Another migrant child has died while in U.S. custody. BuzzFeed News reports that the 16-year-old boy, whose name has not yet been released, had been hospitalized after becoming “noticeably ill” just one day after being sent to a Health and Human Services-contracted facility operated by a company that has been mired in scandal for the past few months. He was released and returned to the Southwest Key facility in Brownsville, Texas, only to have his condition worsen the next day.
“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,” said Evelyn Stauffer, an HHS spokesperson. “Following several days of intensive care, the minor passed away at the hospital on April 30, 2019.” According to CNN, “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 boy is now the third Guatemalan minor who has died while in U.S. custody since December, following the deaths of Jakelin Ameí Rosmery Caal Maquin and Felipe Gomez Alonzo while in Customs and Border Protection custody. Both died of a rapid infection. The 16-year-old, an unaccompanied minor, or a child who came here alone, was reportedly fine when examined by border officials but became sick after being sent to a converted Walmart that is now a children’s detention facility operated by so-called non-profit Southwest Key. That this child died in ORR custody, reporter Aura Bogado tweeted, “is new in all kinds of ways.”
This particular location, Casa Padre, is the same facility where nearly a year ago staffers notoriously called the cops on a sitting U.S. senator who wanted to tour the facility. “American citizens are funding this operation,” Sen. Jeff Merkley said at the time. “so every American citizen has a stake in how these children are being treated and how this policy is being enacted.” Southwest Key is estimated to have received anywhere from $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion in federal contracts over the past ten years.
Just last March, former Homeland Security Sec. Kirsten Nielsen told Congress that in the past fiscal year, "so far” three kids have died in U.S. custody. "So far?” an astounded Rep. Nanette Barragán shot back. “Madam secretary, are you expecting more children to die?" This is the national emergency. “I’m heartbroken to learn that yet another child has died in American custody,” Merkley said about the tragic death of the 16-year-old boy. “This should never have happened and there must be a full investigation into this young man’s death, along with immediate action to ensure other children don't suffer the same fate.”