The Christmas spirit: America failing basic humanity

Children in Border Patrol holding facilities "would vomit on their clothing" and had no soap to clean up.

One child "had diarrhea, had dry lips, he had a fever," but border agents declined to seek medical care and closed the cell door.

Children were told they could drink water from a sink, but "are not given any cups" nor soap to wash their hands.

Those allegations and many others, from families apprehended by Border Patrol agents, were included in a raft of legal filings in August 2018.

Four months later, two Guatemalan children being held by the Border Patrol in New Mexico got sick, began vomiting and soon died.

[...]

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced "a series of extraordinary protective measures," adding health screenings and more medical professionals for migrant children.

But concerns about migrant children becoming sick — and the lack of medical care for them in ill-equipped Border Patrol stations — were far from new.

  USA

No kids had died before.

Federal officials did not comment on the filings directly, but in an interview with The Arizona Republic, defended their handling of migrants and said border agents were not expected to be medical professionals.

[...]

"As pediatricians, we say these detention centers are bad," said Dr. Colleen Kraft, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is now consulting with Homeland Security on providing better pediatric care. "They're cold, the lights are on 24/7, there are open toilets, and as a child, if you're not sick you can get sick."

Only a medical professional would know those conditions were problematic.

On Dec. 26, Nielsen announced that she had sought assistance from the Centers for Disease Control, the Coast Guard Medical Corps and the Department of Defense to provide medical expertise. She said, "all children in Border Patrol custody have been given a thorough medical screening."

Well, that was obviously a lie.

Dr. Marsha Griffin is a professor of pediatrics with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley who has been visiting detention facilities for a decade. She has visited the 1,500-person capacity Ursula facility in McAllen but said that she hasn’t been granted a visit in the past 10 months.

"To my knowledge, there's nobody walking around in the pods to check on people," Griffin said about Ursula facility. "They do have guards, but to date, no one that I know of has been trained in pediatric care, which is a problem because children are not little adults. They can get very sick and die."

[...]

[Lydia Guzman, a Phoenix immigration activist] said complaints have been filed for years to DHS's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties about mistreatment and medical denial in CBP facilities.

"Because of those cold cells, people are being discharged and deported with pneumonia — we know of a gentleman who died," Guzman said. "This is something that's been going on. It hasn't started with this administration."

As long as we're saying "Merry Christmas" and not "Happy Holidays".

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.