Callaghan O'Hare/Texas
An 18-month-old child died after becoming sick while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Vice News reports. Yazmin Juárez said her daughter, Mariee, was healthy before she was detained in early March, but developed a cough, congestion, and a fever of over 104 degrees at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. Juárez eventually passed a credible fear interview that showed she was seeking asylum from violence in her native Guatemala, and was released from detention with her daughter. Six weeks later, Mariee died. Juárez intends to take legal action against ICE, and her lawyers said the facility “failed inexcusably” to care for Juárez and her daughter. “ICE detained Yazmin and her baby in a place with unsafe conditions, neglectful medical care, and inadequate supervision,” said attorney R. Stanton Jones. “While there, Mariee contracted a respiratory infection that went woefully undertreated for nearly a month. After it became clear that Mariee was gravely ill, ICE simply discharged mother and daughter. Yazmin immediately sought medical care for her baby, but it was too late.”
Doctors contracted by the Department of Homeland Security investigated the facility in July and found several problems. They called family detention “an exploitation and an assault on the dignity and health of children and families.” ICE declined to comment on Mariee’s case, but told Vice the agency is “committed to ensuring the welfare of all those in the agency’s custody, including providing access to necessary and appropriate medical care.”