Death of migrant girl in US custody sparks furour
WASHINGTON: The death of a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl last week in the custody of US border agents sparked furour Friday and raised new pressure on the Trump administration’s efforts to halt the migration of Central American families.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the December 8 death of the girl, saying she died in an El Paso, Texas hospital less than 24 hours after being detained as part of a group of 163 illegal border crossers in a remote New Mexico border area.
A Guatemalan official identified her as Jackeline Caal, who was traveling with her father Nery Caal, 29.
White House deputy spokesman Hogan Gidley called Caal’s death “a horrific, tragic situation,” but also said it was avoidable.
“It’s a needless death and it’s 100 per cent preventable,” he told reporters.
“If we could just come together and pass some common-sense laws to disincentivize people from coming up from the border and encourage them to do it the right way, the legal way, then those types of deaths, those types of assaults, those types of rapes, the child smuggling, the human trafficking that would all come to an end.”
But Democrats in Congress assailed the administration’s get-tough policies on immigrants attempting to cross the border illegally.
“This could be my daughter or yours, let that sink in America,” said newly elected Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, herself a refugee from Somalia.
Senator Kamala Harris condemned the “tragic” death.