Congress must provide funding to secure more resources for medical care of migrants, especially migrant children, who are in custody, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said in an interview on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th December, 2018) Congress must provide funding to secure more resources for medical care of migrants, especially migrant children, who are in custody, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said in an interview on Wednesday.Two migrant children, a seven-year-old girl and eight-year-old boy, have died in December after becoming ill while in CBP custody.
"We need a different approach, we need help from Congress," McAleenan told the CBS broadcaster. "We need to budget for medical care and mental health care, for children in our facilities."
McAleenan said CBP's facilities are not built for holding the large flows of migrants, especially children, crossing the US border.
It is rare for children to die while in their custody and underscored there have been no other children's deaths, McAleenan added.
On December 8, a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl died two days after she was apprehended together with her father for illegally entering the United States. The girl reportedly died from a blood infection.
The US authorities said the girl had not eaten food and drank water for several days, and her family's attorneys said she did have enough water and food prior to crossing the US border.
The 8-year-old boy was initially diagnosed by hospital staff with a common cold and released, however, was transferred back to the hospital the same day due to nausea and vomiting and passed away within a few hours.
