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Tag: migrant child deaths
Trump Exploits Migrant Child Deaths, Blames Democrats

Trump Exploits Migrant Child Deaths, Blames Democrats

On Saturday afternoon, President Trump blamed Democrats for the recent deaths of two migrant children held by Customs and Border Protection. In a series of angry tweets, he exploited those tragedies to justify his insistence on a border wall as the government shutdown entered its second week.

“Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally,” he wrote on Twitter. “They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try!”

Trump claimed that both children, Guatemalan migrants who had crossed the border from Mexico, were sick before federal agents apprehended them. But their medical condition and the events leading to their deaths remain under investigation by authorities. His tweets, Trump’s first public comments on the children’s deaths, deflected responsibility and expressed no concern for the bereaved families.

The deaths of Jakelin Caal, 8, and Felipe Gomez Alonzo, 8, have renewed public outrage over the “zero tolerance” immigration policies of the Trump administration — and raised serious concern about the treatment of immigrants in custody at the border.

Democrats swiftly denounced Trump’s indecent political opportunism. “The first reaction to the news of a death of a child in our custody ought to be empathy for the family and, frankly, enormous distress that that happened at all. It’s now the second such death,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-NY), who sits on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

.”And instead, our President––who apparently lacks any capacity for human empathy––decides to use the death of two children as a political tool, something he can hit his opponents with. I think it’s really yet another new low in a president filled with new lows,” Connolly added.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) promised that under new Democratic leadership, the House would investigate the migrant children’s deaths.
“Even #MAGA folks would concede that @POTUS is not a doctor. He’s just making stuff up again,” wrote Lieu in a tweet responding to Trump. “In January the House of Representatives will hold hearings with witnesses under oath and find out what happened.”

Second Migrant Child, 8, Dies In US Custody

Second Migrant Child, 8, Dies In US Custody

An eight year-old boy from Guatemala, under detention by Customs and Border Protection, died shortly after midnight on Christmas Day at a New Mexico hospital. He is the second migrant child to die in U.S. custody at the border in December.

He was identified as Felipe Alonzo-Gomez, in a statement released by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), who said that “many questions remain unanswered, including how many children have died in CBP custody.”

The first migrant child to die in US custody was seven year-old Jakelin Caal, also from Guatemala. She died of dehydration and shock on Dec. 8, less than two days after border agents apprehended her and her father.

Immediately after Felipe’s death, the CBP ordered medical assessments of 700 minors held in its El Paso sector, where both dead children were held, according to the Washington Post.

A CBP news release indicated that Felipe had become ill on Monday and was diagnosed with “a cold” at a hospital in Alamagordo, N.M. “The child was held for an additional 90 minutes for observation and then released from the hospital mid-afternoon on December 24 with prescriptions for amoxicillin [a common oral antibiotic] and Ibuprofen,” according to the CBP statement,

But when the boy vomited on Monday night, he was returned to the Alamagordo hospital, where he died several hours later. The cause of death is still unknown, as are details about his place of detention and the length of time he and his father were held.

As Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee, told the Washington Post,: “The reality is that a detention center is no place for a child, particularly a sick child. When that child was determined to be ill, had a 103-degree fever, why they would send that child back to a detention center, which is really not fit for even a well child?”

IMAGE: A Donald Trump for President campaign sticker is shown attached to a U.S. Customs sign hanging on the border fence between Mexico and the United States  February 8, 2017.. REUTERS/Mike Blake