2nd death in month of migrant child in U.S. custody prompts policy changes
/ CBS/AP
U.S. Customs and Border Protection ordered medical checks on every child in its custody Tuesday after an 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died. It was the second death of an immigrant child in the agency's care this month.
It came during an ongoing dispute over border security and with a partial government shutdown underway over President Trump's request for border wall funding.
The boy, identified by Congressman Joaquin Castro, D-Texas and Guatemalan authorities as Felipe Gómez Alonzo, had been in CBP's custody with his father, Agustin Gomez, since Dec. 18. CBP said in a statement late Tuesday that they entered the U.S. three miles west of a legal entry point, the Paso del Norte bridge connecting El Paso and Juarez, Mexico.
CBP said an agent first noticed the boy had a cough and "glossy eyes" at about 9 a.m. Monday. He was eventually hospitalized twice and died just before midnight, the agency said. CBP had said earlier that the boy died just after midnight.
CBP said in the statement it needs the help of other government agencies to provide health care. The agency "is considering options for surge medical assistance" from the Coast Guard and may request help from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
A CBP spokesman could not immediately answer how many children are currently in the agency's custody. But with border crossings surging, CBP processes thousands of children – both alone and with their parents – every month.
Immigration advocates and human rights groups sharply criticized CBP in the wake of Felipe's death.
Castro, chairman-elect of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called on Congress to probe the death when it reconvenes after Christmas. "The administration's policy of turning people away from legal ports of entry, otherwise known as metering, is putting families and children in great danger," he said.
Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said the Trump administration's "policies of cruelty toward migrants and asylum-seekers at the border must cease immediately before any more children are harmed."
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.
CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said in a statement that the child's death was a "tragic loss." The agency said it has notified the DHS inspector general.
CBP issued a timeline of what it said happened before Felipe's death.
Felipe was taken with his father to a hospital in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where he was diagnosed with a common cold, according to the timeline.
The boy was released just before 3 p.m., about 90 minutes after he had been found to have a fever of 103 degrees, CBP said. He was prescribed amoxicillin and ibuprofen, and taken with his father to a holding facility at a highway checkpoint.
At about 7 p.m., agents helped clean up the boy's vomit. CBP said the father "declined further medical assistance" at the time.
But at about 10 p.m., the boy "appeared lethargic and nauseous again," the agency said, and agents decided to have him taken to the hospital. The boy died at 11:48 p.m. Monday, the agency said.
The hospital, the Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center, declined to comment, citing privacy regulations.
Felipe and his father were detained by CBP for about a week, an unusually long time that the agency did not fully explain Tuesday.
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 detention centers.
CBP said that, after it apprehended Felipe and his father on Dec. 18, they were held at a processing center for almost two days, then taken to the El Paso Border Patrol station on Thursday.
CBP said it moved them to Alamogordo, New Mexico, at about 1 a.m. Sunday "because of capacity levels at the El Paso station." Alamogordo is about 90 miles from El Paso.
The agency said its officers repeatedly conducted welfare checks on Felipe and his father.
Oscar Padilla, the Guatemalan consul in Phoenix, said he was told by the boy's father in a telephone interview that the two had been traveling from their home in Nentón, a village about 280 miles from Guatemala City. They were planning to go to Johnson City, Tennessee.
CBP promised "an independent and thorough review of the circumstances," and the Guatemalan foreign ministry called for an investigation "in accordance with due process."
Earlier this week, the body of 7-year-old Jakelin Caal, who died earlier this month, was returned to her village in Guatemala for burial.
Democratic members of Congress and immigration advocates sharply criticized CBP's handling of Jakelin Caal'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. Emergency medical technicians had to revive her twice. She was ultimately flown to an El Paso hospital, where she died the next day.
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," Torres Small 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."
DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Jakelin's death was "a very sad example of the dangers of this journey." But, she added, "This family chose to cross illegally."
First published on December 26, 2018
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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