HARROWING

Mother Tells How Her 21-Month Old Baby Died After ICE Detention

Girl died six weeks after contracting 104F fever at Texas facility.

A 21-month old toddler was one of seven children to die in the past year while being held, or shortly after being released, from government border detention facilities. Yazmin Juárez, speaking at a House committee investigating the treatment of migrant children at border stations, said she and her daughter Mariee were being held at a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, in 2018 when Mariee developed a 104F fever with a cough, congestion, diarrhea and vomiting. The symptoms were not mentioned by medical staff on discharge forms, according to a $60m wrongful death lawsuit, and worsened over time. The girl succumbed to a collapsed lung from a respiratory infection last May, six weeks after being released from the detention facility. Juárez was embraced by congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after delivering her testimony. “It is painful for me to relive this experience, and remember that suffering,” Juárez said, “But I am here because the world should know what is happening to so many children inside of ICE detention.”