Photo: Esteban Biba/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
According to ProPublica, the video undercuts the government’s version of events about Carlos’ death and provides a view of conditions for sick migrant children in custody.
Carlos died in May while being held in a Border Patrol facility in Texas. He had crossed into the U.S. days earlier.
He was last given medication the night before his death, according to ProPublica.
The other boy then alerted officials outside. However, the Border Patrol had claimed that Carlos was found in a welfare check.
The teen was supposed to have been checked for worsening symptoms and hospitalized, according to directions from a nurse who diagnosed him at the overcrowded facility, ProPublica reported.
“To not treat somebody who is sick and to allow them to suffer, I don’t know how you don’t describe that as torture and as child abuse,” Rep. Karen Bass tells PEOPLE.
“To think that this is actually a part of the policy of our government right now, it enrages me and it profoundly saddens me,” she says.
Bass is a leading Democratic voice in Congress on what she says is the Trump administration’s inhumanity toward migrants, especially migrant children in custody.
The conditions of detained migrants made national headlines this yearfollowing numerous reportsof filth and neglect. Multiple migrant children have died in custody as well.
“Why is a teenaged boy in a jail facility at all if he is sick with a transmissible illness? Why isn’t he at a hospital or at a home or clinic where he can get a warm bed, fluids, supervised attention and medical care? He is not a criminal,” Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist, told ProPublica after being asked to review records of Carlos’ death.
“No one should die this way: vomiting, with a fever and without the comfort of a caregiver,” Melinek said.
CONTENT WARNING: The Below Video of Carlos Vasquez’s Death Is Graphic
PresidentDonald Trumpcampaigned on restricting immigration, both legal and illegal, and has made it a central part of his administration.
At the same time, border officials have said they are grappling with large numbers of migrants — mostly families and children, in contrast to the single migrant men who had made up much of the border crossings in years past.
When asked for comment on the circumstances of Carlos’ death, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson directed PEOPLE to a prepared statement.
“The investigation into the death Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez is ongoing,” the statement reads. “While we cannot discuss specific information or details of this investigation, we can tell you that the Department of Homeland Security and this agency are looking into all aspects of this case to ensure all procedures were followed.”
Border officials have framed their failures as the result of too few resources to contend with too many migrants, but they say their medical staffing has improved since last year.
Those who knew him told ProPublica that Carlos was an excellent student who loved soccer and planned to make the trip to the U.S., where his brother already lived, to try and get a construction job.
He is at least the third child to die from the flu after being diagnosed while under the watch of U.S. Customs and Border Protection this year, according to ProPublica’s investigation. In the decade before this year, not one migrant child has died while in Border Patrol’s custody.
“Not only did CBP hold Carlos longer than the legal limit and apparently fail to care for him while he was sick, the agency seems to have been untruthful with Congress and the public about the circumstances around his tragic death,”saidRep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee which oversees the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “This is inexcusable.”
In astatement following Carlos’ May 20 death, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it was “committed to the health, safety and humane treatment of those in our custody” after this “tragic loss.”
“The inconsistencies between Border Patrol’s official account and this video regarding the death of a migrant child is disturbing,” the House Homeland Security Committee said inanother tweetThursday. We need answers from Border Patrol on why their account doesn’t match up with this video.”
The video has re-ignited discussion about the conditions at border facilities and the effectiveness of the government’s immigration policies.
Rep. Bass tells PEOPLE she believes the Trump administration, which has controversiallyseparated thousands of migrant familiesat the border, has “no floor for how low they will sink.”
source: people.com
