U.S. stops sending migrants to Texas processing center

HOUSTON — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has temporarily stopped sending migrants to a massive processing center in South Texas following the death of a 16year-old who fell ill there and a flu outbreak.

The teenager, Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, was the fifth Guatemalan migrant youth to die after arriving at the border since December, prompting members of Congress to call for a federal investigation.

“We are deeply concerned that the overcrowded conditions at Border Patrol holding facilities are placing detained migrants at risk,” Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and two dozen fellow senators wrote to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general Wednesday, demanding they investigate immigration detention facilities on the border holding youths and families.

“This is an epidemic of death,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said late Tuesday in calling for an investigation as chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. “Nobody had died for 10 years. And in the last six months, you’ve had five deaths.”

The deaths come amid a record increase in migrant families and children crossing the border, particularly in South Texas. Federal agents detained 109,144 migrants last month at the southern border (including ports of entry) — the highest number since 2007. The Border Patrol has responded by erecting large tents and announced plans last week to build at least two more in the Rio Grande Valley to help house 8,000 migrants in custody. Last week, officials said they were also flying migrants from there to Del Rio, Texas, and to San Diego to relieve crowding.

The McAllen processing center where Carlos was held, known among migrants as la perrera, or “the doghouse,” was designed for 1,500 migrants but already housed 2,400 last month. During a media tour, sick parents and children could be seen resting on mats behind a partition.

During a congressional hearing Wednesday, acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan appealed for more resources to handle a surge of migrant families.

Rep. Lauren Underwood, DIll., a registered nurse serving on the House Homeland Security Committee, questioned what McAleenan’s agency was doing to prevent further migrant child deaths.