HOUSTON (AP) The deaths of two migrant children in just over two weeks raised strong new doubts about the ability of U.S. border authorities to care for the thousands of minors arriving as part of a surge of families trying to enter the country.
An 8-year-old boy identified by Guatemalan officials as Felipe Gomez Alonzo died in U.S. custody at a New Mexico hospital on Christmas Eve after suffering a cough, vomiting and fever, authorities said. The cause is under investigation, as is the death Dec. 8 of another Guatemalan child, 7-year-old Jakelin Caal.
There is a real failure here that we all need to reckon with, said incoming Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat elected last month to represent El Paso in Congress. We need to know how many other Jakelins and Felipes there have been.
The U.S. governments system for detaining migrants crossing the border is severely overtaxed. Authorities would not say how many children U.S. Customs and Border Protection is now holding. But the country is seeing a sharp rise in families with children.
In the wake of the two deaths, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen asked the Coast Guard to study CBPs medical programs and announced that all children who enter the agencys custody will be given more thorough assessments.
Also, border authorities said that they conducted health checks in reaction to Felipes death on nearly all children in their custody. They did not disclose the results.
Nielsen blamed a system that prevents parents who bring their children on a dangerous illegal journey from facing consequences for their actions. The Trump administration contends it must detain more people to discourage other Central American families from trying to enter the country.
Felipe had been detained by U.S. border authorities for a week and moved between facilities with his father, officials said. The last place the boy was held after the first of two visits to the hospital on the day he died was a highway checkpoint in New Mexico.
Felipes father, Agustin Gomez, did not see any signs of illness from his son until Monday, according to Guatemalan consul Oscar Padilla, who spoke to Gomez on Wednesday. Felipe and his father had left Guatemala on Dec. 14 and were detained at the U.S-Mexico border four days later, Padilla told The Associated Press.
By its own regulations, CBP is supposed to detain people for no more than 72 hours before turning them over to other government agencies responsible for long-term detention. CBP facilities are typically spartan, with food, water and blankets but often no medical professionals, teachers or some of the other resources longer-term detention centers offer.
Similarly, Jakelin was first held with her father at a small base in rural New Mexico that did not have running water, according to Democrats who visited it after the girls death.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who sits on a key subcommittee overseeing border funding, said he has pushed to fund more alternatives to detention such as ankle monitors, which he said could have been issued to Felipes father.
He said the Trump administration has prioritized the presidents border wall the subject of the partial government shutdown since last week over investing in CBP checkpoints that have long needed attention.
Theyre not set up to hold people for a long time, Cuellar said. Theres so much money that the wall sucks up that its hard to address some of the other issues. I wish the administration would understand that.
CBP said it is reviewing all available options to relieve overcrowding in the El Paso sector, where Felipe and his father were apprehended. The agency also said it has reached out to other government agencies for surge medical assistance.
CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said in the agencys defense that CBP has more than 1,500 emergency medical technicians on staff and that officers are taking dozens of sick children to hospitals every day.
