Second migrant child's death in custody raises alarm for doctors as Nielsen tours border
The death of an 8-year-old Guatemalan immigrant in custody on Christmas Eve is a sign that U.S. officials need to make dramatic improvements to health and sanitation conditions at the border, especially for children, according to a physician familiar with medical issues faced by migrants.
The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator announced Thursday that nasal and lung swabs from the youngster, Felipe Gomez Alonzo, tested positive for influenza B, although there was no official determination of the cause of death.
Felipe was the second migrant child to die this month while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). On Christmas Day, hours after Felipe was pronounced dead, 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin was buried in the rural Guatemalan village where she had lived with her family before she and her father embarked on the long and arduous trek to the United States. Like Jakelin, Felipe had also made the journey north from Guatemala with his father.
On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen ordered a number of measures to address the medical needs of children in Border Patrol custody. Among the actions outlined in a statement from Nielsen were requests for help from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as U.S. partners in Mexico to investigate the “uptick in sick children crossing our borders.”
That was the first public mention of such an “uptick,” and Alan Shapiro, a New York City pediatrician who runs a program for immigrant children and families and has recently visited the border, is skeptical. “To say this is a new issue is disingenuous,” he told Yahoo News. “It’s the winter. There’s an uptick everywhere in the country of viral illnesses in winter. That’s not specific to migrants.”
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