work or schools are opening up again. Congress ought to be working again,” said Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. Asked why so many of his GOP peers are still voting remotely, he replied: “Obviously every member has got to make their own choices while it’s there as an option.”
The option to participate in Congress remotely remains controversial and unprecedented. And as growing numbers of Americans return to in-person work, many may expect their elected representatives to do the same.
“Figuring out how to protect the process for people who genuinely need it, and while also preventing abuse is going to be a real challenge for an extremely polarized and partisan House of Representatives going forward,” Reynolds said.
(WAUKESHA, Wis.) — At least five people were killed and more than 40 others injured on Sunday when a car plowed into a Christmas parade in Wisconsin, according to authorities.
The incident occurred at around 4:39 p.m. local time in Waukesha, about 17 miles west of Milwaukee. The vehicle allegedly associated with the incident — a red SUV — has since been recovered and a person of interest was taken into custody, Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said at a press conference Sunday evening.
Thompson said an officer, who has been with the Waukesha Police Department for over 6 years, discharged their weapon in order to stop the car, but no bystanders were hit.
The investigation into the event is ongoing, and it was unclear if there was any connection to terrorism.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers described the incident as a “senseless act.”
“I’m grateful for the first responders and folks who acted quickly,” Evers wrote on Twitter on Sunday evening.
A number of people from the scene, including at least 12 children, were taken to various local hospitals, according to Thompson, who at the time only confirmed “some fatalities.” A statement from the City of Waukesha later confirmed there were five people dead and over 40 injured.
“However, these numbers may change as we collect additional information,” the city noted in the statement late Sunday night. “Many people have self-transported to area hospitals.”
Authorities are working to identify the victims and notify their next of kin.
Several of the injured, including some in critical condition, were admitted to Children’s Wisconsin in Milwaukee and Aurora Medical Center in Summit, Wisconsin, about 15 miles west of Waukesha, according to separate statements from the hospitals.
A Catholic priest, multiple parishioners and Catholic schoolchildren were among the wounded, according to Sandra Peterson, communications director of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
“Please join us in prayer for all those involved, their families, and those who are traumatized from witnessing the horrible scene,” Peterson said in a statement on Sunday night.
Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow said he and his wife had just finished participating in the Christmas parade when they heard police sirens.
“Shortly afterward, I learned that a vehicle drove through the parade route injuring many people,” Farrow wrote in a series of posts on Twitter on Sunday evening. “This is an unspeakable tragedy, affecting us all as we work to overcome an extremely challenging two years and resume our cherished holiday traditions. Keep the families affected in your thoughts as we work to offer whatever support we can.”
Waukesha Fire Department Chief Steven Howard told reporters that his department was marching in the parade when the incident happened. A dozen local fire departments assisted in the response, according to Howard.
The City of Waukesha urged members of the community “to come together during this time and to keep the families in your prayers.”
“Many people witnessed traumatic events this evening,” the city said in a statement on Sunday night.
The Waukesha Police Department issued a shelter-in-place order on Sunday evening for those within a half-mile radius of the downtown area. The scene was marked secure later that night, according to Thompson.
Still, roads in the area will be closed for at least the next 24 hours. Public schools in Waukesha will also be closed on Monday, Thompson said.
In a statement Sunday night, the Waukesha School District confirmed that Monday’s classes were cancelled for all students and that a decision regarding Tuesday’s classes “will be determined during the day on Monday.”
“Several of our administrative staff and principals met this evening following the tragic event that occurred at the City of Waukesha Christmas Parade,” the school district said. “”At this time, we are working with the police department to more fully comprehend all of the tragic details of this unfortunate event.”
The City of Waukesha said “the scene is still fluid” and that the street where the event took place will not reopen before mid-day on Monday.
“Businesses in this area should remain closed as entry and exit from Main Street will not be allowed,” the city added in its statement. “When the area is open, the City is requesting that any items for a temporary memorial be placed at Veterans Park.”
A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation told ABC News that the agency’s Milwaukee field office “is aware of the reporting of an incident in Waukesha.”
“The local and state authorities are leading the response,” the FBI spokesperson said.
U.S. President Joe Biden was briefed on the Waukesha incident on Sunday night, according to the White House.
A White House official told ABC News that they are “closely monitoring the situation in Waukesha.”
“Our hearts go out to everyone who has been impacted by this terrible incident,” the official added. “We have reached out to state and local officials to offer any support and assistance as needed.”
ABC News’ Jack Date, Matt Foster, Will Gretsky, Molly Nagle, Victor Ordonez and Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
(ATLANTA) — A passenger accidentally discharged a gun at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Saturday, airport officials said, causing panic and sending travelers onto the tarmac on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
The incident occurred around 1:30 pm local time at the security screening area, the airport said in an update on Twitter.
“There is not an active shooter,” the airport said. “There is no danger to passengers or employees.”
A passenger accidentally discharged the gun at the main checkpoint, TSA said in a statement to ABC News.
During a bag search, the X-ray identified a prohibited item, TSA said.
The transportation security officer “advised the passenger not to touch the property, and as he opened the compartment containing the prohibited item, the passenger lunged into the bag and grabbed a firearm, at which point it discharged,” TSA said. “The passenger then fled the area, running out of the airport exit.”
Three people sustained non-life-threatening injuries, likely during the airport evacuation, a TSA spokesperson said.
Atlanta Police Department was on site investigating the incident.
About two hours after the discharge, the airport was given an “all-clear” to resume normal operations, airport officials said.
The shooting caused chaos and confusion. Videos taken by travelers showed the panicked moments after the discharge, with people running out of the terminal. Other travelers could be seen huddled lying on the ground.
Travelers reported being stuck on the tarmac or in baggage claim after the incident, Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB reported.
TSA said its officers have detected more than 450 firearms at the Atlanta airport’s checkpoints so far this year.
“This incident underscores the importance of checking personal belongings for dangerous items before leaving for the airport,” TSA said in a statement. “Firearms, particularly loaded firearms, introduce an unnecessary risk at checkpoints, have no place in the passenger cabin of an airplane, and represent a very costly mistake for the passengers who attempt to board a flight with them.”
The incident occurred during what is shaping up to be the busiest travel weekend since the start of the pandemic due to Thanksgiving — at the busiest airport in the United States.
Transportation Security Administration officers screened 2,242,956 people at airport security checkpoints nationwide Friday — the “highest checkpoint volume since passenger volume tanked in early 2020 as a result of the pandemic,” TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio and Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
(ATLANTA) — There was an accidental gun discharge at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Saturday, airport officials said, causing panic and sending travelers onto the tarmac on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
The incident occurred around 1:30 pm local time at the security screening area, the airport said in an update on Twitter.
“There is not an active shooter,” the airport said. “There is no danger to passengers or employees.”
No injuries have been reported, according to the Atlanta Police Department, which was on site investigating the incident.
About two hours after the discharge, the airport was given an “all-clear” to resume normal operations, airport officials said.
No further details on the shooting, including who discharged the gun, have been released at this time.
The shooting caused chaos and confusion. Videos taken by travelers showed the panicked moments after the discharge, with people running out of the terminal. Other travelers could be seen huddled lying on the ground.
Travelers reported being stuck on the tarmac or in baggage claim after the incident, according to Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB.
The incident occurred during what is shaping up to be the busiest travel weekend since the start of the pandemic due to Thanksgiving — at the busiest airport in the United States.
Transportation Security Administration officers screened 2,242,956 people at airport security checkpoints nationwide Friday — the “highest checkpoint volume since passenger volume tanked in early 2020 as a result of the pandemic,” TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio and Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
(CHICAGO) — The story of De’Janay Stanton’s death is one that many transgender women in Chicago fear. The 24-year-old Black transgender woman was shot and killed by a romantic interest in 2018, and since then more and more stories like hers have come to light — in her city and across the U.S.
“They want to date our girls in darkness — they don’t want to be in public,” said her sister, Chimera Griffin. “She never expressed danger to me, but me, being a mom, I always knew something was gonna be bad because of society. In society, they’re so cruel.”
So far this year, the Human Rights Campaign has recorded four Black trans women being murdered in Chicago among at least 47 transgender or gender non-conforming people killed nationwide. But local activists say many more cases likely go unreported.
“We don’t have good statistics on the violence that Black trans women experience,” said Kim Fountain, chief administrative officer of the Center on Halsted, the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ social services agency. “If you don’t have those numbers, then it’s really hard to get a system to move on anything.”
Chicago has seen the most trans deaths so far in 2021, up from two in 2020.
On Trans Day of Remembrance, Nov. 20, families, activists and the trans community in Chicago are planning to reflect on the culture of fear, victimization and violence against trans people in their city — and the lack of accountability for the killers of these women.
“They were never afforded the dignity that human beings should be afforded,” said Jae Rice of local LGBTQ activist group Brave Space Alliance. “As long as we’re not afforded that dignity while we’re living, our deaths will never be something to be dignified at all.”
Honoring trans women
Stanton’s family found out about her death over Instagram live. A video captured Stanton, dead with a gunshot wound to her head, lying next to her car on Aug. 13. Someone who found Stanton’s body posted the video, telling the community to “check on their people,” according to Stanton’s sister, Chiquita Griffin.
Her death was ruled a homicide, and Tremon T. Hill has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing. It’s unclear whether Hill has legal representation.
Stanton is remembered by her family through her jokes, her fashion and her widespread social circle.
“You would never catch her in a bad spirit or bad mood because she always wanted to be, like, the face of happiness,” Griffin recalled. “A lot of trans women were sad, or they had to be tough, or they had to be on their toes all the time. She was on her toes all the time, but she was happy.”
Her happiness and her vibrancy created a safe haven for people around her, her sisters added, and their house became a place for women like Stanton to feel at home.
“So many girls, their families just throw them away, and just didn’t want to bother with them because they were transitioning into who they wanted to be,” Griffin said. “So she brought them all to my house.”
The trans community in Chicago is small, Griffin continued, but the women killed this year — 28-year-old Tyianna Alexander, 24-year-old Tiara Banks, 32-year-old Disaya Monaee, and 25-year-old Briana Hamilton — were loved and known by many, including Stanton’s family.
“These girls need more help,” Griffin said. “Not to mention the girls, the young ones, the next generation. They’re afraid to come out and be accepted in society, you know?”
According to the Chicago Department of Public Health, transgender and gender non-conforming adults in the state are more likely to report psychological distress than cisgender peers.
Trans individuals also are more likely to experience discrimination, harassment, economic hardship and violence, the CDPH reports.
Intersection of gun violence and transphobia
Of the 10 women killed and reported to the HRC in Chicago since 2015, eight were killed with a gun.
Gun violence in Chicago isn’t new: This year alone, the city has racked up more than 3,000 shootings, according to Chicago Police Department data.
Rice, of Brave Space Alliance, blames hypermasculinity as a root cause for much of the gun violence, transphobia and anti-trans crimes in Chicago. Toxic masculinity, the idea that violence, aggression and having power over another is an inherent part of manhood, often leads to men committing the vast majority of gun violence.
Rice says there is a prevalence of hypermasculinity, toxic masculinity and anti-LGBTQ sentiment in communities of color, like Chicago. Stigmas against queerness and femininity among men has led to the targeting of women like Stanton.
“Their manhood is now taken into question — if you’re sleeping with or are romantically engaged with a trans woman … there are so many messages out there that are telling you trans women aren’t women, when we know that’s not the case,” Rice said.
Stanton’s is one of very few trans killings in Chicago where a suspect has been charged. No one’s been charged in connection with the other three this year.
Brave Space Alliance, Griffin and others closely affected by this violence are working to get justice for other murdered trans people, pushing for resources to be allocated to the thorough investigation of these deaths.
Fixing a broken system
Local authorities, including the mayor’s office and the CPD, have implemented strategies to address violence and discrimination against the community.
Following years of complaints about Chicago police mishandling incidents involving transgender, intersex and gender-nonconforming people, CPD took steps to implement its “Interaction with Transgender, Intersex and Gender Nonconforming Individuals” policy in 2016, revising it this year after gathering public input via an online forum created in June.
CPD did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the status of the policy.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office also has created a “Citywide Strategic Plan” to address gender-based violence and human trafficking, which she said she plans on implementing over the next two years.
The plan includes increasing capacity within city departments to address these issue, coordinating prevention and intervention efforts, and exploring alternate responses to these cases outside of the criminal justice system.
The mayor’s office did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
In the meantime, local organizers, like Center on Halstead and Brave Space Alliance, are taking matters into their own hands.
According to Fountain, the Center on Halstead hosts local LGBTQ family groups to discuss city concerns, offers resources and financial aid to those in need, and holds community-based anti-violence projects and trainings.
Brave Space Alliance is the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ+ center on the city’s South Side, and it relies on community funding and donations to hold programs for trans Chicagoans who need help.
“If we fix our systems to support Black trans women, then a significant part of our culture, of our society, will be lifted up as well,” Fountain said. “That just speaks to how much oppression and how much bias, stigma, danger and harm they have experienced.”
(WASHINGTON) — Al Schmidt had a front-row seat to history when a batch of votes in Philadelphia tipped the state of Pennsylvania, and the 2020 presidential election, toward Joe Biden.
As Philadelphia’s Republican city commissioner, Schmidt had been holed up for days in the convention center, making sure every vote, mail-in or in-person, was counted.
“For us, it’s really never about who wins and who loses,” Schmidt told ABC News. “It’s really about counting, counting the votes.”
He defended the vote count and integrity of the election — only to find himself a target of former President Donald Trump. Four days after the race was called, Trump tweeted at Schmidt saying, without evidence, that he had refused to look at “a mountain of corruption and dishonesty.”
Schmidt said that’s when the threats against his life and his family started to ramp up.
“They became a lot more specific, a lot more graphic, largely targeted at my family, my kids,” he said. “Mentioning my children by name, my address, pictures of my house. Like the people who sent them had clearly done their homework.”
Schmidt is among a long list of state and local election officials facing increasing threats, fueling what some say is an unprecedented exodus.
A recent survey by the Brennan Center for Justice found 1 in 3 election officials nationwide feels unsafe at work. Nearly 1 in 5 called threats to their lives a job-related concern.
“There is, I’m sure, no election official in the country that when they ran for the job … ever contemplated death threats, let alone death threats to their children as being part of that job description,” Schmidt said.
In Pennsylvania, nearly half of county election directors have resigned since 2019, according to Lisa Schaefer of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. She said many others cite personal and violent threats.
“These are people who are getting called and yelled at constantly by their friends and their neighbors for things that are often out of their control,” Schaefer said.
It’s not just local election officials in swing states getting targeted.
Democrat Roxanna Moritz resigned in the wake of the 2020 election as the auditor and commissioner of elections in Scott County, Iowa, after more than a decade on the job. She cited a culture of bullying toward election officials, who often work long hours with little pay, because “we care about our democracy.”
“The personal attacks on each and every one of us has made of us aware this maybe isn’t where we want to be,” Moritz told ABC News.
Election experts warn about the loss of institutional knowledge in this wave of resignations from roles that are historically above the political fray.
Another concern, according to Elizabeth Howard of the Brennan Center for Justice, is who will replace the officials who resign.
“We’ve seen, for instance, some candidates for secretary of state, which is generally the chief election official in the state, who have come out and said that they basically believe in the ‘Big Lie,'” that Trump was cheated out of an election win, Howard said.
ABC News has previously reported on new state laws that shift election administration to highly partisan bodies, as part of a broader effort to shift power away from officials who refuted the “Big Lie.” Some of these changes to election laws appear to be in direct retaliation of officials who defended the integrity of the 2020 results.
In Maricopa County, Arizona, Bill Gates is a Republican on the board of supervisors overseeing elections. His county has become a hotbed of election misinformation despite several recounts and audits confirming President Joe Biden’s win.
“I have to plead with these folks to listen to me to the truth that I’m telling them, because they’ve been told lies for a year now, and they believe it,” he told ABC News.
More than a year after the election, Gates said he’s still targeted daily online, and called a traitor who should be jailed.
“There have been evenings where we have literally spent the night at an Airbnb because of threats,” he told ABC News. “There are nights where we have slept with sheriff’s deputies outside of the house because of these threats.”
Gates and Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt both said fighting election misinformation is proving to be a critical test of American democracy.
“I think there is an additional obligation on Republicans like myself to speak the truth about the 2020 election and to stand up in the face of all of these lies, regardless of what the consequences are for any of us,” Schmidt said. “With our democracy on the line, pretty much anything, it’s worth it.”
(NEW YORK) — Millions more vaccinated adults across the U.S. became eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot on Friday. And yet, the vast majority of vaccinated Americans were already eligible — many just didn’t know it.
According to an October survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4 in 10 vaccinated adults were unsure if they qualified for a booster. So far, just 32 million Americans have received a booster, or around 18% of the more than 182 million adults who are fully vaccinated.
In announcing the latest recommendations, public health experts at the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC expressed hope that they would cut through the confusion, simplifying the decision for Americans who are wondering: Do I need a booster shot?
Here’s what the experts say.
Should you get a booster?
The question has been hotly debated for months but a larger pro-booster consensus has formed over the last week.
Why? A number of reasons, including rising cases in more than half of U.S. states right before a busy holiday travel season and lower temperatures pushing people indoors.
The FDA and CDC made the updated recommendation on Friday. It expanded booster access to all adults who were vaccinated with Moderna or Pfizer over six months ago, and while the recommendation was stronger for everyone over 50 to go get a boost, it applies to everyone 18 to 49.
For Johnson & Johnson recipients, the recommendation already applied to everyone over 18, anytime two months after their shot.
For experts who have long been loud proponents for booster shots, it was a long time coming.
“Enough is enough. Let’s get moving on here,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House and a leader at the National Institutes of Health, said at an event Wednesday, before the FDA and CDC made the final call.
“There’s no doubt that immunity wanes. It wanes in everyone. It’s more dangerous in the elderly, but it’s across all age groups,” Fauci said, citing data from Israel and the U.K., where more people were vaccinated sooner and began to first document waning immunity.
Others, like Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, called the decline “both predicted and predictable.”
“And the way you fix it is you give that third immunization,” he said.
Both Hotez and Fauci believe the vaccines should be used not just to prevent hospitalizations and death, but also infection — particularly because of the risk of long-COVID, a concerning side effect of the disease that is rare in vaccinated people but can include long-term fatigue, brain fog and shortness of breath.
“When I got my third immunization, why was I so eager to do it? Well, of course I didn’t want to go to the hospital or ICU, but also I didn’t want to get COVID,” Hotez said.
“I didn’t want to get gray matter brain degeneration and cognitive decline and have a brain scan that looks like somebody 20 years older.”
But for those still on the fence about the personal choice, Dr. Anna Durbin, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, laid out risk scenarios to consider.
“It really comes down to your comfort level and just what’s going to make you as a person feel safer,” Durbin said.
If you’re traveling overseas or live in areas of high transmission, if you’re elderly or have underlying conditions or are frequently out in the community for work, those are all reasons to get a booster, Durbin said.
For young, healthy people who don’t feel at risk, Durbin said to keep an eye on rising cases in your area. Consider getting a booster to help tamp down transmission, but also to protect yourself ahead of a surge, Durbin said.
“If we’re gonna see a new wave, it’s going to be over the winter months most likely. And if you get boosted now, that’s going to provide you really good protection through that period of time,” Durbin said.
That said, don’t panic if you can’t book an appointment right away — particularly as demand surges with the new recommendation, experts say.
“I would not view it as an emergency that people need to line up on the day of approval and get their boosters necessarily that weekend,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
It’s still far more important for unvaccinated people to get vaccinated, Barouch said, particularly ahead of the holidays.
“The most important thing is for everybody who will be celebrating to be vaccinated, if they’re eligible to be vaccinated. Now, additional boosts may be useful. But the most important thing is that people be vaccinated primarily,” he said.
Why has it been so confusing?
To put it simply: “The reason why there is some confusion is because it has been confusing,” Barouch said.
“Guidelines are changing,” Barouch said. “And in some cases, the guidelines are changing for good reasons: They’re changing because what we’re seeing is a changing pandemic.”
Last week, a patchwork of booster guidance emerged as governors in over a dozen states called for all adults to get a booster before the federal agencies weighed in, acting to combat spiking cases and overwhelmed hospitals.
Hotez commended the states for making the “medically correct” decision and being “more nimble” than the original decision from the CDC and FDA, but acknowledged the schism it created in the public health guidance.
“Not as elegant as you’d like — to have the states be out front by a week or so, but you know, when you’re in the middle of a pandemic, sometimes things don’t go smoothly as you’d like,” Hotez said.
Some, like Hotez, have always believed boosters would be necessary, even before data started to trickle in on waning immunity, and think confusion could’ve been avoided if the public was always told to expect a booster.
“It should have been messaged to the American people from the beginning that, by the way, don’t be surprised when the call comes out to get a third immunization,” he said.
Still, there’s a fine line to walk in urging booster shots for those vaccinated six months ago while also encouraging the most impactful group, unvaccinated people, to get their primary vaccinations. The vaccines continue to protect well against hospitalization and death for many months.
“We can give all the booster doses we want and until we get people vaccinated, or they all get infected, we’re going to continue to see transmission of COVID,” Durbin said.
(NEW YORK) — Leticia works at a bakery helping to prepare the pastries that hungry New Yorkers order with their coffee in the morning. At first glance, she’s like any other person in the city. But in 2017, she fled Guatemala with her son Yovany and made her way toward the border in Texas.
“At the moment we crossed, we were happy. We thought our lives were saved, that all the danger was behind us,” she said in Spanish in an interview with ABC News’ Zachary Kiesch. “We couldn’t imagine that a greater pain, a stronger pain, was ahead of us.”
Once they crossed, she and her son were detained by Border Patrol agents and quickly separated as they tried to submit an asylum claim. Leticia, whose last name is being withheld for privacy, was deported and Yovany was placed in foster care. They did not see each other for over two years.
They were among the first migrant families subjected to a pilot program for what later became the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy.
Leticia and Yovany could be one of the families qualifying for compensation if the Biden administration decides to make settlement payments to migrants who were separated from their children by the Trump administration.
Now reunited in the United States, mother and son continue to live in fear of being separated again while their asylum case is pending.
“It was a pain that I still carry with me. It’s still hurting me,” Yovany said in Spanish. “I continue living with that fear that I will be separated from her again.”
The potential settlement payments, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, are part of an ongoing federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking damages for separated families. Earlier this month, President Joe Biden dismissed reports that payments of up to $450,000 were being discussed, but expressed his support for some kind of compensation.
“If, in fact, because of the outrageous behavior of the last administration, you coming across the border, whether it was legally or illegally, and you lost your child — you lost your child — it’s gone. You deserve compensation no matter what the circumstance,” Biden said. “What that will be, I have no idea. I have no idea.”
In 2019, a federal judge ruled that Leticia’s deportation had been unlawful because she did not voluntarily accept deportation and sign away her parental rights. Immigration officials did not provide her an interpreter or explain that they were separating her from Yovany.
“It was totally in English. I didn’t know what I was signing,” Leticia said. “Even today I still don’t know what it is I signed.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this week, with support for the reported settlements appearing to fall along party lines.
ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said the reports about settlements have been politicized and that there is no time frame on when a decision will be made in regards to the amount of money families would receive and who would be eligible.
“This is not about whether we all agree on macro-immigration policy. This is whether the United States is going to make little children pawns in this political fight,” Gelernt said. “These families, according to all of the medical experts, have suffered severe trauma — literally being pulled away.”
Leticia said she draws strength from her Indigenous roots, but her courage and faith were tested during those long months when she didn’t know where her son was located. Despite the close bond they continue to share, she said there was some initial distrust when they were finally reunited.
“When I saw him, I noticed there was a feeling of ‘Why would you leave me?'” she told ABC News. “He didn’t tell me with his words but as a mother, I knew.”
Fear of abandonment, depression and anxiety are just a few of the challenges families like Leticia’s face when they’re finally reunited.
“Money is not everything in the world,” Leticia said of the possible payments. “It won’t return our happiness, it won’t return our health. But it can help start to remediate the trauma and the pain they caused us when they violated our human rights.”
The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project has been helping support her and Yovany while they wait for their asylum case to be heard.
“Reunification is truly only the first step that the government must take for these families. After they reunify, these families have to navigate a complex immigration system that is stacked against them in every way,” said Leidy Pérez-Davis, policy director at the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project.
The Biden administration’s reunification task force has found that more than 3,900 children were separated under by the “zero-tolerance” policy. Gelernt estimated that there are still over 1,000 families that have yet to be reunited and at least 270 that have not even been located.
“I hope this serves as an example for future governments to never repeat the same damage and trauma they’ve caused,” said Leticia.
