Yet Another Immigrant Child Has Died in US Custody

A sixteen-year old boy from Guatemala named Carlos Gregorio Hernandez has become the latest casualty in President Donald Trump’s war on immigrants. Hernandez died this past Monday after apparently succumbing to the flu. He had been in Border Patrol detention for a week.

There have been at least half a dozen cases since last December of immigrant children dying in US custody, the latest phenomenon after last summer’s debacle of thousands of children ripped away from their parents.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan faced the ire of lawmakers during a panel hearing on Wednesday over the children’s deaths. Congresswoman Nanette Barragán who has traveled to the US-Mexico border and witnessed Trump’s immigration policies first hand called McAleenan’s record “despicable.”

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Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces De La Frontera.