The United States will take "extraordinary" protective measures to deal with a surge of immigrant children in custody, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Wednesday after a second Guatemalan child died in custody.
Photo: AFP A boy, part of the Central American migrants traveling to the United States, plays with a toy delivered by a NGO (Non-governmental organization) as part of the Christmas celebrations outside a temporary shelter downtown Tijuana, Baja California
Nielsen plans to travel later this week to the Mexico border region to witness medical screenings and conditions at Border Patrol stations, she said in a statement.
This as Congress and Donald Trump remain deadlocked over the president's demands for billions of dollars to fund a wall along the border.
"In response to the unprecedented surge of children into our custody, I have directed a series of extraordinary protective measures," she said in a statement after the "deeply concerning and heartbreaking" death of the child.
Nielsen has asked experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate "the uptick in sick children crossing our borders" and to identify what further steps border hospitals should take in preparation, her statement said.
Nielsen added that she has asked the US Coast Guard medical corps to assess and "make appropriate recommendations" about Border Patrol medical programs, and has sought additional medical professionals from the Department of Defense.
US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan warned Wednesday that the agency was unable to cope with the thousands of arrivals, as most facilities were built decades ago for men arriving alone.
"We need help from Congress. We need to budget for medical care and mental health care for children in our facilities," he told CBS News.
Eight-year-old Felipe Gomez, who collapsed after running a fever, was among almost 25,000 migrant children in US custody, according to McAleenan - the greatest number ever recorded.
"That's an enormous flow. That's very different from what we've seen before," he said, adding that the onset of the flu season was putting further pressure on health care services.
In the last two months, the Border Patrol has apprehended 139,817 illegal aliens on the southwest border, compared with 74,946 during the same period a year earlier, Nielsen said.
More than 68,500 were "family units" while almost 14,000 others were unaccompanied children, she said, and the system has been pushed to "breaking point."
DHS officials said all children in border patrol custody would be given a thorough medical screening, reaffirming McAleenan's commitment to "secondary medical checks" with a focus on those under 10.
