Adult Immigrant With Congestive Heart Failure Becomes Third Person To Die In U.S. Custody Since December
The deaths have brought national attention to the quality of care at detention facilities following the controversy over family separations. Part of the budget deal that averted a government shutdown last week included $415 million for humanitarian relief "specifically for medical care" and to improve Border Patrol processing facilities in the region.
Texas Tribune:
Adult Migrant From Mexico Dies In Border Patrol Custody
An adult migrant has died after being taken into U.S. Border Patrol custody this month in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. The 45-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico died Monday morning after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure and cirrhosis of the liver. The immigrant's death was first reported by USA Today. According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release, the immigrant was encountered by the police department in Roma, Texas, a small border community between Laredo and Mission, on Feb. 2. The person, who wasn’t identified, then requested medical attention. (Aguilar, 2/18)
USA Today:
Third Migrant Dies In Border Patrol Custody In As Many Months
The immigrant illegally crossed the border and was arrested by the Roma (Texas) Police Department on Feb. 2, requested medical attention and was taken to a local hospital, according to a statement released Monday night by Customs and Border Protection. The immigrant "was cleared" by officials at the Mission Regional Medical Center and was handed over to Border Patrol officials at the Rio Grande City Border Patrol Station, according to the CBP statement. The following day, after receiving a welfare check by CBP officials, the immigrant again requested medical attention and was taken to the McAllen Medical Center, where the immigrant was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and congestive heart failure, CBP said. The immigrant remained at the hospital before dying on Monday morning. (Gomez, 2/18)
The New York Times:
Another Migrant With An Illness Has Died In Border Patrol Custody
The death came less than two months after 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin and 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo also died in the agency’s custody, in December, amid three straight months of record-breaking numbers of migrant families entering the country. Both had shown symptoms of illness after they were taken into custody along the Southwest border, and their deaths prompted widespread condemnation from members of Congress and the public. The agency soon after announced new medical checks for children, and a temporary infusion of support from other federal agencies, including the Coast Guard and the United States Public Health Service. (Dickerson, 2/18)
In other news —
Texas Tribune:
As Piedras Negras Facility Nears Closure, Fate Of Several Migrants Unclear
They're the lucky ones — the hundreds of migrants who have moved out of the makeshift shelter in this town across the U.S.-Mexico border from Eagle Pass. But as Olvin Hernandez stood behind a fence that walled him off from the rest of the city, he realized he might face a different path. Hernandez, 21, is among the hundreds whose fate remained unknown Monday after more than 1,000 Central American asylum-seekers have been allowed to leave a former factory that’s been a temporary facility for the group since they arrived earlier this month. (Aguilar, 2/18)
ProPublica:
The Lucky Ones
The first stories we can correct are the ones we tell ourselves. My story, the one I have hung onto since I was a little girl, is that I got lucky. Luck made sense because luck can happen to anyone. Even me. Luck fit into the parts of my story I wasn’t ready to explain, the parts that I surrendered to half-memories. I made it to this country because of luck. I grew up a janitor but then my parents got lucky and bought the business and I ended up a journalist. My citizenship came after I was undocumented for almost a decade, when I got lucky. (Gallardo, 2/19)
