The child suffered the head injury prior to the family’s arrest in January; he fell out of a shopping cart and fractured his skull in December. A month later, during “what they thought was a routine check-in,” the boy’s family was detained by ICE in California. The names of the family have been withheld because the family fears deportation to Guatemala, according to the AP.
The AP also reports that while the child’s father was sent to a California detention center, the child, his one-year-old brother, and their mother were sent to a family detention center in Texas. The lawsuit is being filed on the basis that medical staff and officials are not addressing the medical needs of the child. Despite multiple requests, the lawsuit alleges that detention center staff are disregarding the concerns of the boy’s mother, who has been forced to put the child in diapers due to his inability to control his bladder, the child’s aunt told the AP. “She says they don’t pay much attention to her,” the aunt said. “They don’t let her explain to them that my nephew’s case is bad because of the accident that he had. They don’t give her the chance.”
ICE claims it has been properly treating the boy, who was only taken to a San Antonio hospital on Tuesday after ICE was contacted by the media. Medical records shared with AP show that the boy was not seen by a pediatric neurologist, but doctors at the hospital consulted the neurosurgery department. A followup was deemed unnecessary since the MRI was clear.
Cohen told the AP that the child had an appointment with a neurologist before being detained, a recommendation given by the first hospital he was treated at following the injury. Cohen provided the boy’s medical records, which diagnose the child with a mild traumatic brain injury and an epidural hematoma, bleeding between his brain and skull. Cohen argued that current testing does not dismiss the complications that could have resulting from the previous bleeding. The San Antonio hospital did not have the paperwork from the California hospital that first treated him, the AP found.
ICE stands by its defense that it provided the right care to the child; “no issues were present that required the need to elevate the case to another neurological specialist,” the agency said in a statement Thursday. While it has declined to comment on the lawsuit, ICE claims the child’s mother did not inform the agency of her son’s injury when detained in January. The boy’s aunt and Cohen are afraid that, if not addressed, the issues the child faces will only worsen. “I fear for his immediate health and safety, and for his long-term health and safety, because we know that traumatic brain injuries in children can have devastating consequences for the rest of their lives,” Cohen said.
Healthcare is a basic human right that should be accessible to all, especially children. While ICE is quick to defend the “care” it provides to children, news reports tell otherwise. According to ProPublica, as of January, at least six migrant children have died in the custody of ICE and Border Patrol since the current administration took office. The Trump administration has been under fire for its lack of sanitation and limited supply of food and water provided to those in custody, yet still fails to acknowledge the terrible way it treats immigrants.