A top House Democratic leader is urging the Homeland Security inspector general to ensure that newly obtained surveillance video showing that Customs and Border Protection officials lied about the circumstances around the death of 16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Hernández Vásquez, a Maya Achi child from Guatemala, while in their custody this past May is a part of its ongoing investigation.
"Not only did CBP hold Carlos longer than the legal limit and apparently fail to care for him while he was sick, the agency seems to have been untruthful with Congress and the public about the circumstances around his tragic death. This is inexcusable,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, House Homeland Security Committee chair. "The DHS Office of Inspector General should examine all video from Carlos’ time in custody, complete their investigation expeditiously, and release their findings as soon as possible.”
The video, released by ProPublica just days before the one-year anniversary of another migrant child’s death while in U.S. custody, contradicts border officials’ account of Carlos’ death. Following his death from flu complicated by pneumonia and sepsis, they claimed in a statement that an agent had found the boy “unresponsive” in his cell. This was a lie: The video shows that it was another detained boy who found Carlos’ body, and it was that boy who alerted agents.
Border agents’ “subject activity log” also appears to be fiction, claiming that “an agent checked on him three times during the early morning hours in which he slipped from unconsciousness to death, but reported nothing alarming about the boy,” ProPublica said. Video shows the boy in clear distress, first collapsing next to a bench before walking to the toilet, where he again collapsed and then died. “The video shows the only way CBP officials could have missed Carlos’ crisis is that they weren’t looking,” ProPublica continued.
Border officials have continued to look away. Even though Carlos’ death was in part due to the flu, a letter released last month reveals that they ignored a CDC recommendation to give flu shots to detained people ahead of flu season, even turning down an offer from a group of physicians to do vaccinations for free. Earlier this year, the Border Patrol chief was also revealed to have been a member of a vile Facebook group that included members mocking Carlos’ death. This is the culture at CBP: racism, violence, and death.
Carlos had left his village in search of work to support his family. "I never imagined that this could happen to my best friend, my brother," his friend Rafael said following his death. “I was absolutely horrified and sickened by the video. I believe that it was child abuse, it was child abuse on video, and frankly … I think it was negligent homicide,” said Rep. Karen Bass. “Someone needs to be held to account. It is completely unacceptable for a 16-year-old child to die of the flu … that was state-sponsored child abuse.”