Sens. Kamala Harris and Richard Blumenthal are calling for a special counsel to investigate the death of Roxsana Hernández in ICE custody. Hernández, a transgender asylum-seeker who arrived as part of Donald Trump’s “caravan,” died in May 2018 due to complications of AIDS. But there are significant questions about the care she received in ICE detention, and the surveillance video that showed her final days was deleted in violation of federal rules.
”There remain significant factual disputes relating to the circumstances surrounding Ms. Hernandez's death,” Harris and Blumenthal wrote to Attorney General William Barr. “Ms. Hernandez's surviving family, the United States Congress, and the American people deserve answers.”
They’re calling for a full investigation into the care she received leading up to her death—a question of importance not just in getting justice for Hernández but in understanding how detainees in need of medical care are treated more generally—and the deletion of that surveillance video.