The top U.S. official in charge of patrolling the border said he did not reveal the death of a seven-year-old migrant girl during his testimony last week to Congress so as not to ‘risk politicizing the death of a child.’
Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee this past Tuesday, according to ABC News.
His testimony came three days after the death of Jakelin Caal Maquin, the Guatemalan girl who died in CBP custody after she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with her father.
Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee this past Tuesday
His testimony came three days after the death of Jakelin Caal Maquin, the Guatemalan girl who died in CBP custody after she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with her father
A photograph was released on Friday of Jakelin, who died hours after she was arrested with her father at the border.
The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol is refusing to take responsibility for her death.
The child died of dehydration two days after being arrested at the border.
She stopped breathing on a US government bus and was not taken to hospital for more than an hour later.
Jakeline Caal Maquin died on December 8th a day after being detained on the border with her father. Her death has sparked humanitarian concerns about the U.S.'s treatment of illegal migrants in their custody. Above is an illustration of her final hours
The child was airlifted from the Lordsburg Border Patrol Station in New Mexico (shown) at 7.45am on December 7 but she had stopped breathing more than an hour earlier while being transported on a bus from the Antelope Wells Port of Entry where agents say she was checked over, showed no signs of illness and had access to food and water
Five days after she died of cardiac arrest, news of her death became public, sparking outrage among immigration advocates.
McAleenan told a lawmaker that CBP was ‘in the process of solidifying a privacy waiver’ when he testified on the Hill.
He also said he ‘did not have confirmation that the mother had been notified in Guatemala.’
‘[M]ost importantly, I did not want to risk politicizing the death of a child while I was imploring Senators to fix the laws that are inviting families to take this dangerous path,’ McAleenan wrote to Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder.
McAleen said Jakelin’s death was a ‘tragedy,’ though he defended his agency.
‘All of the available information indicates that our Border Patrol Agents did everything in the power to rescue this little girl, and fought for her life, alongside professional first responders from Hidalgo County, New Mexico,’ he wrote in a December 14 letter.
‘While reasonable concerns on the timelines of notification have been raised, and will be addressed, I am proud of our agents in the field, their efforts to rescue this little girl, and the professionalism and dedication with which they carry out their mission every day.’
Tekandi Paniagua, a Guatemalan diplomat based in the United States, told ABC News that Jakelin’s father, Nery Gilbert Caal Cruz, expressed gratitude to the border patrol officers and doctors who tried to save Jakelin’s life.
‘When I spoke to the father he actually said he was very grateful for the effort of both the Border Patrol agents that assisted his daughter at the station as well as the medical staff at the hospital,’ Paniagua said.
Caal Cruz’s lawyers issued a statement to the press on Saturday in which the father said he was ‘grateful for the many first responders that tried to save young Jakelin’s life in New Mexico and Texas.’
The lawyers demanded an investigation which ‘will assess this incident within nationally recognized standards for the arrest and custody of children.
‘The family intends to assist in such an investigation into the cause and circumstances of Jakelin's death,’ according to the statement.
The lawyers criticized U.S. authorities for making Caal Cruz fill out a form in English even though he has no understanding of the language.
His mother tongue is Q’eqchi, a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala. Spanish is his second language.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen blamed the girl's family for her death.
'This family chose to cross illegally. What happened here was that they were about 90 miles away from where we could process them,' said Nielsen.
'It's heart-wrenching, is what it is. And my heart goes out to the family. All of DHS. You know this is just a very sad example of the dangers of this journey.
A group of migrants are arrested at the border in Tijuana on December 2 by US Border Patrol Agents.
'We'll continue to look into the situation, but again, I cannot stress enough how dangerous this journey when migrants choose to come here illegally,' she said.
Maquin's death is one of more than 280 migrant deaths recorded by border officials in 2018 according to ABC News.
50 deaths this year were marked as 'water-related' - presumably people having drowned trying to cross sections of the border marked by rivers.
27 deaths were skeletal remains which were discovered by American authorities.
Heat exhaustion was the largest cause in the 281 deaths which were logged until September 30.
A further 32 people have died since that time with four, so far, in December.
One-hundred seventeen migrants were from Mexico; 116 people were 'unknown'; 19 people came from Guatemala; 14 from Honduras; and eight from El Salvador.
The figures paint a grim picture for the caravans of migrants making their way to the U.S. border.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/12/17/border-patrol-head-didnt-tell-congress-7-year-old-guatemalan-migrant-girl-died-in-u-s-custody/
Main photo article The top U.S. official in charge of patrolling the border said he did not reveal the death of a seven-year-old migrant girl during his testimony last week to Congress so as not to ‘risk politicizing the death of a child.’
Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Pro...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/12/17/05/7510768-6502749-Kevin_McAleenan_the_commissioner_of_the_U_S_Customs_and_Border_P-m-21_1545023780030.jpg
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