Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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In less than an hour’s span this past Thursday, two heartbreaking stories emerged from the U.S.-Mexico border that revealed once again why Americans must vote for compassionate lawmakers who will solve this humanitarian crisis.
The first story came from ProPublica, which obtained video showing that a seriously ill 16-year-old boy died in the McAllen, Texas, detention facility this past May after being placed in a concrete holding cell and left unattended for hours against the express orders of the medical staff. The video revealed glaring inaccuracies in the official account of the teen’s death.
Forty minutes after that story was posted, The Washington Post reported that U.S. officials jailed about 2,100 pregnant women for immigration violations last year after quietly revoking an Obama administration order not to hold most expectant mothers due to health concerns. Citing a Government Accountability Office report, the Post reported that the number of pregnant women being held at border detention facilities was up 52% since Trump took office.
One day. One hour. Two more awful stories from this dark chapter of our nation’s history.
Taken by themselves, they would be enough for Americans to put a stop to the barbaric policies of President Donald Trump and his white supremacist adviser, Stephen Miller, along with the immigration extremists who support them. But sadly, of course, the Trump administration’s three years in power are permeated by tragic developments like these. Thousands upon thousands of immigrants have suffered amid family separations, overcrowded conditions, unsanitary facilities, inadequate food and water, and other forms of punishment instituted by Trump as part of his goal to deter immigrants from coming to the border.
Many have died, like the boy in Texas, Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez.
Carlos was diagnosed with the flu and was running a fever of 103 degrees when the nurse practitioner who examined him told officials to check on him in two hours and take him to an emergency room if his condition hadn’t improved.
But he was placed in a cell with another ill boy and, as the video shows, likely wasn’t checked at all. The teen spent 25 minutes writhing on the floor and a hard bench before staggering to the toilet and collapsing on the floor there. He spent 4 ½ hours in that position before his roommate awakened, found him there and summoned help.
By that time, Carlos was dead.
Customs and Border Protection claimed its staff had checked him several times and saw no need for concern, but that’s simply not a plausible explanation based on the video.
Medical experts told ProPublica the boy should never have been placed in the cell to begin with.
“Why is a teenaged boy in a jail facility at all if he is sick with a transmissible illness? Why isn’t he at a hospital or at a home or clinic where he can get a warm bed, fluids, supervised attention and medical care? He is not a criminal,” said Dr. Judy Melinek, a San Francisco-based forensic pathologist who reviewed records of Carlos’ death at the request of ProPublica. “No one should die this way: vomiting, with a fever and without the comfort of a caregiver.”
Similar questions apply to the policy of detaining expectant mothers for weeks or longer.
President Barack Obama ended the practice in late 2016, but Trump resurrected it. And now, according to the GAO, more pregnant women are being held for longer periods of time under his administration than any other. In addition, there are credible accusations that officials have expelled expectant mothers into high-crime cities in Mexico while they await their asylum hearings.
In various news reports, pregnant detainees have reported suffering miscarriages, being denied treatment and being abused at the hands of detention officials, including being physically injured by being shackled around the midsection.
The election is 11 months away. Tragically, more stories like these will come forth between now and then. Many more, in all likelihood.
Americans should remember all of them when they go to the polls.
We’re a better nation than this.
