Louisiana
Louisiana’s health leadership changes open the door to medical misinformation • Louisiana Illuminator
The anti-vaccination crowd celebrated this week’s news that Dr. Joe Kanter is stepping down as Louisiana’s chief medical officer. In his role with the state health department, Kanter led efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 and encouraged the public to get the vaccine.
He did so out of a sense of duty and without flinching as critics increasingly questioned the proven science behind the policy he enforced.
His departure was reason to rejoice for the science deniers who have been re-energized since Republican Gov. Jeff Landry won his election on promises he would stand firm against any public health measure he deems an encroachment on freedom. As attorney general, he took every opportunity to challenge and lash out at then-Gov. John Bel Edwards for the Democrat’s executive orders to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Louisiana officials’ continued emphasis on vaccinations has been in question since Landry’s election and his subsequent appointment of Dr. Ralph Abraham as state health department secretary. Kanter announced his exit less than two months into Abraham’s tenure.
Abraham, a former congressman and 2019 governor candidate, was a practicing physician before he took his seat in the U.S. House and a veterinarian before that.
Early in the pandemic, Abraham supported the off-label use of drugs to treat COVID that lacked federal regulatory approval, indicating he was open to alternatives at a time when researchers still hadn’t developed a vaccine.
“There are times when certain drugs need to be tried that have worked even anecdotally, give the patient the option, let them and their doctor make an informed decision,” Abraham told the Louisiana Radio Network in March 2020.
With regards to vaccines, there was an encouraging message from Abraham’s agency last week when it announced two cases of measles had been diagnosed in the New Orleans area. The Louisiana Department of Health reported that the infected individuals had not been immunized, and officials encouraged the public to obtain the MMR vaccine, calling it “highly effective and safe.”
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It remains to be seen if there will be a similar message regarding COVID-19 vaccines, as the virus continues to mutate into new strands and pose a public health threat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending a booster for older adults.
If Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, had his way, Abraham and the health department would disregard the CDC’s recommendation.
Crews said as much Tuesday during a meeting of the House Health and Welfare Committee where Abraham made his first legislative appearance since taking his new job. The state representative took a shot at how the health department under the Edwards administration followed the federal health agency’s advice.
“It seemed to me the CDC told us what to do, and we went with it,” Crews told Abraham.
Crews also shared his dismay during the pandemic over health care professionals not being familiar with “experts,” whose names he shared in the committee meeting. They are:
- Dr. Pierre Kory, a physician who lost his certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine for “spreading false or inaccurate medical information.” He advocated for the off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID, despite multiple studies showing the risk of using the antiparasitic. Kory also falsely claimed the COVID vaccine could adversely affect pregnancies and fertility.
- Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist who also championed the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, a lupus and arthritis drug, to treat COVID. He insisted people under 50 didn’t need the COVID vaccine and falsely attributed an excessive number of deaths to the vaccine. McCullough also disputed the need for vaccines to achieve herd immunity from COVID, relying instead on people catching and surviving the virus.
- Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, a Belgian veterinarian who sought to undermine confidence in the COVID vaccine, saying it will lead to “a global catastrophe without equal,” in order to promote his own “universal vaccine.” Immunologists have discredited Vanden Bossche’s supposed cure.
- Dr. Robert Malone, a physician popular in far-right circles who has conveyed conspiracy theories about the origins of COVID. He has also spread misinformation about vaccines.
“I mention those names, and they act like they’ve never heard of them,” Crews said.
That might be because the doctors he’s confronted are reputable and embrace data-driven, peer-reviewed science over dangerous quackery. Or those doctors might just have had the same response Abraham did after Crews’ comments: silence with a polite smile.
For the sake of public health, let’s hope our new health secretary doesn’t become an echo chamber for such medical misinformation, even when it supports the political agenda of his boss.
The Louisiana Department of Health and biotechnology company Phenomune have launched a statewide initiative that will provide up to 250,000 Louisiana residents with free at-home test kits designed to offer personalized insights into their immune health.
The program, announced Thursday, allows participants to complete a brief taste-based test using four strips placed on the tongue and submit their responses through the Phenomune app. Within minutes, users receive confidential information about how their bodies may respond to upper respiratory illnesses such as the flu, COVID-19 and bronchitis, helping inform conversations with healthcare providers.
State officials say the initiative is the first of its kind and aims to promote preventive healthcare by giving residents greater awareness of their immune profiles while generating population-level health data to support public health planning and resource allocation.
Gov. Jeff Landry called the effort a “bold step” toward strengthening healthcare access, particularly in rural communities, while reducing strain on the healthcare system through earlier intervention and more informed decision-making.
The program is based on peer-reviewed research linking certain taste receptors to respiratory health and immune responses. According to Phenomune, the test requires no lab work or biological samples and provides results in just minutes.
Healthcare providers, hospitals, nursing homes, community clinics and federally qualified health centers are also encouraged to participate by ordering kits for patients and integrating the program into care settings.
“At Phenomune, our focus is translating peer-reviewed science into practical tools that anyone can easily use,” said Dr. Henry P. Barham, founder of Phenomune, in a statement. “This helps people better understand their own immune system so they can take a more proactive approach to their health—and, over time, build healthier communities.”
The initiative is open to Louisiana residents ages 13 and older, with parental guidance required for minors. Test kits can be requested online through Phenomune’s testing program.
Louisiana
Letters: How will new energy project affect families? State must get its priorities straight
Phillip May, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana, speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for Smalling Substation near Rayville, La., Friday, Jun 27, 2025. The substation will serve the Meta Richland Parish Data Center, which is now under construction.
Louisiana
ICE rushes to deport Palestinian grandfather, despite judge’s order to free him | The Lens
This story was published in partnership with The Intercept, a newsroom committed to rigorous, adversarial journalism in the public interest.
Less than two weeks ago, in a scathing rebuke, a federal judge ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release a Louisiana grandfather who’d suffered a heart attack while in ICE custody.
The man, Akram Mahmoud Omar, 77, lived in the U.S. for 50 years until ICE abruptly seized him during a routine check-in last October and soon sent him to “Camp 57,” the ICE detention camp within the notorious state prison in Angola, Louisiana.
The stress of the poor conditions there contributed to Omar’s heart attack, according to the habeas petition he filed in April. On May 29, a federal judge found ICE had violated Omar’s constitutional rights and ordered his immediate release.
Then on Monday, just 10 days after his release, ICE seized Omar again and tried to whisk the still-recovering man onto a deportation flight the next morning, according to his lawyer Ken Mayeaux.
Following an emergency motion from Mayeaux, the same judge again ordered ICE to release Omar and cautioned the agency not to make another deportation attempt.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (‘ICE’) shall IMMEDIATELY RELEASE Omar from ICE custody,” said the Monday order from Judge Brian Jackson in Louisiana’s Middle District. “ICE shall not RE-DETAIN or REMOVE Omar from the United States during the pendency of Omar’s Emergency Motion to Enforce the Court’s May 29 Order.”
In the May order, the judge found that ICE had violated Omar’s constitutional rights by unlawfully detaining him and denying him the chance to prepare for an orderly departure.
ICE directly defied that order by seizing him without warning for immediate deportation, the emergency motion alleges, blocking him from arranging his affairs or even saying goodbye, the emergency motion for Omar’s release said.
“Petitioner’s re-detention and planned removal are in direct contempt of this Court’s prior order,” reads the June 8 emergency motion. The government “lied to Mr. Omar, telling him and his family that he did not need to report to ICE/ERO” — ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division — “until December, but now, Respondent is racing to remove petitioner within hours.”
In a statement to The Lens and The Intercept, ICE spokesperson Angela Vicknair said, “ICE complies with all court orders, and any allegation that a judge’s orders were not followed are categorically false.”
Federal courts are now constantly dealing with flagrant violations of judicial orders by ICE, said Bridget Pranzatelli, an attorney with the National Immigration Project.
“This level of cruelty and disrespect for federal courts is the rule, not the exception,” said Pranzatelli, who is familiar with the case. “The Court looked at the entire record before it and issued a well-reasoned decision, which specifically mandated certain protections for this very elderly, very sick man, and ICE ignored it.”
ICE’s actions in Omar’s case are also in line with the way that the government is using extreme measures to target Palestinians, Pranzatelli said. Omar was born in Palestine before the formation of the state of Israel and lived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In 1975, he moved to the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident.
“If In Fact He Survives the Flight”
After his release last month, Omar attended his regular ICE check-in on the first Wednesday in June; his next check-in would be in December, he was told. But last Friday, he received a letter telling him to report to an ICE office on Monday morning, June 8.
After Omar received the letter, Mayeaux emailed the ICE office in Bossier City, Louisiana, where Omar lives, warning immigration officials that “any attempted removal of Mr. Omar in June would be in direct contempt of the Court Order,” according to a copy of the email included with the motion. “I am instructing my client not to report as requested.”
Instead, on Monday, ICE came to Omar’s home and arrested him again. Omar’s wife immediately called Mayeaux. Only hours later did ICE tell Omar’s family he was being taken nearly two hours away, to an ICE staging area for deportation flights, and would be put on a plane the next morning to Israel.
By early afternoon, Mayeux had filed the emergency motion.
His client’s health, Mayeux wrote in the emergency motion, was his main concern. Omar is still recovering from his April heart attack and open-heart surgery. His wife told the arresting ICE officer that she was planning to take Omar to a cardiologist later that day, and that he could not move well.
According to the filing, a doctor was prepared to testify that the roughly 14-hour flight without medical clearance raised serious concerns about Omar’s health, “if in fact he survives the flight.”
“Heartless and Cruel”
Omar had been in the U.S. for 50 years when ICE picked him up in Mississippi during a routine check-in last fall. There was no readily apparent cause: ICE had long known about two minor, nonviolent convictions, one in 2005 and one in 2022, but Omar had lived in the U.S. for years under ICE supervision and had complied with required immigration check-ins.
“Incredibly, despite these undisputed facts, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (‘ICE’) considers Omar to be both a ‘flight risk’ and a ‘priority for removal,” said the May release order from Jackson, a federal judge in Baton Rouge. “Omar has been held in ICE detention since October 28, 2025 — 7 full months — with no end in sight.”
Jackson ruled that ICE had to abide by its own regulations: If ICE were to deport him, the agency needed to give him advance notice, a reason, an opportunity for an orderly departure, and an informal interview to respond to ICE’s deportation efforts.
ICE did not serve Omar’s counsel with notice until he was already back in ICE custody.
“The Notice also makes a mockery of the Court’s Order,” says Mayeaux’s June 8 emergency motion. “It was only after he was taken back into custody — in contravention of the Court’s Order — that he was informed of the existence of the travel document and of his imminent removal.”
But even at that point, the motion alleged, ICE didn’t give Omar the chance to speak directly with counsel.
The court had also directed ICE to facilitate communication with Omar’s doctors and family “to ensure the most efficient and effective continuation of his required medical treatment upon his release.”
ICE appears to have violated most of Jackson’s orders when its agents re-detained Omar. Even when ICE SUVs showed up at his door to bring him to the Bossier City field office, the agents continued to say that it was only a routine check-in. Not until less than 24 hours before the flight departed were family members told he was being deported.
Again, an order from Jackson mandated Omar’s immediate release. ICE agents returned him to his home around 7 p.m. Monday evening — leaving his family relieved, but shaken.
“They’re all completely traumatized,” Mayeaux said of his client’s family.
While ICE’s letter last week had made him suspicious, he said, “I couldn’t believe they would be so heartless and cruel as to do this to a 77-year-old man who’s ill. I just didn’t.”
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