{"id":658431,"date":"2018-12-17T08:06:06","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T15:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=658431"},"modified":"2018-12-17T08:06:06","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T15:06:06","slug":"family-of-guatemalan-girl-who-died-in-federal-custody-calls-for-objective-and-thorough-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/12\/family-of-guatemalan-girl-who-died-in-federal-custody-calls-for-objective-and-thorough-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of Guatemalan girl who died in federal custody calls for &#8216;objective and thorough investigation&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_658436\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-658436\" src=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Casa_Anunciacion_JA_TT-771x517.jpg\" alt=\"Ruben Garcia\" width=\"771\" height=\"517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Casa_Anunciacion_JA_TT-771x517.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Casa_Anunciacion_JA_TT-336x225.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Casa_Anunciacion_JA_TT-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Casa_Anunciacion_JA_TT.jpg 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Juli\u00e1n Aguilar \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ruben Garcia, the director of El Paso&#8217;s Annunciation House, speaks to reporters on Saturday about Jakelin Caal Maquin, a 7-year old Guatemalan girl who died while in federal custody earlier this month.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>EL PASO, Texas \u2013 The family of a 7-year old Guatemalan girl who died after being taken into the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol asked Saturday for the public to cease speculating on what caused the death until an investigation into the tragedy is complete, but also disputed reports that she had gone for days without food or water before entering federal custody.<\/p>\n<p>The child, Jakelin Caal Maquin, and her father, Nery Gilberto Caal Cuz, were apprehended with a large group of undocumented immigrants near Antelope Wells, New Mexico, on December 6 shortly after 9 p.m. About eight hours later, Caal Cuz told agents his daughter was vomiting while the pair was on a Border Patrol transit bus. Agents alerted the station to prepare to administer care but her conditioned worsened and her temperature eventually reached about 105 degrees. She was flown to a hospital in El Paso where she died at about 12:30 a.m. on December 8, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbp.gov\/newsroom\/speeches-and-statements\/statement-us-customs-and-border-protection-death-seven-year-old\">statement<\/a> from Customs and Border Protection.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/12\/15\/Jakelin-Caal-7-year-old-guatemalan-girl-family-speaks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Caal Maquin\u2019s body has left El Paso and will be taken to Laredo, where Guatemalan consular officials will assist in transporting her back to that country, Ruben Garcia, the director of El Paso\u2019s Annunciation House, told reporters Saturday afternoon. The shelter received Caal Cuz after his daughter died. He is still in El Paso and has retained a team of lawyers who will help ensure a thorough investigation into the incident is conducted, his lawyers said. The father did not make himself available to reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe family is seeking an objective and thorough investigation and are asking that investigators will assess this incident within nationally recognized standards for the arrest and custody of children,\u201d attorneys Enrique Moreno, Elena Esparza, Lynn Coyle and Christopher Benoit said in a statement. \u201cThe family intends to to assist in such an investigation into the cause and circumstances of Jakelin\u2019s death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Caal Maquin\u2019s death has become a lightning rod in the debate over the Trump administration&#8217;s immigration policies, with immigrant rights groups pointing to the tragedy as a byproduct of the president\u2019s crackdown on asylum seekers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis child\u2019s death was the inevitable result of this administration\u2019s cruel and inhumane border enforcement policies. When you turn away people who are legally seeking asylum at official ports of entry, they attempt to make contact with U.S. officials in remote and dangerous areas, and people die,\u201d the ACLU of New Mexico said after Caal Maquin\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration has called the situation \u201ctragic\u201d but also said the problem of illegal immigration stems from this country\u2019s policies that lure immigrants north. The president has repeatedly called on Congress to address these so-called loopholes and said it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/white-house-says-administration-takes-no-responsibility-for-death-of-girl-in-border-control-custody\/2018\/12\/14\/1f00d34e-ffbb-11e8-83c0-b06139e540e5_story.html?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.b34c6d8e6d67\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">not to blame<\/a> for what happened to the child.<\/p>\n<p>In the CBP statement, agency commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan also lamented the loss of life and said the attending agents that were on the scene are \u201cdeeply affected and empathize with the father.\u201d But he also said the kinds of treks that many migrants are undergoing to reach the United States makes them susceptible to such a tragedy.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cannot stress enough the dangers posed by traveling long distances, in crowded transportation, or in the natural elements through remote desert areas without food, water and other supplies,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one should risk injury, or even death, by crossing our border unlawfully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Caal Cuz\u2019s legal team is pushing back against claims that his daughter wasn\u2019t taken care of during the journey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrior to going into CBP custody and contrary to the report that Jakelin had \u2018not eaten or had any water for several days\u2019, Jakelin had not been crossing the desert for days,\u201d the statement says. \u201cJakelin\u2019s father took care of Jakelin \u2013 made sure she was fed and had sufficient water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The attorneys are also questioning why certain CBP forms that immigrants are made to sign, including some that Caal Cuz ultimately signed, are only available in English. The family doesn\u2019t know English. Spanish is their second language while Q\u2019eqchi, an indigenous language used in Central America, is their primary language.<\/p>\n<p>The attorneys also noted that neither the El Paso County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office nor the staff at El Paso\u2019s Providence Children\u2019s Hospital have released any reports on the cause of death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPremature and inaccurate statements undermine the integrity of the investigation,\u201d the statement continues.<\/p>\n<p>Garcia, the director of Annunciation House, declined to comment on what drove the family to seek asylum in the United States or what Caal Cuz will do after the investigation is complete. But he did push back on criticism of the asylum seekers for choosing to make the dangerous journey to the United States in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir lives are beyond impossible. None of us in the United States can imagine,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is very difficult for me to hear someone say \u2018How could someone bring their child up\u2019 without first saying \u2018What is their reality,\u2019\u201d he said.<script src=\"https:\/\/dot.texastribune.org\/static\/dist\/dot.min.55eef7d282ec435600d1.js\" integrity=\"sha384-kWHbWWrJHsBy04\/FLYpSF8whX7iznTaWu7KCwxjA7qmPD3La29VFha61MJDfKQ+e\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" data-tt-canonical=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/12\/15\/Jakelin-Caal-7-year-old-guatemalan-girl-family-speaks\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Premature and inaccurate statements undermine the integrity of the investigation,&#8217; attorneys for the family of Jakelin Caal Maquin said Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":658436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,234],"class_list":["post-658431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-children"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658431"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":658440,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658431\/revisions\/658440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}