It’s becoming devastatingly clear that Trump’s extreme treatment of refugees seeking asylum at our southern border is getting more and more out of hand.
We’ve got children being needlessly torn from the arms of their parents upon entry to the country and put in separate detainment areas, and most recently we’ve seen horrific images of migrants being hit with tear gas — most of them innocent families with women and small children.
Worse, there are at least 1,500 children missing and unaccounted for dating back to only this past summer because of negligence on the part of Trump’s crackdown on what he insists are terrorists trying to cross the border.
And the worst news we would ever expect to hear — the needless death of a child — has reached us today, as reportedly a 7-year-old child who had not eaten or consumed water for several days died an extremely terrifying and painful death from dehydration while in Border Patrol custody.
The Washington Post reports:
‘A 7-year-old girl from Guatemala died of dehydration and shock after she was taken into Border Patrol custody last week for crossing from Mexico into the United States illegally with her father and a large group of migrants along a remote span of New Mexico desert, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Thursday.
‘The child’s death is likely to intensify scrutiny of detention conditions at Border Patrol stations and CBP facilities that are increasingly overwhelmed by large numbers of families seeking asylum in the United States.
‘According to CBP records, the girl and her father were taken into custody about 10 p.m. Dec. 6 south of Lordsburg, N.M., as part of a group of 163 people who approached U.S. agents to turn themselves in.’
After being separated from her father, and after about 8 hours of being held in detention, the child started having seizures. When medical staff was finally on the scene, they measured her body temperature at almost 106 degrees.
The child was immediately given IV fluids and placed on a helicopter to a nearby hospital in El Paso, where she went into sudden cardiac arrest. The child was revived, but later died less than 24 hours later.
According to CBP, water and food are supposed to be given to people as they cross the border, but obviously, this girl either didn’t receive anything or wasn’t properly supervised or given assistance with eating and drinking.
An autopsy of the child is expected in a few days.
Our border control stations were built several decades ago. None of which were built to accommodate women and children, or large family groups. As Trump continues his attacks on his so-called “caravan” of people seeking asylum, this needless death of an innocent small child is not surprising and sadly, it likely won’t be the last.
Featured image via Flickr
