A US Border Patrol agent watches over the border fence on the US and Mexico border near Sunland Park, New Mexico, on May 2014. Getty Images/Charles Ommanney
AP
LAS CRUCES, US, 13 December 2018
A 7-year-old girl who crossed the US-Mexico border with her father last week died after being taken into the custody of the US Border Patrol, federal immigration authorities confirmed Thursday.
The Washington Post reports the girl died of dehydration and shock more than eight hours after she was arrested by agents near Lordsburg, New Mexico. The girl was from Guatemala and was traveling with a group of 163 people who approached agents to turn themselves in on 6 December.
It’s unknown what happened to the girl during the eight hours before she started having seizures and was flown to an El Paso hospital.
In a statement, Customs and Border Protection said the girl had not eaten or consumed water in several days.
The agency did not provide The Associated Press with the statement it gave to the Post, despite repeated requests.
Processing 163 immigrants in one night could have posed challenges for the agency, whose detention facilities are meant to be temporary and don’t usually fit that many people.
When a Border Patrol agent arrests someone, that person gets processed at a facility but usually spends no more than 72 hours in custody before they are either transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement or, if they’re Mexican, quickly deported home.
The girl’s death raises questions about whether border agents knew she was ill and whether she was fed anything or given anything to drink during the eight-plus hours she was in custody.
Immigrants, attorneys and activists have long raised issues with the conditions of Border Patrol holding cells. In Tucson, an ongoing lawsuit claims holding cells are filthy, extremely cold and lacking basic necessities such as blankets. A judge overseeing that lawsuit has ordered the agency’s Tucson Sector, which patrols much of the Arizona-Mexico border, to provide blankets and mats to sleep on and to continually turn over surveillance footage from inside the cells.
The Border Patrol has seen an increasing trend of large groups of immigrants, many with young children, walking up to agents and turning themselves in. Most are Central American and say they are fleeing violence. They turn themselves in instead of trying to circumvent authorities, many with plans to apply for asylum.
Agents in Arizona see groups of over 100 people on a regular basis, sometimes including infants and toddlers.
Arresting such groups poses logistical problems for agents who have to wait on transport vans that are equipped with baby seats to take them to processing facilities, some which are at least half hour north of the border.
The death of the 7-year-old comes after a toddler died in May just after being released from an ICE family detention facility in Texas, and as the administration of Donald Trump attempts to ban people from asking for asylum if they crossed the border illegally. A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked that ban, but the administration asked the US Supreme Court to reinstate it Tuesday.
Cynthia Pompa, advocacy manager for the ACLU Border Rights Center, said migrant deaths increased last year even as the number of border crossing dropped.
“This tragedy represents the worst possible outcome when people, including children, are held in inhumane conditions. Lack of accountability, and a culture of cruelty within CBP have exacerbated policies that lead to migrant deaths,” Pompa said.
The father may have brought the girl from thousands of miles away, but I don’t think she walked all along the way. She surely might have been exhausted, but that doesn’t mean she had to confront with tear gas and military threat at the border. These are refugees, similar to what Tibetans go though. She wouldn’t have died had she received a better treatment. How heartless to blame it all the father, and justify her death by saying he shouldn’t have brought her. Had he not fled, they both have died in their country.
It’s not only Tibetans repressed in their land. There are countless others facing similar or even worse situations. Glaring Tibetan selfishness in the comment by Ex-Libtard. How would you feel if the rest of the world will make similar comments like Tibetans shouldn’t have sent their children to cross the border, when many may get entombed in the Himalayan snow, harassed by the Nepalese police, and upon extradition, China will imprison them for years.
Be a bit more careful and mindful. The world is bigger than what you see.
“Be a bit more careful and mindful. The world is bigger than what you see.”
There are 65 million people displaced people in the world. They all would like to move to USA or some western country to live. So according to you, these countries cannot exercise their right to decide who comes into their country and who does not and no right to control their borders and immigration system.You think its practical and should be encouraged?
Of course i feel for the people who are that desperate and making that journey. However the condition of those countries do not meet the definition of a refugee. Most of those migrants are coming from countries have a highest murder rate in the world and extreme poverty. That’s because of drug cartels. The solution is for the America to give more aid and help the people build their country back. President Trump obviously does not want America to become like Germany, Sweden, France or even Britain. To get an idea you should watch the youtube video where a migrant in Germany is joking about there being no Germans in Germany. MSM will not show 1/10 of what is actually going on.
All the chaos and all the problems the refugees are facing in the US (detention camps and at the US borders) are thanks due to Mr. Moron in the White House. Racist, psychopath, bigot are what describe the 45. What could be expected from such a dumphead.
Before casting judgements how about trying to find the actual facts from a reliable source. The death of the little girl is obviously tragic but reportedly the child had not had anything to eat or drink in several days. She was literally dragged hundred of miles on a multi country trek without the necessary food and water. At the border patrol custody people are typically provided with food and water. Father did not inform anyone of the severity of her condition until she had a seizure and it was too late. When will parents bear responsibility. A 7 yr old doesn’t decide to walk thousands of miles. Heartbreaking for this child who has no say in the parents decision. The number of women and children being raped while crossing the border is 80% according to huffington post. Stop encouraging parents to put their children through such awful situations. Hundreds and thousands of migrants have died in the course of their journey of crossing the border in the last few decades. In one border county alone more than 2000 skeletal remains have been found in the last 2-3 decades. If you rely on MSM for your news then you are going to blame Trump and Russia for everything. i mean everything.