Another Migrant Girl Nearly Died After She Was Detained In New Mexico By The Border Patrol

[KelleyKramer]

Another Migrant Girl Nearly Died After She Was Detained In New Mexico By The Border Patrol


The girl went into cardiac arrest in November, though she survived, raising more questions about what happened to Jakelin Caal, who died Dec. 8.


https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/johnstanton/another-migrant-girl-nearly-died-after-she-was-detained-in

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A highway marker directs traffic to the Antelope Wells Port of Entry in New Mexico.


LORDSBURG, NEW MEXICO — A young girl who was in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection went into cardiac arrest in November at a hospital in El Paso where she was resuscitated, a US Customs and Border Protection official told members of Congress on Tuesday. The incident occurred in the same CBP sector where a 7-year-old Guatemalan asylum seeker, Jakelin Caal, fell ill earlier this month. Caal was airlifted to El Paso, but died in the early hours of Dec. 8.

According to members of a congressional delegation that toured the CBP facilities where Caal had been held before her death, El Paso Sector Chief Aaron Hull acknowledged the earlier incident, but declined to discuss the specifics of the case — or of several other alleged health crises involving children in the sector that were raised by the lawmakers. According to a source present at the meeting, Hull said that while he’d have to review files on the case, he told the lawmakers that it was “lucky” doctors were able to save the girl’s life in November.

Following the tour, incoming Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas said “it’s clear that for quite a while this sector has not been prepared to provide proper medical attention to people … like Jakelin. A lot of us left there wondering if there’re other cases of people who were close to death that we just haven’t found out about.”


Caal’s death has renewed focus on the administration’s increasingly heavy handed immigration policies, including the use of so-called “metering” tactics at Ports of Entry that slow the processing of asylum request to a crawl, forcing thousands of families and children to wait for weeks to request asylum. On Tuesday, Castro called for CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to resign.


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[Judi Lynn]

1. So very, very wrong. More info. from the original article posted above:

Castro and other lawmakers said that during the tour, it became clear that both the Antelope Wells Port of Entry, where Caal was originally detained, and the regional detention center in Lordsburg, were completely unprepared to address even basic medical needs.

. . .

For instance, neither facility has an examination room or even examination table — in Caal’s case, she was examined on a regular table. Neither facility had equipment tailored for use on children and neither had dedicated personnel who were trained in conducting physical examinations to assess detainees’ health needs.

Additionally, communication in Antelope Wells is extremely difficult — Border Patrol agents typically use cell phones to communicate, but there is no reliable cell service for more than 60 miles. That means agents addressing sick people in the field can’t even call a doctor to ask for help in determining if a person needs to be evacuated to a hospital, according to Rep. Raul Ruiz, a California Democrat who is also a physician.

Members of the delegation said that the Antelope Wells site also has major sanitation issues, including no running water and only two toilets for a detainee population that in recent months has numbered in the hundreds.

[KelleyKramer]

2. Thank you...

I had to keep my OP to 4 graphs

Thanks for the additional info!

[tblue37]

3. K&R for visibility. nt