Is the Trump Administration Neglecting the Health of Migrant Children as a Deterrent?
Hours after President Trump declared in the White House Rose Garden that he doesn’t “do coverups,” his administration revealed that it had been hiding the death of a migrant girl at the border for the past eight months. On Thursday evening, CBS News reported that a 10-year-old girl from El Salvador died last September while under the care of the government. The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the death, which had not been previously disclosed.
HHS spokesman Mark Weber explained that the girl had a history of heart problems and was in a “medically fragile” state when she arrived at an Office of Refugee Resettlement facility last March. The girl’s name was not released, and it’s unclear why the death was not previously reported. “I have not seen any indication that the Trump administration disclosed the death of this young girl to the public or even to Congress,” Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-TX) told CBS. “And if that’s the case, they covered up her death for eight months, even though we were actively asking the question about whether any child had died or been seriously injured. We began asking that question last fall.”
The total number of migrant children who have died in government custody or just after being released from government custody since last fall now stands at six. The fifth came earlier this week when Carlos Hernandez Vásquez, a 16-year-old from Guatemala, died the day after he arrived at a Border Patrol station in Weslaco, Texas. Vásquez reportedly told staff at an immigrant processing center in McAllen that he felt sick. As PBS points out, at the time of his death Vásquez had been held by the immigration authorities for a total of six days, twice as long as is generally permitted by federal law.
On Wednesday, before the death of the 10-year-old girl from El Salvador was reported, Congress grilled Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan about the department’s treatment of children in detention. It didn’t get off to a great start.
Link to tweet
?s=20
Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) went on to blame the administration for the deaths, calling them a result of “a policy choice being made on purpose by this administration and it’s cruel and inhumane.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/is-the-trump-administration-neglecting-the-health-of-migrant-children-as-a-deterrent-839022/
