https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/16-year-old-migrant-boy-dies-u-s-custody-5th-n1007751
Daniella Silva reports for NBC News:
A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy died Monday in immigration custody in south Texas, the fifth migrant child to die since December, Customs and Border Protection said.
The teenager, who was not identified by authorities, was apprehended after crossing the border May 13 near Hidalgo, Texas, CBP said in a statement posted Monday. The boy was transferred from the Rio Grande Valley Sector’s Central Processing Center to the Weslaco Border Patrol Station on Sunday, the statement said.
He was then due to be placed with the Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency that oversees care of unaccompanied or separated migrant children after they are initially processed by immigration authorities, the statement said.
But the boy was found unresponsive Monday morning during a welfare check, the statement said. He died at the Weslaco Station.
“The men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection are saddened by the tragic loss of this young man and our condolences are with his family,” acting Commissioner John Sanders said in the statement. “CBP is committed to the health, safety and humane treatment of those in our custody.”
The cause of death is unknown and the incident is being reviewed by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The Guatemalan government has been notified, the statement said.
The boy is the fifth migrant child to die since December. All of the children were Guatemalan. Asylum-seekers and other migrants from Guatemala have been fleeing a mix of violence, drought, food shortages and poverty.
On April 30, Juan de León Gutiérrez, 16, died following “several days of intensive care” at a hospital after falling ill while in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services.
A medical examiner in Corpus Christi, Texas, said Juan had been diagnosed with a rare condition known as Pott’s puffy tumor, which can be caused by a severe sinus infection or head trauma, according to The Associated Press.
Last week, a 2½-year-old died after being hospitalized for pneumonia, following high fever and difficulty breathing after he was apprehended in early April, authorities said.
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The death toll for kids doesn’t even count some who have died or been killed in Mexico while awaiting processing that they are legally entitled to, but are not receiving in violation of law by the Administration.
Seems like rather than wasting time and money on walls, troops to string barbed wire, “remain in Mexico,” tent cities, increased detention, and using Border Patrol Agents illegally as unqualified “Asylum Officers,” the Administration should be concentrating all efforts on humanitarian care and assistance, fairly and timely processing asylum applicants at ports of entry, and granting as many asylum cases as possible under the current law to clear those cases out of the crowded system.
The existing law is actually flexible enough to deal with the current humanitarian situation if we had a competent, law-abiding Administration. However, the likely results, granting asylum to legitimate refugees fleeing situations in the Northern Triangle for which we share a great deal of responsibility, wouldn’t please the White Nationalist nativists. Just imagine using the law properly to protect deserving refugees, rather than “gaming” it to reject them.
One main purpose of the “Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act” (“TVPA”) was to insure maximum protection to minors arriving at the border. Shamefully, rather than seeing that those protections are carried out, the Trump Administration and the GOP actually seek to remove Wilberforce Protection from those who need it most, thereby paving the way for massive child exploitation and casualties. Throughout his Administration, Trump and his White Nationalist cronies have been the “best friends” and “biggest boosters” of the druggies, human smugglers, cartels, and gangs. How about an Administration that protects victims rather than enriching and enabling their persecutors and abusers?
PWS
05-20-19