A teenage migrant baby died at a government-operated care facility in Florida earlier this week, marking a tragic episode in a mounting migrant disaster beneath President Joe Biden’s administration.
In a press release Friday, the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers confirmed the information a toddler had died at an Workplace of Refugee Resettlement facility in Florida earlier within the week, providing little element about how the dying occurred and even the age and prior situation of the kid’s well being.
“The U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers is deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our hearts exit to the household, with whom we’re in contact,” the HHS assertion learn. “As is customary observe for any scenario involving the dying of an unaccompanied baby or a severe well being earnings, HHS’ Division of Well being for Unaccompanied Youngsters is reviewing all scientific particulars of this case, together with all inpatient well being care information. A health worker investigation is underway.”
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“Attributable to privateness and security causes, ORR can’t share additional info on particular person instances of kids who’ve been in our care,” the assertion added.
The assertion was first reported by Aura Bogado, a senior reporter on the Middle for Investigative Reporting, who broke the information early Friday.
In keeping with the Tampa Bay Occasions, the 17-year-old Honduran nationwide reportedly died after being transferred to an space hospital from a shelter operated by the Gulf Coast Jewish Household and Group Providers nonprofit in Security Harbor, a small metropolis off the western shore of Tampa Bay.
Friday’s information marks a tragic twist amid a mounting migrant disaster after the Thursday evening expiration of Title 42, a Trump-era coverage that allowed the denial of migrants searching for asylum in the USA beneath the pretext of the COVID-19 public well being emergency.
Biden has already confronted criticism from some inside his personal get together concerning the strict insurance policies in place, whereas assaults from Republicans on the alleged leniencies of his insurance policies have additionally been relentless.
Whereas the dying of a kid in a U.S. ORR facility is exceedingly uncommon (Wednesday’s incident marked simply the second recognized dying of a kid in an ORR shelter. The primary-ever baby dying in such a facility got here through the Trump administration when a 10-year-old woman died in an ORR shelter), deaths of migrants total have spiked.
Over an eight-month span in 2018 and 2019, an estimated six kids died in U.S. custody or shortly after being launched, drawing scorn from figures like Biden, who noticed it as a failure of the Trump administration’s therapy of undocumented migrants and, notably, their administration’s controversial household separation insurance policies. Previous to that interval, no migrant kids had died in U.S. custody since 2010.
“During the last 12 months, six kids have tragically died in US custody on the border,” Biden tweeted in 2019. “It is unacceptable. It is not who we’re. And silence is complicity. It is on all of us to face up and communicate out. America is a nation of immigrants. We should assure everybody’s handled with dignity.”
During the last 12 months, six kids have tragically died in US custody on the border. It’s unacceptable. It’s not who we’re. And silence is complicity. It’s on all of us to face up and communicate out. America is a nation of immigrants. We should assure everybody’s handled with dignity.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 23, 2019
In keeping with the latest obtainable knowledge, 55 folks total died on account of enforcement actions whereas within the custody of Customs and Border Patrol in 2021, together with 9 who died by “use of drive.” Total, greater than 800 migrants died within the means of crossing the border, the deadliest 12 months on report, primarily from drowning.
Newsweek has reached out to the Division of Well being and Human Providers by way of electronic mail for extra remark.