Border Head: Aid Needed to Save Lives  06/20 06:23

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- When 16-year-old Carlos Hernandez Vasquez fell ill in a 
holding facility at the U.S.-Mexico border, he was diagnosed with the flu and 
given medication, then sent back to a cell to recuperate on a concrete bench.

   But Carlos didn't get better. The Guatemalan migrant died May 20 from flu 
complications --- a glaring sign that Border Patrol stations aren't set up to 
manage thousands of children.

   If they must, they need better medical care and a place for sick kids to 
convalesce, acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner John Sanders told 
The Associated Press. That's why Congress must pass the $4.6 billion in 
emergency funding, he said shortly before the request took a step forward in 
the Senate Wednesday.

   And if not, Sanders said, more kids may die.

   "What occurred, that was something that impacted me profoundly," Sanders 
told the AP.

   U.S. Border Patrol stations are no place for children. They are bare-bones 
holding facilities meant for swift processing. But because the entire system is 
overwhelmed, Border Patrol is routinely holding children for about five days or 
longer --- well beyond the 72-hour mandated window --- because the government 
agency that takes care of minors who cross the border is also overwhelmed. And 
children must be deemed "fit to travel" before they are transferred.

   When Carlos got sick, Border Patrol had about 2,500 kids in its custody, 
Sanders said. Overall, Border Patrol is holding about 15,000 people. Officials 
consider 4,000 to be at capacity.

   "The death of a child is always a terrible thing, but here is a situation 
where, because there is not enough funding ... they can't move the people out 
of our custody," Sanders said.

   The Trump administration is struggling to manage a growing number of 
children and families crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. More than 100,000 people 
are crossing per month. Immigration facilities are overwhelmed, as are the 
nonprofits that often take in migrants after they are released from government 
custody. The numbers have risen dramatically during President Donald Trump's 
time in office despite his hard-line immigration policies and border tough-talk.

   In addition to Carlos, four other children have died since late last year 
after being detained by the Border Patrol. Just last week, a 17-year-old girl 
who had an emergency cesarean section in Mexico was discovered at a border 
facility in Texas with her premature baby.

   Congress is nowhere near agreement on any major immigration law changes. As 
a stopgap, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved a modified 
version of the emergency funding request by a 30-1 vote. It's on its way to a 
floor vote next week.

   The bipartisan vote likely means that the Senate will take the lead in 
writing the legislation, which needs to pass into law before the House and 
Senate leave for vacation next week. A spokesman for the House Appropriations 
Committee chairwoman, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said the panel has drafted its 
version of the measure and expects a bipartisan vote early next week.

   The legislation contains $2.9 billion to care for unaccompanied migrant 
children --- more than 50,000 have been referred to government care since 
October --- and $1.3 billion to care for adults. There's also money to hire new 
judges to decide asylum claims.

   To win Democratic support, the panel's chairman, Sen. Richard Shelby, 
R-Ala., agreed to drop Trump's request for Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
detention beds, where adults and a small number of families are held, and 
agreed to a Democratic provision to block any of the money in the legislation 
from being diverted to building a border wall.

   In the meantime, to help manage the crush, Customs and Border Protection 
opened a second air-conditioned tent to hold up to 500 people in Donna, Texas, 
after the first facility of 500 near the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge 
quickly filled up. There is a large tent in El Paso. And construction is 
underway for a similar facility in Yuma, Arizona.

   The spaces offer bathrooms, recreation areas and sleeping quarters that are 
divided by gender and by families and children traveling alone. Detainees will 
sleep on mats.

   Across the border, Department of Homeland Security volunteers heat up meals 
for migrants. Government agencies are spending considerably more on 
perishables, travel and medical checks. A flu epidemic at the facility where 
Carlos died prompted a temporary shutdown while it was sanitized and cleaned. 
The supplemental funding will in part pay for those efforts, Sanders said.

   Sanders also envisions small infirmaries with beds where people can 
recuperate if they're sick, and mobile medical units that can get care faster 
to rural areas.

   Getting the emergency funding isn't a permanent fix, but it's is a necessary 
start, he said.

   "We need to be thinking not only about the care for the people in our 
custody," Sanders said. "I have a 60,000-person workforce that is strained, are 
getting sick. The people of CBP need assistance for them."


(KA)