Sunday, Dec. 8, marked the one-year anniversary of the death of 7-year-old Jakelin Ameí Rosmery Caal Maquin while in Customs and Border Protection custody. Her short life horrifically ending while under U.S. watch was unprecedented: Before the Maya Q’eqchi girl’s death, no child had died while in federal immigration custody for a decade. Leaders remembered the girl and pledged to continue fighting for accountability.
“She was seven years old, just a small child, when our government’s negligence killed her,” tweeted the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. “A year ago today, a seven-year-old named Jakelin died in US government custody, a direct result of our cruel border policies,” tweeted 2020 presidential candidate and former HUD Sec. Julián Castro. “We must work towards building an immigration system where no one dies seeking safety and a better life.”
But inhumane holding facilities and government-sanctioned negligence have continued to steal young lives, because at least seven children have died after being taken into custody since 2018. Recently released surveillance footage revealed that one of these children, 16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Hernández Vásquez, languished alone and died next to his cell’s toilet. His body was found by another detained teen, contradicting a claim from border officials that it was an agent who had found the Maya Achi boy.
While investigations remain ongoing, this revelation adds to the frustration of advocates waiting for accountability. “Jakelin’s death resulted from the cruel and inhumane policies applied daily along our southern border and a culture that often treats people—and frequently people of color—as disposable, unworthy of adequate care and attention,” said Tom Jawetz of the Center for American Progress. “Although Jakelin was the first child to die in CBP custody in more than a decade, additional children have died in the year since, often of fatal neglect to entirely preventable diseases. This is cruel and illegal.”
An autopsy report found that Jakelin died from a rapidly progressing infection. Her body was returned to Guatemala two weeks after her death, where she was buried on Christmas Day. "She was excited to travel," a neighbor remembered. "She mentioned it every chance she could.” But Congressional Democrats who later visited the facility where Jakelin was first held condemned the conditions that awaited her, with Rep. Al Green saying that “the only reason why this facility is still open as it is now is because these cameras can’t get in.”
Jakelin should be alive. These children should be alive. Later on Monday, Hispanic Caucus chair Joaquin Castro, the doctor who reviewed Jakelin’s autopsy report, and advocates will gather in Washington, D.C., to hold a candlelit vigil in the memory of Jakelin and other migrant children who have died after being under U.S. watch. “Organizers will place toys and water bottles outside CBP offices, signifying her needless death by dehydration while in CBP custody,” read a statement on the event.