USA TODAY International Edition
DHS chief orders more medical exams after migrant child dies
Nielsen criticizes immigration system
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen on Wednesday called the death on Christmas Eve of an 8year-old Guatemalan boy in federal detention a “deeply concerning and heartbreaking” tragedy and cited U.S. immigration system failings for a growing border crisis.
The top Trump administration border security official spoke out after directing a series of actions to care for undocumented immigrants taken into custody after illegal Mexican-U.S. crossings. The moves include U.S. Customs and Border Protection medical exams for all children it holds in custody.
The statement and actions marked the latest federal response to the death of the boy identified by Guatemalan officials as Felipe Gómez Alonzo. He was pronounced dead at 11:48 p.m. MST on Monday after he fell ill while held in CBP custody with his father, Agustín Gomez.
Felipe was the second immigrant child to die while in federal detention this month.
Nielsen's formal statement cited a recent jump in illegal border crossings by immigrant families and unaccompanied children. CBP apprehensions in those categories rose 86 percent – more than 68,000 family units and almost 14,000 unaccompanied children – over last year's totals for the most recent two months along the Southwest border, she said.
“Our system has been pushed to a breaking point by those who seek open borders. Smugglers, traffickers and their own parents put these minors at risk by embarking on the dangerous and arduous journey north,” Nielsen said.
“This crisis is exacerbated by the increase in persons who are entering our custody suffering from severe respiratory illnesses or exhibit some other illness upon apprehension,” she said. “Given the remote locations of their illegal crossing and the lack of resources, it is even more difficult for our personnel to be first responders.”
Nielsen said the changing immigration dynamic has been spurred by “an immigration system that rewards parents for sending their children across the border alone,” without requiring the adults to face “consequences for their actions.”
She cited an asylum process that's unable to provide swift help for qualified applicants and an immigration system that encourages fraudulent claims by border crossers. She noted nine of 10 asylum applications get rejected by immigration judges.
Nielsen said she contacted Mexican border officials to seek an investigation into “the cause of these illnesses on their side of the border and to provide medical assistance in shelters as needed.”
She planned a trip to CBP patrol stations this week to review medical screenings and conditions – conditions that have spurred questions and criticism among some Democrats.
The updated health testing directed by Nielsen marks a change in the handling of young children detained after entering the USA without required doc-
“Given the remote locations of their illegal crossing and the lack of resources, it is even more difficult for our personnel to be first responders.” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen
umentation and comes amid a partial shutdown of the federal government over President Donald Trump's demand for $5 billion to build a security wall at the nation's southern border with Mexico.
CBP said Tuesday night that it started secondary medical checks beyond initial border screening on all children in custody. More than 95 percent of those children had been re-examined by paramedics, emergency medical technicians or medical facilities near the border, the officials said Wednesday.
In a background phone briefing Wednesday, the officials said CBP is considering options from other federal agencies to help provide increased medical assistance for young immigrants at the border. Along with support from the U.S. Coast Guard, assistance could come from the Department of Defense, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The CBP update included a timetable leading to the latest death. It showed that the boy and his father had been in custody since Dec. 18.
A CBP agent noticed that the boy “was coughing and appeared to have glossy eyes” at approximately 9 a.m. MST on Monday. Taken with his father to a hospital in Alamogordo, New Mexico, he was diagnosed with a cold and a fever, prescribed amoxicillin and Ibuprofen and was released Monday afternoon after being held 90 minutes for observation, CBP said.
The boy was returned to the hospital Monday evening with nausea and vomiting and died hours later, CBP said. The Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center declined to comment Tuesday, citing privacy regulations.
The federal officials on Wednesday declined to discuss the hospital's earlier decision to release Felipe. Such decisions are left to medical professionals and are not made by CBP, they said.
“This is a tragic loss,” CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said in a written statement. “On behalf of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, our deepest sympathies go out to the family.”
The official cause of the boy's death had not immediately been determined, pending results of an autopsy. CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of Inspector General will conduct a review, the officials said.
CBP asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to seek potential causes for a recent increase in the number of migrants in U.S. border areas who require medical aid. CBP personnel have transported “dozens” of people per day to hospitals for care in recent months, the officials said.
An official headcount on the number of immigrant children in CBP custody was not immediately available. The officials estimated Wednesday that families with children and unaccompanied immigrant children accounted for 1,400 to 1,500 of the roughly 2,100 people who are apprehended or detained at border areas each day.
Oscar Padilla, the Guatemalan consul in Phoenix, said Felipe's father told him the two had traveled to the USA from their home in Nentón, a village about 280 miles from Guatemala City. They planned to go to Johnson City, Tennessee. The consul identified the 47-year-old father and said he remains in U.S. Border Patrol custody.
The Border Patrol apprehended the father and son Dec. 18 for illegal entry, about 3 miles west of the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso, Texas. Agents detained them at that port's processing center, logging six welfare checks until Thursday when they moved them to the El Paso Border Patrol Station.
There, the agency said it logged an additional 17 welfare checks before transferring them to Alamogordo Station on Sunday.
Agents conducted several welfare checks in Alamogordo before a processing agent noticed Felipe's symptoms at 9 a.m. local time Monday. At all three places where the father and son were detained, they were given food and drinks, as well as showers or personal hygiene products at the last two stations, CBP said.
Felipe's death represents an “incredibly rare” tragedy, the federal officials said Wednesday. Six people have died in CBP custody in 2018, Nielsen said.