Border patrol detained 5 mo. old in freezing cell, denied antibiotics, child now hospitalized

[CousinIT]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/adolfoflores/infant-sick-border-patrol-cold

The girl's mother said her daughter got increasingly sick after being held in "freezing" cells.

A 5-month-old girl who traveled with the migrant caravan has been hospitalized with pneumonia after spending five days inside freezing cells operated by border authorities in California, her mother said.

A. Portillo, the girl's mother (who asked to be identified only by her first initial because she is fleeing from an abusive partner), said she jumped a low part of the border fence with her daughter on Dec. 12 near Tijuana before being detained by Border Patrol agents.

The 23-year-old mother said she and her daughter were then placed in holding cells that migrants call hieleras, or iceboxes. The holding cells have been criticized by human rights advocates who describe them as "often poor and in several critical respects identical to those previously found by US courts to be in violation of [Customs and Border Protection's] obligations and prior commitments."

The girl had been taking the antibiotic amoxicillin, but Portillo said she wasn't allowed to keep the medication in detention. She described the temperatures inside the cells as "freezing."

Portillo told agents that her daughter was sick shortly after being detained, but they told Portillo it was normal and that everyone coming into the holding cells was ill. She wasn't allowed to get new medication or see a doctor.

"I said I needed a hospital because her breathing was getting worse," Portillo told BuzzFeed News. "The agents told me I wasn't in a position to be asking for anything and that they didn't tell me to come to the United States."

[Ilsa]

1. I'm surprised Border Patrol even feeds them

vs letting them starve to death in a cell.

[Ohiogal]

2. Christian compassion at it's finest.

Where is the outrage among staunch Chistians over stories like this?

[erronis]

24. Apparently they're following a different bible - The Book Of Deplorables

It's time for yet another cult - Mormons, Scientologists, Wacos, Trumporgs

[FiveGoodMen]

53. Christianity is a crock, exposing itself now for what it really always was

Just like the Trump presidency has exposed the right for what IT really always was.

[Zoonart]

3. 5. moths. old.

What country am I in?

When the Dems take the house, the first thing they must do is cut off the funding for this horror show and shut it down.

WWJD? These are the same monsters always going on about Jesus. WWJD?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. we need to get the Nazis out of ICE

Actually, we need to remove all Nazis from offices of public trust -- they can't be trusted to act in the interests of the public.

[Just a Weirdo]

6. Homeland Security needs to be dissolved

And the ICE returns to INS.

[FiveGoodMen]

59. We need to get the Nazis off the planet

It really will be them or us. Just like in WWII.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

60. didn't the Newt mention a moonbase?

Send 'em all there. They can bootstrap their colony.

[watoos]

13. Someone is making big money off of these facilities.

The one tent complex in Texas, I think, is costing 1 million dollars a day.

[Perseus]

18. You must read the book "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis

People need to wake up, Sinclair Lewis saw this coming almost 100 years ago.

http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3659/it-can-t-happen-here

[Perseus]

19. Read the description here

It Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935. It features newspaperman Doremus Jessup struggling against the fascist regime of President Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, who resembles Gerald B. Winrod, the Kansas evangelist whose far-right views earned him the nickname "The Jayhawk Nazi".

It serves as a warning that political movements akin to Nazism can come to power in countries such as the United States when people blindly support their leaders.

People blind themselves thinking that "It Can't Happen Here!", they don't realize that it can definitely happen, and that is how it always happens because people don't believe it, even when it is happening. Its a great book, worth the read.

[erronis]

25. Thanks! Will read.

I need to revisit Sinclair Lewis. He was never really given much weight in my english/lit classes.

[oberliner]

27. This predates Trump

[Zoonart]

37. I am aware... but not it's on steroids.

[oberliner]

38. Photographic Evidence of Conditions in CBP's Short-Term Detention Facilities "Hieleras" Revealed

A judge in Arizona unsealed photographs central to ongoing litigation challenging deplorable and unconstitutional conditions in Border Patrol’s short-term detention facilities in the Tucson Sector. The never-before-seen-photos show the inside of facilities known as “hieleras” or ice-boxes—a term coined by those held in the frigid concrete cells.

The underlying case is Jane Doe, et al. v. Johnson, et al., which was filed as a class action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in June of 2015. The lawsuit alleges that Tucson Sector Border Patrol holds men, women, and children, including babies, in freezing, overcrowded, and filthy cells for days at a time in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the agencies’ own policies. Detained individuals are stripped of outer layers of clothing and forced to suffer in brutally cold temperatures; deprived of beds, bedding, and sleep; denied adequate food, water, medicine, medical care, and basic hygiene items such as soap, sufficient toilet paper, sanitary napkins, diapers, and showers; and held virtually incommunicado in these conditions for days.

http://immigrationimpact.com/2016/06/30/photographic-evidence-conditions-cbps-short-term-detention-facilities-hieleras-revealed/

This is pre-Trump.

[mcar]

5. Crimes against humanity

Border Patrol agents need to be charged.

[oberliner]

28. Been going on for many years

Read this article from 2014, for example:

https://www.npr.org/2014/07/24/334041633/amid-wave-of-child-immigrants-reports-of-abuse-by-border-patrol

[zaj]

7. Trump has given permission to be mean

To paraphrase a Famous Racist:

"When Trump's Border Patrol sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems to us. They're sending mean, dangerous racists. And some, I assume, are good people."

[oberliner]

29. These conditions existed under the previous administration

[treestar]

40. Yet no 5 month old

Who was sick was denied treatment

[LanternWaste]

51. No is arguing it didn't.

Hence you insistence of repeating it ad nauseum seems to do nothing other than project your own consistent narrative.

[oberliner]

52. Several of the responses seem to suggest that this is a new situation and/or unique to Trump

Those were the ones I responded to - attempting to correct that misconception.

For example:

"Trump has given permission to be mean"

"Direct result of Trump's words and policies"

"This one (and many others) are on tRump. Big part of his legacy."

[malaise]

8. These are crimes against humanity

Who are these fucking monsters?
How can they do this to children?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. "we have met the enemy and he is us"

It was penned for a different problem, but it fits so many others:

[malaise]

10. Yep

The truth

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. Earth Day 1971. Still applicable in so many ways. . . . nt

[calimary]

35. Prescient. More so now than ever before.

[oberliner]

31. Been going on for way too long

Good that people are finally taking notice - but this has been the norm for a while now, pre-Trump.

[KG]

11. apparently you have to be the dregs of humanity to work these jobs

[DeminPennswoods]

12. What is wrong with these agents?

Honestly, what???

[Johnny2X2X]

14. Direct result of Trump's words and policies

Trump calls immigrants animals and constantly talks about making it tough on them. This is the direct result. We're torturing women and children because Trump wants us to.

[oberliner]

32. Hieleras (Iceboxes) in the Rio Grande Valley Sector (from 2015)

Each year, the Border Patrol—a division of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—holds hundreds of thousands of individuals in detention facilities near the U.S. southern border. These facilities are not designed for overnight custody, and yet they are routinely used in this way. Until recently, CBP policy was clear that these facilities were to serve exclusively as short-term holding cells—meaning that a person should be held there less than 12 hours. Evidence presented in this report, which pertains to Border Patrol holding cells in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector, reveals that, instead, individuals are routinely held for days.

In October 2015, CBP updated its guidance on how long it may detain individuals. The new guidance states that “short-term” detention generally should last no longer than 72 hours. Notably, however, no structural changes have been made to the facilities. These facilities, which are often referred to as “hieleras” (Spanish for “freezers” or “iceboxes”), remain wholly inadequate forany overnight detention. Moreover, the conditions are reprehensible, even with respect to truly short-term detention. In addition to the fact that there are no beds in the holding cells, these facilities are extremely cold, frequently overcrowded, and routinely lacking in adequate food, water, and medical care. Recent accounts from families held in short-term facilities also demonstrate that Border Patrol officers harass and ridicule individuals in their custody and separate mothers from their minor children.

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/hieleras-iceboxes-rio-grande-valley-sector

[LittleGirl]

15. Those border patrol people need to

be slapped upside the head for shit like this. "they didn't tell me to come to the US". WTF is that about? And why don't they have any heat? It's December!

Baby is sick and you took away her antibiotics. I hope the baby recovers.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. This one (and many others) are on tRump. Big part of his legacy. . . . nt

[oberliner]

33. These conditions existed under the previous administration

[atreides1]

44. Yes they did!

But the CBP and ICE have done nothing to fix it, have they?

Couldn't DHS have procured construction contracts to modernize these facilities?

While there is a new administration, ICE and CBP have always had the same mindset...be sadistic and cruel!

In the Tucson there groups that leave food and water near the trails that people use...the CBP has been videoed destroying those supplies!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/01/23/border-patrol-accused-of-targeting-aid-group-that-filmed-agents-dumping-water-left-for-migrants/?utm_term=.2fa4396af51d

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2018/01/18/montini-why-would-border-patrol-agents-destroy-lifesaving-water-jugs-left-migrants/1047070001/

I personally believe that there is an element within the CBP that gets a sadistic thrill in causing pain to immigrants seeking asylum!!!

And as long as the sadists are protected and revered as guardians of our precious borders...I fear we will see more of this!!!

[oberliner]

50. You make excellent points about the CBP

The whole thing has been a nightmare for a very long time. Steps definitely should have been taken long ago - and hopefully will finally be taken now.

[Fla Dem]

20. Where do they recruit ICE and Border Patrol Officers from? Racists groups and militias?

[47of74]

54. Yeah pretty much.

[ZeroSomeBrains]

21. I will always give Hillary credit for calling them what they are

They are deplorables. This action by ICE on a five month old baby is just further evidence. Hopefully the little girl survives.

[Moral Compass]

22. Fascism

Yes, it can happen here.

The Border Patrol treats their victims with the same cruel inhumanity that the Nazis treated the subhuman untermenschen they packed into cattle cars and concentration camps.

They did this to a 5 month old. Last week it was a 7 year old who they failed to give water. She died and this 5 month old baby could also die.

Their sole argument is that these people (subhuman parasites, takers not makers, useless eaters...) shouldn’t have come here uninvited if they didn’t want to be maltreated.

Onward Christian soldiers...

[oberliner]

34. Been happening for many years

Why did folks look the other way when this has been going on for a while?

[treestar]

41. You keep repeating this

As if no sick 5 months old child were involved.

[oberliner]

46. Because people are posting responses suggesting that this is a new problem

Or something unique to the current administration.

These sorts of abuses have been ongoing for years and documented extensively.

[treestar]

55. Name one

That is this bad.

[LuckyCharms]

23. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

If they are going to detain them, they are fucking well responsible for their well-being.

This is some very bad shit that is going on. These people are being dehumanized. These republicans in congress need to pay attention...or maybe they are paying attention. Fucking infuriating.

This feels like "interesting times".

[oberliner]

26. This has been going on for many years

The complaints center on what happens inside the group holding cells that immigrants call las hieleras — the freezers. The concrete cells are used by the Border Patrol to house adult and underage immigrants for days or weeks while they're being processed into U.S. immigration courts. The children are later sent to better-equipped government-run shelters.

"I suffered a lot in la hielera," says 11-year-old Sixta, who is brought to tears by the memory. "I still wake up crying thinking I'm there. And I never want to return there again as long as I live." Her last name has been omitted because she is here illegally.

Sixta crossed the Rio Grande with her older sister early last month after making the trip from San Pedro Sula, Honduras — the world's most violent city. She's now living with her mother in a ramshackle house outside of Dallas. Their living room is still full of balloons from her welcome party. Sixta was asked what was worse: the treacherous journey through Mexico, or her 17 days inside two Border Patrol stations in South Texas.

"The experience inside the freezer," she says without hesitation.

Sixta says the room was kept so frigid she caught a cold, and it went untreated for so long that she started bleeding from her nose and throat. When she asked for a doctor, she says, agents slammed the steel door to the cell in anger. Most Border Patrol stations have paramedics who are supposed to provide medical care.

Sixta says agents told her and her sister, "You damned Hondurans are a pest in our country."

https://www.npr.org/2014/07/24/334041633/amid-wave-of-child-immigrants-reports-of-abuse-by-border-patrol

That was from 2014. At least now people seem to be paying attention to this finally.

[treestar]

42. Ok so Obama

Was just as evil. Satisfied ? And yet I bet there were differences. Catch and release. And no president speaking the way Donald does. So likely fewer ICE officers who would let a sick 5 year old go untreated.

[oberliner]

45. Read this report from the ACLU

In 2014, the ACLU Border Litigation Project and partner organizations filed an administrative complaint with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on behalf of 116 children who had reported abuse while in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody. These complaints detailed, for example, denial of medical care; verbal threats; physical and sexual abuse; and inhumane detention conditions.

https://www.aclusandiego.org/cbp-child-abuse-foia/

[treestar]

56. Still does not excuse

Dotard. And his rhetoric can make it worse. There are always problems with systems. Dotard’s rhetoric emboldens the type of person who would take these jobs in the first place.

And if it did not gain media interest before, the Dotard has managed to cause greater interest on account of his making so much of this caravan. So he brought it on himself.

[calimary]

30. Homeland Security now going for TWO little casualties?

Hey, why stop there? One seven-year-old isn’t enough. Two probably won’t be all that satisfying either, ‘eh?

I suppose that’s one way to “solve a problem” with these trump appointees. They did say they wanted to deter asylum-seekers, didn’t they. This is one approach, I guess.

This is a genuine abomination. Almost as shameful as the “Final Solution” once was. Future generations will read about this and be ashamed of what was perpetrated in our name, and how many not only condoned this but cheered, and proudly asserted that they voted for sins against humanity like this. And the American version of “good Germans” will be so noted.

How “heroic” of us, ‘eh? Victimizing the smallest and weakest and most vulnerable among us? Making America Great Again.



How do we ever recover from this? Do we even have the collective will to do so anymore?

[oberliner]

36. This problem pre-dates Trump

And is a much larger and systematic issue across multiple administrations.

[calimary]

47. But it didn't come to a head then.

It wasn’t part of what’s starting to look like a cascade failure in the here and now.

For those who’d blame President Obama for stuff like this, there was too much else that was positive, beneficial, even uplifting that overshadowed it. True, President Obama wasn’t perfect either. But we didn’t have consistent and deliberate movement toward the profoundly reckless, negative, harmful, and destabilizing in previous administrations as we do here. We didn’t have willful wholesale destruction of any institution they could get their hands on, as we have here and now.

Any “they’re all the same” or “both sides! Both sides!” argument stops holding any water at a certain point. With all due respect, seems to me we’re WAY beyond any such point by now.

[oberliner]

48. It should have

I am not sure why the abuse did not get the attention that was clearly warranted.

[treestar]

58. Because there was no one

In the Oval Office talking about how horrible these immigrants supposedly were or campaigning on the alleged invasion of bad people this caravan was supposedly made of. Even Rmoney did not use that issue. Not McCain.

[treestar]

57. Thank you

President Obama would not have sanctioned this the way the Orange Horror and his Deplorable s do.

[JPK]

39. I've been to where ICE does some training

Just about all of them look like they shave their heads and have tribal tats up and down their arms and necks. Lots of ex cops and ex military types. It wasn't lost on me how much they seemed like neo Nazi types you see in civilian life just better looking dressed in a uniform.

[treestar]

43. It would be who wants a job like that

And it would be Deplorables. It is a needed job but who has the heart for it?