Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says that the United States will take “extraordinary” protective measures when it comes to immigrant children in custody, after a second Guatemalan child died in custody.
Neilsen will travel later this week to the US-Mexico border to observe medical screenings and conditions at Border Patrol stations, according to AFP.
New from @DHSgov: Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen Statement on Passing of Eight Year Old Guatemalan Child pic.twitter.com/ft7RK1RpPR
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 26, 2018
“In response to the unprecedented surge of children into our custody, I have directed a series of extraordinary protective measures,” she said, following the “deeply concerning and heartbreaking” death of eight-year-old Felipe Gomez, who collapsed after running a high fever while traveling with his father Agustin Gomez from the Western Guatemalan indigenous Chuj Maya community near the Mexican border.
Gomez was detained with his 47-year-old father at a crossing in El Paso, Texas, on December 18 and had been transferred to a New Mexico medical center showing signs of sickness on Monday, the CBP said.
Staff diagnosed him with a cold but later discovered a fever. He was discharged at midday, with prescriptions for ibuprofen and the antibiotic amoxicillin.
The boy was later sent back to the hospital suffering from nausea and vomiting. He died shortly before midnight on December 24. –AFP
Guatemala has called for an investigation into the boy’s death, the cause of which has not been determined. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) says that they would “ensure an independent and thorough review of the circumstances.”
The first death of a migrant child happened on December 8, when seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin became sick on a bus traveling from a New Mexico port of entry to Lordsburg, New Mexico. Her father said he has “no complaints about how Border Patrol agents treated him and his daughter,”adding in a statement through his attorneys that he was “grateful for the many first responders that tried to save young Jakelin’s life in New Mexico and Texas.”
Nielsen has asked experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate “the uptick in sick children crossing our borders” and to identify what further steps border hospitals should take in preparation, her statement said.
Nielsen added that she has asked the US Coast Guard medical corps to assess and “make appropriate recommendations” about Border Patrol medical programs, and has sought additional medical professionals from the Department of Defense. –AFP
The United States is unable to cope with the thousands of migrant arrivals, US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said on Wednesday. “We need help from Congress. We need to budget for medical care and mental health care for children in our facilities,” he told CBS News.
In the last two months, the Border Patrol has apprehended 139,817 people on the southwest US border, compared with 74,946 over the same period a year earlier, said Nielsen. Over 68,500 were “family units,” and approximately 14,000 others were unaccompanied minors, she said, adding that the system has been pushed to a “breaking point.”
Guatemalan migrant Augusto Mendoza, who brought his one-year-old son on the journey to El Paso, told AFP that he would “never” consider making the journey again.
“It’s been very, very hard. I would never think about doing it again, I regret it for my son,” said Mendoza – whose wife and children were separated from him at the border and released from detention on Christmas day.
Medical challenges
DHS officials say that all children in border patrol custody will now be given comprehensive medical examinations, backing McAleenan’s commitment to “secondary medical checks,” with an emphasis on those under 10-years-old.
“It is now clear that migrants, particularly children, are increasingly facing medical challenges and harboring illness caused by their long and dangerous journey,” said Nielsen.
And of course the enemy force in occupation will demand that American Nationals, the same American Nationals that are denied any kind of medical assistance when they need it, to pay for the treatment of all these illegal invaders. Guateamala has called for an investigation? Why don’t they investigate ways to keep their own people in their own country?!? American Nations have NO obligation to pay for or assist in any way illegal invaders. Go try and sneak into any other country and demand free medical care, housing, food, education, etc. and see how fast they put a bullet in your skull or throw you into a gulag!
So the Guatemalan children come here illegally, get sick and die and now all of a sudden the same Guatemalan government that wanted to get rid of them, all of a sudden cares for its citizens and want an investigation. WTF??!!!
F your dead children. Ours have a right to exist too, and our paths would never have crossed if you didn’t bring them here. Your babies are kindling and you will be cordwood.
” Your babies are kindling ”
OR CATAPULT AMMO…………
When you realize that the global elite hate middle class Christian countries and will do everything they can to destroy them by flooding them with uneducated, poor, disease riddled people then you know what the agenda just like South Africa, Germany, Sweden, Norway, England and so on
Said it before, saying it again….
When Maria climbs over the wall and spits out yet another bambino, use the flamethrowers to light them up and catapult the smoking corpses back over the wall…they WILL stop coming!
End of problem.