Nights of raids and terror after fleeing the US
  THE BIG STORY
Haitians who fled the US border are now facing nights of raids and terror in Mexico  (BuzzFeed News; Google Maps) CIUDAD ACUÑA, Mexico — Returning to Mexico was a last resort for Haitian migrants after crossing the Rio Grande and setting up camp under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas.
But during the day, caravans of local police, soldiers, and immigration agents patrol the streets of Ciudad Acuña looking for immigrants who came to buy food or take out money family members had sent them. At night, armed Mexican authorities enter cheap motels and forcibly remove those hiding from deportation.
In one standoff early Wednesday morning, one Haitian father held a shard of glass to defend his family from immigration officials at his hotel room door. "If you send me to Haiti, I have no one there to help me," he said. "I can't go back."
For many, being returned to Haiti is not an option. The nation has been plagued by earthquakes, corruption, and poverty, forcing thousands to abandon their homes and leave behind family members in search of better economic opportunities. The ones who have left are expected to be the main breadwinners for their families back in Haiti, who are relying on them making it to the US.
As one Haitian teenager told BuzzFeed News, "All that is waiting for me in Haiti is poverty and misery."
STAYING ON TOP OF THIS
The FDA authorized Pfizer booster shots for older adults, healthcare workers, and high-risk groups
The move follows an FDA expert panel's recommendations last week supporting Pfizer boosters for those groups, whom they argued would clearly benefit from increased immunity. The panel overwhelmingly rejected giving the boosters to all individuals 16 and older, citing the need for more safety data in younger age groups.
The FDA booster authorization applies only to the Pfizer mRNA vaccine. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have each submitted their own booster shot data for FDA emergency use authorization.
SNAPSHOTS
Michigan's attorney general says the men who allegedly plotted to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer weren't entrapped. Prosecutors have given their first formal response to the accused men's claims that they were entrapped by a confidential FBI informant and are in fact innocent.
Britney Spears again called for the immediate suspension of her father from her conservatorship. A new court filing says that now that she is engaged, his removal is even more imperative.
 "A NIGHTMARE WE'VE SEEN COMING"
"An unprecedented event in modern medicine": What happens when a state fails to flatten the COVID curve  A chart shows the number of COVID patients in Idaho hospitals, in ICUs, and on ventilators over the past year and a half. (Idaho Department of Health and Welfare) Idaho's COVID-19 crisis is reaching deadly new heights. As of Saturday, there were 686 patients hospitalized in the state with COVID, 180 of them in ICUs. That's hundreds more than what flooded hospitals during the previous surge in December 2020, before safe and effective vaccines were widely available.
In response to the crush of patients, which is not expected to slow anytime soon, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare last week activated crisis standards of care. If things truly reach their worst, the crisis standards guide doctors in triaging which patients receive care and which won't. This last resort guidance involves a complex calculation of health factors in order to save the most lives possible, and in the event of a tie, doctors may have to resort to a lottery system.
Medical groups have pleaded with Idaho residents to get vaccinated but have been met with resistance in the deeply conservative state — a symptom of the politicization of the vaccines by some on the right. Idaho currently has the lowest vaccination rate in the country, and 50 out of the 51 COVID patients in the region's ICUs at this time are unvaccinated.
"It's not a sudden nightmare. It's a nightmare we've seen coming, and our physicians have been warning about this," said Susie Keller, the CEO of the Idaho Medical Association. "We have not yet hit our peak." GENTLE CHAOS, SO GENTLE
How this art student became the weirdest, funniest guy on TikTok  Gaca at home in Los Angeles (Nolwen Cifuentes for BuzzFeed News) Tyler Gaca — aka @ghosthoney — has a TikTok presence that's hard to summarize except as a vibe, writes Zan Romanoff. On a platform best known for elevating conventionally beautiful young white women through dance challenges and #BamaRushTok, Gaca has staked out a niche for himself as a charmingly offbeat weirdo covering everything from Victorian dandies to cannibalistic mermaids to Twilight.
Like other content creators, Gaca entered TikTok full-time by accident. His job didn't exist a decade ago, and in a generally uncertain moment, his future career path is murky. What happens when you're trying to make something good, but also popular enough to keep making you money?
Gaca spoke with Romanoff about the long-term sustainability of TikTok success, his lifelong obsession with magic, and the desire to have a private and public life.
"I don't want to be seen," Gaca said on the irony of his introversion and online stardom. "But I want to be witnessed." Allow someone to witness your best qualities today, Alexa 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Alexa Lee and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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