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U.S. NEWS Thursday 27 december 2018

Deaths of 2 children raise doubts about U.S. border agency

By NOMAAN MERCHANT trying to enter the country. to Democrats who visited it gency medical technicians Just three of the nine fa-
Associated Press Felipe had been detained after the girl’s death. on staff and that officers cilities had “trained medi-
HOUSTON (AP) — The by U.S. border authorities Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas are taking dozens of sick cal staff to conduct medi-
deaths of two migrant chil- for a week and moved be- Democrat who sits on a key children to hospitals every cal screening and provide
dren in just over two weeks tween facilities with his fa- subcommittee overseeing day. basic medical care,” the
raised strong new doubts report said. And showers
Wednesday about the abil- were available for unac-
ity of U.S. border authorities companied children at
to care for the thousands only four facilities.
of minors arriving as part of Felipe and his father were
a surge of families trying to taken to two of the facili-
enter the country. ties the inspector general
An 8-year-old boy identified examined: the process-
by Guatemalan officials as ing center at the Paso del
Felipe Gomez Alonzo died Norte port of entry, then
in U.S. custody at a New the El Paso Border Patrol
Mexico hospital on Christ- station.
mas Eve after suffering a But just after 1 a.m. Sunday,
cough, vomiting and fever, the two were transferred
authorities said. The cause 90 miles (145 kilometers) to
is under investigation, as the Border Patrol station at
is the death Dec. 8 of an- Alamogordo, New Mexico.
other Guatemalan child, CBP said it moved them
7-year-old Jakelin Caal. “because of capacity lev-
“There is a real failure here els” in El Paso. The next day,
that we all need to reckon a border agent noticed
with,” said incoming Rep. Felipe was coughing and
Veronica Escobar, a Dem- had “glossy eyes,” and sent
ocrat elected last month In this Jan. 25, 2017, file photo, an agent from the border patrol, observes near the Mexico-US him to the hospital, the CBP
to represent El Paso in Con- border fence, on the Mexican side, separating the towns of Anapra, Mexico and Sunland Park, said.
gress. “We need to know N.M. “I can’t think of any logical
how many other Jakelins Associated Press reason that would happen,
and Felipes there have for the most vulnerable of
been.” ther, officials said. The last border funding, said he has “This is an extraordinarily children to be sent to a re-
The U.S. government’s sys- place the boy was held pushed to fund more alter- rare occurrence,” McA- mote area,” Escobar said.
tem for detaining migrants — after the first of two visits natives to detention such leenan told “CBS This Morn- According to CBP statistics,
crossing the border is se- to the hospital on the day as ankle monitors, which ing” of the two child deaths. border agents detained
verely overtaxed. Authori- he died — was a highway he said could have been is- “It’s been more than a de- 5,283 children unaccom-
ties would not say how checkpoint in New Mexico. sued to Felipe’s father. cade since we’ve had a panied by a parent in No-
many children U.S. Customs Felipe’s father, Agustin Go- He said the Trump admin- child pass away anywhere vember alone. Agents last
and Border Protection is mez, did not see any signs istration has prioritized the in a CBP process, so this is month also apprehended
now holding. But the coun- of illness from his son un- president’s border wall just devastating for us.” 25,172 “family units,” or par-
try is seeing a sharp rise in til Monday, according to — the subject of the par- It’s not uncommon for fami- ents and children together.
families with children.In the Guatemalan consul Oscar tial government shutdown lies in El Paso these days to Both figures are highs for
wake of the two deaths, Padilla, who spoke to Go- since last week — over in- spend more than a week in this year.
Homeland Security Secre- mez on Wednesday. Fe- vesting in CBP checkpoints holding cells just as Felipe Children who arrive unac-
tary Kirstjen Nielsen asked lipe and his father had left that have long needed at- and his father did, said Ru- companied by a parent
the Coast Guard to study Guatemala on Dec. 14 and tention. ben Garcia, director of El are supposed to go to lon-
CBP’s medical programs were detained at the U.S- “They’re not set up to hold Paso’s Annunciation House ger-term facilities operated
and announced that all Mexico border four days people for a long time,” shelter. by the U.S. Department of
children who enter the later, Padilla told The Asso- Cuellar said. “There’s so Those problems predate Health and Human Servic-
agency’s custody will be ciated Press. much money that the wall the Trump administration. es. But HHS’ system is also
given “more thorough” as- By its own regulations, CBP sucks up that it’s hard to During a 2014 surge at the strained. The Associated
sessments. is supposed to detain peo- address some of the other border, some families were Press reported this month
Also, border authorities ple for no more than 72 issues. I wish the adminis- put in holding cells for up that 14,300 children were
said that they conducted hours before turning them tration would understand to 20 days before being re- being detained by HHS,
health checks in reaction over to other government that.” leased, Garcia said. most in facilities with more
to Felipe’s death on nearly agencies responsible for CBP said it is reviewing all Homeland Security’s in- than 100 kids.q
all children in their custody. long-term detention. CBP available options to re- spector general examined
They did not disclose the facilities are typically spar- lieve overcrowding in the nine CBP holding facilities
results. tan, with food, water and El Paso sector, where Felipe earlier this year. In a Sep-
Nielsen blamed “a system blankets but often no med- and his father were appre- tember report, the inspec-
that prevents parents who ical professionals, teachers hended. The agency also tor general said that the
bring their children on a or some of the other re- said it has reached out to facilities complied with CBP
dangerous illegal journey sources longer-term deten- other government agen- standards and that people
from facing consequences tion centers offer. cies for “surge medical as- had access to food and
for their actions.” The Trump Similarly, Jakelin was first sistance.” water, toilets and sinks,
administration contends it held with her father at a CBP Commissioner Kevin and hygiene items — with
must detain more people small base in rural New McAleenan said in the “the exception of inconsis-
to discourage other Cen- Mexico that did not have agency’s defense that CBP tent cleanliness of the hold
tral American families from running water, according has more than 1,500 emer- rooms.”