16-Year-Old Unaccompanied Migrant Child Dies in U.S. Custody

[SunSeeker]

Source: US News & World Report

A 16-YEAR-OLD MIGRANT boy died in government custody in Texas on Tuesday, an official said.

The child, an unaccompanied minor, was transferred from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody to an Office of Refugee Resettlement shelter on April 20, where he did not initially show signs of any health concerns, Evelyn Stauffer, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families, said.

The boy, however, fell ill a day later with a fever, chills and headache, Stauffer said. The shelter's staff took the boy to the hospital, but he was treated and released later that day.

"The minor's health did not improve after being transferred back to the shelter so on the morning of April 22, 2019 the minor was taken to another hospital emergency department via ambulance," Stauffer said. "Later that day the minor was transferred to a children's hospital in Texas and was treated for several days in the hospital's intensive care unit."



Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2019-05-01/16-year-old-unaccompanied-migrant-child-dies-in-us-custody

---

That's three kids now in the last 6 months who went into ICE custody apparently healthy, then became ill with high fevers and died within a few days of falling ill.

[BigmanPigman]

1. Enough!

[SunSeeker]

2. Indeed. One was too many. nt

[Ohiogal]

3. Unacceptable!

This makes my heart ache. That poor boy.

[SunSeeker]

4. Makes my heart ache too. I have a 15 year old son.

That poor boy must have been so terrified.

[dewsgirl]

5. Three that we know of.

[SunSeeker]

6. Good point. nt

[Me.]

7. So Sad

[Opel_Justwax]

8. They provide medical care for the teenager. n/t

[Marthe48]

9. Too little, too late

n/t

[SunSeeker]

10. In at least two of those cases, the doctors sent the child back to jail still sick.

Only for the child to collapse later and be brought back to the hospital to die. That doesn't strike me as stellar care.

They should have never sent this kid back to custody with a fever. And what if he had passed on whatever he had to the other kids?

Those ICE detention centers are overcrowded, stressful, poor sleeping conditions hell holes. They're the perfect environment for getting sick, especially a child who does not have an adult immune system. That is one of the many reasons why kids don't belong in ICE detention.

[Judi Lynn]

22. People can live without their kind of "medical care." n/t

[Shrike47]

26. Inadequate care equals no care. They have caused a death by their negligence.

[ancianita]

11. Negligent homicide.

[Perseus]

12. I know, I know, bad on my part

but the imagination runs wild when criminals of their caliber are in charge.

But I would not put it past them to be conducting "medical tests" on these people.

It has been done before:

[link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States|

[Perseus]

13. Here is the 1st paragraph of the link I provided

Unethical human experimentation in the United States describes numerous experiments performed on human test subjects in the United States that have been considered unethical, and were often performed illegally, without the knowledge, consent, or informed consent of the test subjects. Such tests have occurred throughout American history, but particularly in the 20th century. The experiments include: the exposure of humans to many chemical and biological weapons (including infection with deadly or debilitating diseases), human radiation experiments, injection of toxic and radioactive chemicals, surgical experiments, interrogation and torture experiments, tests involving mind-altering substances, and a wide variety of others. Many of these tests were performed on children,[1] the sick, and mentally disabled individuals, often under the guise of "medical treatment". In many of the studies, a large portion of the subjects were poor, racial minorities, or prisoners.

[SunSeeker]

16. Yes, there's the 1932 syphilis studies on unconsenting African Americans.

https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm

I can't imagine something like that happening now. But then, I couldn't imagine Trump becoming President.

[barbtries]

14. that we know of.

i am convinced there are more, both children and adults. this administration doesn't care. ICE and the border patrol and the people making money off them do not care.

[SunSeeker]

15. Apparently they have admitted to 22 adult deaths in ICE custody over the last 2 years. nt

[barbtries]

17. wow. that is a lot.

they're abusing and neglecting, torturing people. killing them. in our name.

[SunSeeker]

18. The most tragic adult death I read about: a dad's suicide after they ripped his child from his arms.

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-family-was-separated-at-the-border-and-this-distraught-father-took-his-own-life/2018/06/08/24e40b70-6b5d-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html?outputType=amp

[barbtries]

19. i remember that.

i also recall reading that at least one and possibly more people were deported and, as they told the court would happen, were murdered in their home country.

it's just a constant pain that this is done by my country. i lose words to express.

[stillcool]

20. out of all the crappy things..

the U.S. has done in my lifetime to people all over the world, this seems the worst. Maybe because I am an orphan.

[Glimmer of Hope]

21. Make it stop.

[cannabis_flower]

23. Considering the sentiment here, I'm gonna go out on a limb here...

It was horrible that ICE separated children from their parents.

It was horrible that ICE didn't have a system to identify which children went with which parents.

It was horrible that children were put in cages.

Nothing negates that but... in the case of these deaths, it doesn't sound like ICE did anything wrong. The girl from Guatemala had the flu. As common as it is, the flu can kill people with or without treatment.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-do-people-die-from-the-flu/

All of these children were promptly taken to the hospital, even put in intensive care. I believe it said the hospital treated the teenager and released him, and then he was taken back to the hospital.

Also, considering how many immigrants were detained, it not surprising some of them got sick and died, perhaps they would have died even if they hadn't been in ICE custody. There's a lot of things we can fault ICE with and I don't think it is fair to pin blame on them. Also, it's not the parent's fault either, people still die of infectious disease even in intensive care.

[SunSeeker]

27. Kids in ICE detention appear to be dying at a MUCH higher rate (87x) than US kids in general.

172 US kids died of the flu last season, a record high. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/child-flu-deaths-his-record-high-2017-2018-n881381 However, there are over 74 MILLION kids in the US. That means only 1 in about every 436,000 kids die of the flu every year in the US.

How many kids have passed through ICE custody this season? Hard to say, since ICE has done next to nothing to track them. Despite that, estimates have been obtained by journalists. The New York Times reported in September that 12,800 children were in federally contracted shelters based on information that had been reported to members of Congress. Updated estimates published earlier this week now put that number at 15,000. The average length of stay for a child detained ranges from 100 to 240 days, and these children are often held far from family members and without legal representation. https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2018/dec/22/migrant-children-us-custody

So, based on all that, it is reasonable to estimate 15,000 kids move through ICE custody every 180 days, or about 30,000 per year, or 15,000 every 6 months.

That means, for migrant children in ICE custody, with 3 dead in the last 6 months, they are dying of the flu at a rate of 1 in 5,000 migrant kids. That is MORE THAN 87 TIMES THE RATE OF THE GENERAL POPULATION OF US KIDS.

In at least two of those cases, the doctors sent the child back to custody, only for the child to collapse later and be brought back to the hospital to die. That doesn't strike me as stellar care.

They should have never sent this kid back to custody with a fever. And what if he had passed on whatever he had to the other kids?

Those ICE detention centers are overcrowded, stressful, poor sleeping condition hell holes. They're the perfect environment for getting sick and failing to get proper care, especially a child, who does not have an adult immune system. That is one of the many reasons why kids don't belong in ICE detention.

Let me know if I got my math wrong.

[cannabis_flower]

34. Several things here..

The children who died were taken to the hospital. The hospital discharged them. Perhaps you should be faulting the hospital and not ICE.

Also, these children just went through a hard trip. Sleeping outside, walking, hungry. It's likely that they are more susceptible to infectious diseases after enduring weeks of these conditions. The sick children who died became ill after being in detention only a few days, this indicates the were probably infected before they got to the detention facility.

[SunSeeker]

35. That is all the more reason not to put kids in crowded detention centers.

This kid apparently died of a brain infection. Brain infections, like meningitis, come on quickly and can kill within days of exposure if not immediately treated. My son's doctor recommended meningitis vaccines before he goes off to college because it can strike so quickly in environments where youth live in crowded conditions, like dorm rooms.

ICE detention facilities are MUCH more crowded than dorm rooms. This kid was healthy when he was sent to a detention facility with thousands of other kids. When he fell ill, the hospital misdiagnosed him as having a mere flu and sent him back to the facility!

Juan entered the US near El Paso, and was detained by CBP on 19 April. He was taken by Ice agents on 20 April to a children’s facility in Brownsville which is run by Southwest Key – a not-for-profit organisation which houses 5,000 migrant children in more than 20 shelters. Juan was in apparently good health when he arrived, but the next morning he was taken to an emergency room after complaining of a fever, chills and a headache. He was discharged back to the shelter later that day, according to a statement by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF).

The boy’s health deteriorated, and he was returned to the emergency room by ambulance on 22 April, said ACF. From there, the sick boy was admitted to the intensive care unit at the children’s hospital with the brain infection.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/02/guatemalan-migrant-boy-us-detention-died-brain-infection

These poor kids should be kept with their families or sent to a foster parent in a private home. Jails aren't for kids.

What's more, this kid had an older brother living in Texas. That is who this kid was traveling to. ICE could have just released him to his brother or the family his brother was living with (his brother visited him in the hospital!). But no, CBP/ICE kept him in detention. It is fucking sickening.

[cannabis_flower]

36. It sounds like

you and I agree with each other on just about everything except the responsibility for these unfortunate deaths.

How soon do symptoms appear?
Depending on the type of bacteria that is causing the meningitis, symptoms usually appear within three to seven
days after exposure.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.ndhealth.gov/Disease/Documents/faqs/Bacterial%2520Meningitis.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiDpLWWwoDiAhWCITQIHQCPA-MQFjAUegQIDxAJ&usg=AOvVaw0061G4WYHl2ob4lQAJ96PG

Since this boy wasn't in detention 3-5 days before he got sick, it is likely that he got exposed before he was in detention. ICE took him to the hospital promptly. He was treated and released and got worse and was promptly taken back to the hospital the next day. It sounds to me like the hospital dropped the ball. I'm not saying ICE is acting responsibly, I'm just saying it doesn't sound like they caused his death. If he hadn't been detained and had been with his brother, he still might have died. Infectious diseases often look like the flu and unless something else is suspected it's likely to get misdiagnosed. Remember the guy who was sent home from the hospital in Dallas with ebola?

[SunSeeker]

37. Yes, I remember. He was a person of color too. I don't think it is a coincidence.

The poor and people of color get worse care in our country. They and their complaints of pain, etc., are not taken as seriously by doctors. That is why it is so dangerous to put these poor, brown kids in disease spreading mass detention centers. If and when they do get seriously ill, they are more likely to die due to poor medical care. Surely CBP/ICE knows this.

If he got sick within days after entering detention, then he most certainly could have gotten a brain infection/meningitis in detention. Depending on the type of bacteria that is causing the meningitis, symptoms usually appear within three to seven days after exposure, and can cause death in as little as 24 hours.

What is sickening is CBP put this boy right back in the detention center population even though he still had a fever, only sending him back to the hospital after he collapsed. Who else did they expose?
Even if he just had the flu, this was inexcusable.

Again, the close quarters, and the fact that young people are more likely to contract meningitis than adults, puts fault on CBP/ICE for creating the petri dish that likely got this boy sick. Kids don't belong in mass detention for so many reasons. One of the most important reasons is that it exposes kids to life-threatening illnesses more so than it does adults.

These detention centers are endangering kids' lives. It may very well have caused this boy to lose his life.

[LanternWaste]

28. "It doesn't sound like they did anything wrong"

"It doesn't sound like they did anything wrong" is a pretty fallacious foundation on which to premise a conclusion. In logic, it's called an inductive fallacy, more specifically, a Faulty Generalization.

But have fun out on your little limb... without the crosses we construct for ourselves to advertise our self-righteousness, martyrdom for the cause is so much less melodramatic.

[wellst0nev0ter]

39. Sorry, What Else Can Border Patrol Do

to prevent this kid's death? If the kid never encountered Border Patrol agents, would he have lived?

Help me out here.

[moriah]

30. It wasn't the flu.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/01/politics/unaccompanied-minor-dies-in-custody/index.html

A source close to the situation said the boy showed signs of distress the day after he arrived at Casa Padre, a former Walmart in Brownsville, Texas, that's one of the nation's largest shelters for unaccompanied minors.

The boy was taken to a local hospital twice and eventually airlifted to a children's hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, the source said.

Guatemala's foreign ministry said Wednesday the boy had undergone an emergency operation at the hospital after presenting with a severe infection in his frontal lobe. The infection did not improve, the foreign ministry said, even after surgery to relieve pressure in the boy's skull.

The boy's death comes months after the deaths of two other immigrant children who fell ill in government custody: 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin and 8-year-old Felipe Gómez Alonzo, who both died in December in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection.

To be honest there are a lot of things that can cause a bacterial infection to get into the brain -- meningitis is the most scary possibility given that it's highly contagious.

"Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus). This bacterium is another leading cause of bacterial meningitis. These bacteria commonly cause an upper respiratory infection but can cause meningococcal meningitis when they enter the bloodstream. This is a highly contagious infection that affects mainly teenagers and young adults. It may cause local epidemics in college dormitories, boarding schools and military bases. A vaccine can help prevent infection."

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/meningitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20350508

However, anything from a sinus/ear infection they blew off as viral and didn't give antibiotics, to a bad tooth they felt couldn't be the cause of fever/chills, can eventually cause some type of bacterial infection in the brain.

[cannabis_flower]

33. It sounds like..

your beef should be with the care he received at the hospital. I'm not saying ICE hasn't done horrible things but it doesn't sound like ICE was negligent in seeking medical care for these children who died.

The girl who died had the flu. When I saw this story in the news it didn't say what he died of. The other boy who died I haven't heard what he died of but he was taken to the hospital. Perhaps the hospital was to blame but children do die of flu, meningitis and all kinds of things. They had been outside and traveling for a long time. They might have swam in river water and come into contact with all kinds of deadly microorganisms. Since most of them died soon after coming into detention, it is not likely they got it there.

[demtenjeep]

24. fat donnie wouldn't care if they all died

he would consider it killing two birds with one stone


immigrants and reuniting

[JI7]

25. this is what they mean by MAGA

[Eugene]

29. Guatemalan boy who died in US custody suffered from brain infection

Source: The Guardian

Guatemalan boy who died in US custody suffered from brain infection

The 16-year-old, who died in a Texas children’s hospital, travelled to the US from Camotán, hoping to be reunited with his older brother

Nina Lakhani
Fri 3 May 2019 17.13 BST First published on Thu 2 May 2019 18.59 BST

A Guatemalan boy who died at a Texas children’s hospital after being detained on the US southern border was suffering from a brain infection, the Guardian has learned. He was the third migrant child from Guatemala to die in US government custody in the past five months.

Juan De León Gutiérrez, 16, had travelled to the US from Camotán, a poor rural community in the Chiquimula region of eastern Guatemala, hoping to be reunited with his older brother.

It is unclear when or where the boy first fell ill, but he died on Tuesday, days after being detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and transferred to a government-contracted children’s detention shelter.

“My son was always healthy,” his mother, Tránsito Gutiérrez Oloroso, told local newspaper Prensa Libre. “I ask that they treat his remains with dignity.”

Juan was diagnosed with a frontal lobe infection at Driscoll children’s hospital in Corpus Christi.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/02/guatemalan-migrant-boy-us-detention-died-brain-infection

[SunSeeker]

32. Doctors should have never sent him back to the detention facility with a fever!

[riversedge]

31. I hope someone is looking for his family.

[Sparky 1]

38. Trump, Sessions, Nielsen and Miller

. . . should receive life in prison for what they've caused at our border. If you or I kidnapped even one child we'd be sent to jail. If we caused the death of even one child with our actions, we'd be up on involuntary manslaughter charges.