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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 21 May 2019

5th migrant child dies after detention by Border Patrol

By NOMAAN MERCHANT health, safety and humane
Associated Press treatment of those in our
HOUSTON (AP) — U.S. bor- custody," Sanders said.
der agents detained a Border Patrol agents said
16-year-old from Guate- Carlos was apprehended
mala who died Monday for on May 13 in South Texas'
six days — twice as long as Rio Grande Valley after
federal law generally per- crossing the border ille-
mits — then transferred him gally. He was taken to the
to another holding facil- agency's central process-
ity even after he was diag- ing center in McAllen, Tex-
nosed with the flu. as, a converted warehouse
The teenager, identified by where hundreds of adults
U.S. Customs and Border and children are held in
Protection as Carlos Gre- large, fenced-in pens and
gorio Hernandez Vasquez, sleep on mats.
was the fifth minor from Federal law and CBP's
Guatemala to die after be- guidelines generally re-
ing apprehended by U.S. quire that unaccompanied In this July 24, 2014, file photo, a bend in the Rio Grand is viewed from a Texas Department of
border agents since De- youth be transferred within Public Safety helicopter on patrol over in Mission, Texas.
cember. three days to a facility op- Associated Press
Advocates demanded erated by the U.S. Depart-
that President Donald ment of Health and Human Weslaco, Texas, to prevent er were detained by the he was sick. He was hos-
Trump's administration act Services. his flu from spreading to Border Patrol. The agency pitalized in intensive care
to safeguard the lives of A CBP official who declined other detainees. says it took the child to the for several days before his
children in detention as to be named in order to He was not hospitalized, hospital the same day the death.
border crossings surge and brief reporters said Carlos according to the agency mother reported he was After the deaths of two
the U.S. Border Patrol de- was awaiting transfer to official who briefed report- sick, and he was hospital- children ages 7 and 8 in
tains thousands of families HHS custody on Thursday, ers. The official said CBP ized for several weeks. December, the DHS or-
at a time in overcrowded three days after his ap- facilities have medical pro- On April 30, a 16-year-old dered medical checks of
facilities, tents, and out- prehension. At the time of viders who can monitor de- Guatemalan boy died af- all children in its custody
door spaces. his death, Carlos was sup- tainees, though the official ter officials at an HHS de- and expanded medical
"We should all be outraged posed to be sent to South- did not know what specific tention facility noticed that screenings.q
and demand that those re- west Key Casa Padre, a symptoms Carlos had.
sponsible for his well-being 1,400-person facility inside Carlos had last been
be held accountable," said an old Walmart in Browns- checked an hour before he
Efrén Olivares, a lawyer ville, Texas, the official said. was found unresponsive.
with the Texas Civil Rights Mark Weber, a spokesman The FBI is investigating the
Project. for HHS, did not address in a case, as are local police
"If these were white chil- statement why the teenag- and the Department of
dren that were dying at this er wasn't transferred soon- Homeland Security's in-
rate, people would be up er, but said a "minority of spector general.
in arms," he said. "We see cases exceeding 72 hours Guatemala's foreign minis-
this callous disregard for have generally involved ex- try said the teenager was
brown, Spanish-speaking ceptional circumstances." from Baja Verapaz, north of
children." CBP said Carlos reported Guatemala City, and was
John Sanders, CBP's act- early Sunday morning that seeking to reunite with fam-
ing commissioner, said in he was not feeling well and ily in the U.S. already.
a statement that his agen- diagnosed with the flu by a The Border Patrol has faced
cy was "saddened by the nurse practitioner. months of scrutiny over
tragic loss of this young He was prescribed the its care of children it ap-
man and our condolences medicine Tamiflu, then prehends at the border. A
are with his family." transferred later Sunday to 2-year-old child died last
"CBP is committed to the the Border Patrol station at week after he and his moth-