Lawmakers Can’t Speak to Border Agents Who Detained 7-Year-Old Jakelin Caal Maquin

Members of Congress have asked to speak to the Border Patrol agents who detained a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl who later died at the hospital. The answer came back Monday: No. The Department of Homeland Security said members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus can tour the Lordsburg Border Patrol Station in New Mexico and speak with agency officials, but the agents who had direct contact with the girl and her father are off-limits. “While DHS respects the oversight role of Congress, it is important to allow the review process occur unimpeded by politics,” DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman said in a statement, according to USA Today. “It is important to preserve the legitimacy of a fair and impartial process out of respect to the agents’ lifesaving mission and the family of the deceased.” The agents, she said, will speak to the DHS inspector general, who is conducting an investigation into Jakelin Caal Maquin’s Dec. 6 death. The official cause of her death has not yet been determined, although the hospital said it suspected sepsis shock.