Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
5th Migrant Child To Die In U.S. Custody Was Held At Border Detention Facility Twice As Long As Law Permits
A 16-year-old Guatemala migrant who died Monday in U.S. custody had been held by immigration authorities for six days — twice as long as federal law generally permits — then transferred him to another holding facility even after he was diagnosed with the flu. The teenager, identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, was the fifth minor from Guatemala to die after being apprehended by U.S. border agents since December. (Merchant, 5/20)
The CBP official said Monday that Carlos was diagnosed with the flu on Sunday and prescribed Tamiflu before being transferred from a processing center in McAllen to the station in nearby Weslaco on Sunday. The official said Carlos was set to be transferred to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement shelter in Brownsville. Under federal law, unaccompanied immigrant children can generally be held in Border Patrol facilities for up to 72 hours. The official said the agency relies on Health and Human Services to determine when and where unaccompanied immigrant children are transferred. (Caldwell, 5/20)
A collection of law enforcement agencies will investigate Hernandez Vasquez' death, looking into medical records while he's in custody and interviewing any other minors who may have been with him in the holding cell, CBP said. The FBI is among the agencies, the CBP official said. Hernandez Vasquez is the the fifth minor to die in the United States after being apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border. All five minors have been from Guatemala. (Carranza, 5/20)
Texas’ Rio Grande Valley is in the midst of an ongoing surge of unauthorized migration, mainly of people escaping violence and poverty in Central America. Last week, the U.S. Border Patrol announced it was constructing four additional temporary tents in the Valley to house some of the thousands of migrants who continue to cross into the country from Mexico. That’s in addition to a 500-person facility recently completed in Donna.(Aguilar, 5/20)
