Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 3 July 2019
GOVERNMENT_PHOTOS distress" April 6 when he
Continued from Front was taken to an emergen-
As public outrage grows cy room. His grandmother,
over the conditions in Dorotea Castillo, told The
which thousands of people Associated Press in June
— some no more than a that Wilmer was already
few months old — are be- in delicate health when
ing held by the U.S. govern- they left Guatemala, and
ment, the report offered crossed into the U.S. with
new cause for alarm. It a high fever and difficulty
quotes one senior govern- breathing.
ment manager as calling The Border Patrol said after
the situation "a ticking time Wilmer's death that it had
bomb." detained Wilmer and his
"Specifically, when de- mother for three days when
tainees observed us, they she told agents her son was
banged on the cell win- ill. It didn't specify if that
dows, shouted, pressed was the first report or sign
notes to the window with that Wilmer was sick. The
their time in custody, and agency did not respond
gestured to evidence of to follow-up questions sent
their time in custody," the Tuesday.
report says. BuzzFeed first Pediatricians called again
reported on a draft version on border authorities to ac-
of the report, which blurs cept their offer to provide
most faces in the photos. volunteer medical care to
An autopsy report also re- migrants in detention. U.S.
leased Tuesday confirmed Customs and Border Pro-
that a 2-year-old child who tection rejected the offer.
died in April had multiple Roger Maier, a CBP spokes-
intestinal and infectious re- man, said anyone who Pediatrician Jos Manuel de la Rosa speaks Tuesday, July 2, 2019, at a shelter in El Paso, Texas,
about treating migrant children released from Border Patrol detention centers along the Southwest
spiratory diseases, includ- needs medical attention border.
ing the flu. Wilmer Josué beyond what government Associated Press
Ramírez Vásquez is one of and contract staff can pro-
five children to die after vide is taken to a local hos- term facilities for adults and therefore did not meet the month. Some were being
being detained by border pital. children at capacity, Presi- AP's standards for distribu- given wet wipes to clean
agents since late last year. The Border Patrol made dent Donald Trump's ad- tion. themselves.
Two of the other four also 132,887 apprehensions ministration has said it has Immigrant advocates The report also detailed
had the flu. in May, including 84,542 to hold people in unsuit- blame the Trump admin- "security incidents" at mul-
The autopsy report says adults and children trav- able Border Patrol facilities istration for refusing to tiple facilities, including one
Wilmer was in "respiratory eling together. With long- for much longer than the promptly release families, case in which detained mi-
72 hours normally allowed children and people seek- grants refused to re-enter
by law. ing asylum, leading to in- their cell after it had been
Auditors from the Depart- creased numbers of peo- cleaned. People detained
ment of Homeland Secu- ple detained. have also in some cases
rity's inspector general vis- The report details several clogged toilets with their
ited five facilities and two potential violations of fed- Mylar blankets and socks
ports of entry in South Texas' eral law or Border Patrol in order to be let out of the
Rio Grande Valley, where standards: cells.
more people cross the U.S.- — Two facilities inspected The report was released a
Mexico border illegally than had not provided chil- day after a group of Demo-
any other section. The dan- dren access to hot meals cratic congressmen visited
gers there were recently il- until the week that audi- the Border Patrol facility in
lustrated in images shared tors arrived. Some adults Clint, Texas, on the other
around the world showing were only receiving bolo- side of the state, where
a young father and daugh- gna sandwiches, causing lawyers previously reported
ter who drowned trying to constipation and in some some 250 children being
enter the U.S. by crossing cases requiring medical at- detained in squalid condi-
the Rio Grande. tention. — Of 2,669 children tions. One of the congress-
In a statement included in detained by the Border men, U.S. Rep. Joaquin
the report, DHS blamed "an Patrol in the region, 826, or Castro of Texas, alleged
acute and worsening cri- 31%, had been held there that a woman told them
sis" and said it had tried to longer than 72 hours. More she was instructed to drink
expand detention capac- than 50 children under the water from a toilet. Castro
ity and improve the condi- age of 7 were waiting to shared a video he took
tions under which migrant be moved to long-term from inside one facility.
families are held. DHS did facilities, some of them for U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings,
not immediately respond more than two weeks. In a Maryland Democrat who
to a request for further one photo, women and chairs the House Commit-
comment from The Associ- children appeared to be tee on Oversight and Re-
ated Press. sleeping on the ground un- form, said top Homeland
The photos provided in the der Mylar blankets. Security leaders would tes-
report were digitally ma- — Many adults hadn't tify before his committee
nipulated to obscure the showered despite having next week on the treat-
faces of the prisoners and been held for as long as a ment of migrant children.q