Predictable, Tragic
"This family chose to cross illegally."
"We'll continue to look into the situation, but, again, I cannot stress enough how dangerous this journey [is] when migrant choose to come here illegally."
"They were about 90 miles away from where we could process them. They came in such a large crowd, it took our border patrol folks a couple times to get them all. We gave immediate care, we'll continue to look into the situation, but again I cannot stress how dangerous this journey is when migrants choose to come here illegally."
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen
"Our agents are almost always outnumbered in the middle of the night."
"There is no indication that it was a lack of attention that resulted in this. The questions were asked. The observations were made and there was no indication that she had any health conditions."
Border Patron official
"Border Patrol Agents, including trained Emergency Medical Technicians did everything in their power to provide emergency medical assistance for Jakelin Caal Maquin immediately after her father notified the agents of her distress.""The agents involved are deeply affected and empathize with the father over the loss of his daughter... We cannot stress enough the dangers posed by traveling long distances, in crowded transportation, or in the natural elements through remote desert areas without food, water and other supplies."CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan
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| Guatemalan child, 7, entered illegally along with her father in company of a large group crossing into New Mexico. Washington Post |
Increasing numbers of children and families continue to forge ahead trekking north from Central America toward the United States planning to cross illegally into a country that has no need for their presence to add to the millions of illegals already living there. The dangerous trip that lies ahead of the migrants when they set out appears not to immoderately faze them, fully expecting that when they arrive at the border it will be open and welcoming; they choose to believe this fantasy fed to them by conspirators inciting them to make the trip, the reward of inclusion in a wealthy country theirs to be had.
None of them appear aware or even interested in knowing the truth, that every country has its poverty stricken, its ghettos, its violent crime, its drug-possessed and its gangs, or that it is the internationally-recognized right of every sovereign state to close its borders to all but those whom they invite entry to; those who have made formal application to immigrate and whose profiles fit the receiving country's image of those who will make good citizens for the future.
It was inevitable that eventually a child would come to harm resulting from the physical privations suffered by those pilgrims to destiny; not the finalization of their trip and its imagined rewards, but the disappointment and long journey to return whence they came. Many have died in the process. The natural causes of thirst and hunger, lack of shelter and isolation wreaking havoc, much less deliberate attacks and suspected killings have taken their toll.
Now, it is the life of a 7-year-old child whose father's decision to risk his life and that of his dependent that has been forfeited. If fault is to be apportioned, it is there.
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| Jakelin Caal Maquin, 7, in a family photo, shortly before her journey north from Guatemala |
Border Patrol agents completed a form indicating no signs obvious to them of illness in the little girl who stood before them. Her father attested to her physical well-being himself. She was not visibly sweating, suffered no tremors, nor was visible trauma detected. The mentally alert child warranted the notation: "claims good health" which the girl's father signed. Hours afterward travelling on a bus to an official immigration centre, she began to vomit.
On arrival at a Border Patrol station she was no longer breathing -- but emergency medical personnel managed to revive the child and to have her flown to an El Paso, Texas hospital. There she was diagnosed with swelling in her brain, and with liver failure. Too late to save her, according to medical authorities there. And there is where she died, with an autopsy scheduled to take place to determine cause of death.
Guatemala's foreign ministry identified the child as Jackeline Caal, her father as 29-year-old Nery Caal. Driven to El Paso, the father, not held in custody, was at the hospital when his little girl died. They had been with a group of 153 people in remote New Mexico, about 145 kilometres from the closest Border Patrol station.
Labels: Child Death, Guatemala, Mexico, Migrants, United States
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, December 15, 2018
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