The death of a seven-year-old girl from Guatemala on the American-Mexican border served as a pretext for a new wave of criticism of Donald Trump’s migration policy. The death of the child became known on December 14th.
A girl named Hakelin Amei Rosmeri Kaal Makin was detained along with her father by employees of the US Customs and Border Protection Bureau on December 6 as part of a 163-person migrant group that crossed the US border in New Mexico.
According to a statement by the Department of Homeland Security, before the group of detainees left the Antelope Wells checkpoint, the girl’s father told the border guards that her child was sick. By the time they arrived at the border station, the child was no longer breathing.
Together with other refugees, the girl was taken to the border station, located an hour and a half away from Antelope Wells, but by the time she arrived at the station, the child was no longer breathing. The ambulance staff managed to bring her back to life twice using emergency resuscitation measures, after which the girl was taken by plane to a hospital in El Paso, Texas. There she died from cardiac arrest.
- © Screenshot from Youtube Video
According to The Washington Post, the child did not receive food and water for several days, the deceased was severely dehydrated. Representatives of the authorities claim that migrants had access to drinking water at the Antelope Wells.
The official representative of the US Customs and Border Protection Service offered condolences to the family of the deceased.
“We express our most sincere condolences to the child’s family. The border guards did everything possible to save the life of a child under the most difficult circumstances, ”the Andrew Post quoted the Washington Post as saying.
Earlier, a humanitarian crisis on the US-Mexican border was reported by the authorities of the Mexican border town of Tijuana. The mayor requested international assistance for thousands of immigrants who arrived at the US border from the poorest countries of Central America, such as Guatemala and El Salvador.
Human rights defenders from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) blamed the death of a child on the border guards, accusing them of cruelty and irresponsibility. According to them, the fact that the public learned about the tragedy only a week after the death of the child, says the lack of transparency in the work of the department.
"We call for a thorough investigation of how this tragedy occurred, and for serious reforms to prevent future deaths," the ACLU said.
Commenting on the tragic death of the girl, NBC TV channel recalled the humanitarian group No More Deaths told about how the border guards deliberately destroy water tanks left by the organization’s volunteers in the desert. The corresponding video was published on the Internet.
“No one knows how to solve a problem”
Even during his election campaign, Donald Trump paid great attention to the topic of illegal migration, promising voters to start a fight against this phenomenon in the event of his victory. According to the politician, one of the measures capable of stopping the influx of immigrants from the countries of Central America should be the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico.
The total cost of the work may amount to about $ 70 billion. For the time being, $ 1.6 billion has been allocated from the American budget for these needs.
- Reuters
- © Hannah McKay
In addition, as part of an anti-migration campaign, Donald Trump decided to close the program to protect underage immigrants from being deported (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), adopted in 2012 by the Barack Obama administration. Under the terms of the program, foreigners who came to the United States as children avoided expulsion from the country. The action of DACA covers approximately 800 thousand foreigners.
The decision of the American president to close the program ran into judicial opposition - in November 2018, the appeals court of the 9th district in San Francisco ruled that the Trump administration was obliged to continue the program. Earlier, White House attempts to curtail DACA provoked street protests in which tens of thousands of people were received.
Even greater public outcry was caused by the practice of separating young children of refugees from their parents at the border. Adults in this case are sent to custody, and children are sent to special centers. Cases of family separation have become more frequent since in April of this year, the US authorities proclaimed a policy of "zero tolerance" for illegal migration.
According to the Associated Press, in the period from April 19 to May 31, 1995 children were separated from their parents, including those who were not even four years old. Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called this practice a serious violation of the rights of the child.
In June, the Federal Court of the Southern District of the US state of California in San Diego delivered a verdict in which it recognized the actions of the authorities on the separation of families as illegal and decided to reunite already separated relatives.
At the same time, the White House endowed the military, who had previously been transferred to the Mexican border, with the right “if necessary” to use weapons against migrants. At the same time, Secretary of Defense James Mattis explained to journalists that this is only about the protection of representatives of the customs service in the event of an attack on them by migrants.
According to experts, the split in American society is now so deep that in the near future the authorities are unlikely to be able to solve the problem of illegal migration. As explained in an interview with RT by the director of the Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the Moscow State University, Yuri Rogulev, there are approximately 12 million unregistered people in the country according to approximate estimates.
“No one knows how to solve this problem. Attempts to resolve this difficult issue were made by the previous US administration, but without success, the expert recalled. - Trump took a tough position on this big and painful issue. But since now the society in the USA is split, there is also no common approach to the issue of migration in the country. Many believe that Trump is really overpowered with anti-migrant rhetoric, some even accused him of racism. ”
- US President Donald Trump
- Reuters
According to the political scientist, Americanist Alexander Asafov, the political split in American society is only increasing, and the head of the White House appeals exclusively to his electorate, which welcomes even the most inhumane statements by Trump, which even more annoys opponents.
Meanwhile, as Asafov explained in an interview with RT, the situation on the border with Mexico is constantly deteriorating, and this could face new deaths.
“All of Trump’s anti-migrant initiatives, including building the wall and endowing the military with the right to shoot at migrants, are enthusiastically perceived by his audience, it requires more cruelty. Therefore, Trump will not soften his rhetoric because of the death of seven-year-old Hakelin, on the contrary, he will most likely blame the tragedy of the migrants themselves, who have embarked on a dangerous journey with a child. In general, the situation is very difficult, ”the expert stressed.
"Hiding their heads in the sand"
Now the presidential administration has to make excuses for the tragic death of migrants from Guatemala. When asked by journalists about whether the White House is responsible for what happened, spokesman Hogan Gidley said no: the administration is confident that this death was “absolutely preventable.” At the same time, the White House is counting on working together with Democrats to prevent such incidents.
“If we could only unite and adopt some rational laws that would become an incentive not to violate the border, but to cross it as it should be, in accordance with the law, this would put an end to all those deaths, attacks, rape, smuggling of children and illegal transportation of people. And we hope that the Democrats will support the president, ”the White House representative said.
In November 2018, a similar high-profile event had already occurred in the USA. 20-year-old Yasmin Juarez filed a lawsuit against the US government in the amount of $ 60 million. A Guatemalan citizen accused the customs police of the death of her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
The child, along with his mother, was detained in March while trying to illegally cross the US border and were placed in a temporary detention center for migrants. According to the woman and her lawyer, while in the center, the girl started having problems with the respiratory system, but the center staff did not take care to cure her and released her when she was still sick. As a result, the child died.
Lawyer Juárez insists that the US government should have taken a more responsible attitude towards ensuring safe conditions in the migrant housing centers, deciding to place young children in them.
The border service partly recognize the validity of these charges. As Customs Commissioner Kevin McAlinan said earlier in the congress, the US border stations are not adapted to contain children.
“Our infrastructure is incompatible with this reality. Our border patrol stations and entry points were built in such a way that single adult men were detained on their territory. Not families or children, ”he stressed.
Members of the Democratic House of Representatives have already sent a request in which they called for an investigation to be launched under the leadership of Acting Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, General John Kelly.
- Congressman Gerrold Nadler
- Reuters
- © Joshua Roberts
“Based on the seriousness of this tragic incident and the many remaining issues, we ask you to start an investigation, which will be the subject of the incident itself, as well as the rules and methods of work of the Customs and Border Control Bureau, which could have caused this child’s death,” the Democrats said signed by Jerrold Neadler (New York), Zoe Lofgren (California), Joaquin Castro (Texas), Pramila Jayapal (Washington) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (California).
“As part of the investigation, it is also necessary to assess the adequacy of such measures as keeping children at border guard points that are not intended for this,” quotes an excerpt from NBC News.
According to Yuri Rogulyov, although this tragedy will now serve as a pretext for a new wave of criticism of Trump, opponents of the president are hardly really concerned about the fate of the children of migrants suffering at the border.
“Democrats are more interested in how to drown Trump. At the same time, they do not want to discuss any real measures on migration in the congress, since this is too acute a topic. In fact, they simply hide their heads in the sand, which the White House is now hinting at, addressing Democrats in Congress, ”the expert explained.
According to Asafov, it’s really impossible to exclude any kind of excesses on the part of the border guards, but rather it could be a mistake of the performers, and not a decision of the department’s leadership. At the same time, the expert stressed that the border guards should be aware of the fact that he is dealing with children who require special attention.
“Undoubtedly, a wave of accusations against the Trump administration, whose position on migration is known, is rising. I would like to believe that this will lead to an improvement in the situation with humanitarian support for migrants, because despite any political considerations, the issues of medical and humanitarian assistance should be a priority. It is monstrous when children die - on the approaches to Europe, on the US border, ”concluded the expert.