Migrant Caravan

spaminator

spaminator

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2nd Guatemalan child, 8, dies in U.S. immigration custody: Officials
Associated Press
Published:
December 25, 2018
Updated:
December 25, 2018 7:25 PM EST
In this Jan. 25, 2017, file photo, an agent from the border patrol, observes near the Mexico-US border fence, on the Mexican side, separating the towns of Anapra, Mexico and Sunland Park, N.M. Christian Torres / AP, File
HOUSTON — An eight-year-old boy from Guatemala died in government custody in New Mexico early Tuesday, U.S. immigration authorities said, marking the second death of an immigrant child in detention this month.
The death came during an ongoing dispute over border security and with a partial government shutdown underway over U.S. President Donald Trump’s request for border wall funding.
Trump: Government won’t re-open ‘until we have a wall or fence’
Family of migrant girl disputes official story on her death
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the boy showed “signs of potential illness” on Monday and was taken with his father to a hospital in Alamogordo, N.M., where he was diagnosed with a cold and a fever. The boy was prescribed amoxicillin and Ibuprofen and released Monday afternoon after being held 90 minutes for observation, the agency said.
The boy was returned to the hospital Monday evening with nausea and vomiting and died there just after midnight, CBP said.
CBP has not yet confirmed when or where the father and son entered the United States or how long they were detained, saying only in its statement that the boy had been “previously apprehended” by its agents.
The agency said the cause of the boy’s death has not been determined and that it has notified the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general and the Guatemalan government.
A seven-year-old Guatemalan girl died earlier this month after being apprehended by border agents in New Mexico. The body of the girl, Jakelin Caal, was returned to her family’s remote village Monday for burial Tuesday.
Neighbours carry the coffin that contain the remains of seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin into her grandparent’s home in San Antonio Secortez, Guatemala, Monday, Dec. 24, 2018. Oliver de Ros / AP
The White House referred questions about the latest case to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, CBP’s parent agency. CBP officers and the Border Patrol remain on the job despite the shutdown.
According to Guatemala’s foreign ministry, the father and son entered the U.S. at El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 18, then were taken to the Border Patrol’s Alamogordo station Sunday. Alamogordo is about 90 miles (145 kilometres) from El Paso.
CBP typically detains immigrants for no more than a few days when they cross the border before either releasing them or turning them over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for longer-term detention. Agency guidelines say immigrants generally shouldn’t be detained for more than 72 hours in CBP holding facilities, which are usually smaller and have fewer services than ICE’s detention centres.
Parents and children together are almost always released quickly due to limited space in ICE’s family detention facilities.
A CBP spokesman on Tuesday did not respond to questions about the ministry’s statement.
The hospital, the Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center, declined to comment, citing privacy regulations.
CBP promised “an independent and thorough review of the circumstances.”
The Guatemalan foreign ministry called for an investigation “in accordance with due process.”
Democratic members of Congress and immigration advocates sharply criticized CBP’s handling of Jakelin’s death and questioned whether border agents could have prevented it by spotting symptoms of distress or calling for an evacuation by air ambulance sooner.
CBP has said that it took several hours to transport Jakelin and her father from a remote Border Patrol facility to a larger station, where her temperature was measured at 105.7 degrees Fahrenheit (40.9 degrees Celsius). Emergency medical technicians had to revive her twice. She was ultimately flown to an El Paso hospital, where she died the next day.
Large numbers of Guatemalan families have been arriving in recent weeks in New Mexico, often in remote and dangerous parts of the desert. Jakelin and her father were with 161 other people when they were apprehended in Antelope Wells, about 230 miles (370 kilometres) southwest of Alamogordo.
CBP announced new notification procedures in response to Jakelin’s death, which was not revealed until several days later.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican whose district along the U.S.-Mexico border includes Alamogordo, did not respond to messages Tuesday.
Xochitl Torres Small, a Democrat who will represent the district starting in January, called for a thorough and transparent investigation into the children’s deaths and more medical resources along the border.
“This is inexcusable,” she said in a statement Tuesday. “Instead of immediately acting to keep children and all of us safe along our border, this administration forced a government shutdown over a wall.
Felipe Gonzalez, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, said Monday that the U.S. government’s detention ofchildren due to their immigration status violated international law.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/2nd-guatemalan-child-8-dies-in-u-s-immigration-custody-officials
 
C

Curious Cdn

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"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."
 
spaminator

spaminator

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Deaths of 2 kids raise doubts about U.S. border agency
Associated Press
Published:
December 26, 2018
Updated:
December 26, 2018 7:15 PM EST
HOUSTON — The deaths of two migrant children in just over two weeks raised strong new doubts Wednesday about the ability of U.S. border authorities to care for the thousands of minors arriving as part of a surge of families trying to enter the country.
An eight-year-old boy identified by Guatemalan officials as Felipe Gomez Alonzo died in U.S. custody at a New Mexico hospital on Christmas Eve after suffering a cough, vomiting and fever, authorities said. The cause is under investigation, as is the death Dec. 8 of another Guatemalan child, seven-year-old Jakelin Caal.
“There is a real failure here that we all need to reckon with,” said incoming Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat elected last month to represent El Paso in Congress. “We need to know how many other Jakelins and Felipes there have been.”
2nd Guatemalan child, 8, dies in U.S. immigration custody: Officials
Trump: Government won’t re-open ‘until we have a wall or fence’
Family of migrant girl disputes official story on her death
The U.S. government’s system for detaining migrants crossing the border is severely overtaxed. Authorities would not say how many children U.S. Customs and Border Protection is now holding. But the country is seeing a sharp rise in families with children.
In the wake of the two deaths, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen asked the Coast Guard to study CBP’s medical programs and announced that all children who enter the agency’s custody will be given “more thorough” assessments.
Also, border authorities said that they conducted health checks in reaction to Felipe’s death on nearly all children in their custody. They did not disclose the results.
Nielsen blamed “a system that prevents parents who bring their children on a dangerous illegal journey from facing consequences for their actions.” The Trump administration contends it must detain more people to discourage other Central American families from trying to enter the country.
Felipe had been detained by U.S. border authorities for a week and moved between facilities with his father, officials said. The last place the boy was held — after the first of two visits to the hospital on the day he died — was a highway checkpoint in New Mexico.
Felipe’s father, Agustin Gomez, did not see any signs of illness from his son until Monday, according to Guatemalan consul Oscar Padilla, who spoke to Gomez on Wednesday. Felipe and his father had left Guatemala on Dec. 14 and were detained at the U.S-Mexico border four days later, Padilla told The Associated Press.
By its own regulations, CBP is supposed to detain people for no more than 72 hours before turning them over to other government agencies responsible for long-term detention. CBP facilities are typically spartan, with food, water and blankets but often no medical professionals, teachers or some of the other resources longer-term detention centres offer.
Similarly, Jakelin was first held with her father at a small base in rural New Mexico that did not have running water, according to Democrats who visited it after the girl’s death.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who sits on a key subcommittee overseeing border funding, said he has pushed to fund more alternatives to detention such as ankle monitors, which he said could have been issued to Felipe’s father.
He said the Trump administration has prioritized the president’s border wall — the subject of the partial government shutdown since last week — over investing in CBP checkpoints that have long needed attention.
“They’re not set up to hold people for a long time,” Cuellar said. “There’s so much money that the wall sucks up that it’s hard to address some of the other issues. I wish the administration would understand that.”
CBP said it is reviewing all available options to relieve overcrowding in the El Paso sector, where Felipe and his father were apprehended. The agency also said it has reached out to other government agencies for “surge medical assistance.”
CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said in the agency’s defence that CBP has more than 1,500 emergency medical technicians on staff and that officers are taking dozens of sick children to hospitals every day.
“This is an extraordinarily rare occurrence,” McAleenan told “CBS This Morning” of the two child deaths. “It’s been more than a decade since we’ve had a child pass away anywhere in a CBP process, so this is just devastating for us.”
It’s not uncommon for families in El Paso these days to spend more than a week in holding cells just as Felipe and his father did, said Ruben Garcia, director of El Paso’s Annunciation House shelter.
Those problems predate the Trump administration. During a 2014 surge at the border, some families were put in holding cells for up to 20 days before being released, Garcia said.
Homeland Security’s inspector general examined nine CBP holding facilities earlier this year. In a September report, the inspector general said that the facilities complied with CBP standards and that people had access to food and water, toilets and sinks, and hygiene items — with “the exception of inconsistent cleanliness of the hold rooms.”
Just three of the nine facilities had “trained medical staff to conduct medical screening and provide basic medical care,” the report said. And showers were available for unaccompanied children at only four facilities.
Felipe and his father were taken to two of the facilities the inspector general examined: the processing centre at the Paso del Norte port of entry, then the El Paso Border Patrol station.
But just after 1 a.m. Sunday, the two were transferred 90 miles (145 kilometres) to the Border Patrol station at Alamogordo, New Mexico. CBP said it moved them “because of capacity levels” in El Paso. The next day, a border agent noticed Felipe was coughing and had “glossy eyes,” and sent him to the hospital, the CBP said.
“I can’t think of any logical reason that would happen, for the most vulnerable of children to be sent to a remote area,” Escobar said.
According to CBP statistics, border agents detained 5,283 children unaccompanied by a parent in November alone. Agents last month also apprehended 25,172 “family units,” or parents and children together. Both figures are highs for this year.
Children who arrive unaccompanied by a parent are supposed to go to longer-term facilities operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But HHS’ system is also strained. The Associated Press reported this month that 14,300 children were being detained by HHS, most in facilities with more than 100 kids.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/medical-checks-ordered-after-2nd-detained-child-migrant-dies
 
C

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
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I bet Wally has a closet full of these.
 
H

Hoid

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 15, 2017
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Trump has literally hundreds of failures.

Pretty much every EO he has tried has failed.
 
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