The holidays are normally a time for family, charity, and kindness — but this Christmas Eve was a night of heartbreaking tragedy when eight-year old Felipe Alonzo-Gomez died in Custom and Border Patrol custody.
Felipe came from Guatemala with his father to seek asylum in the United States but had been detained at the Texas border and kept in a New Mexico holding center since December 19. On Christmas Eve morning, Felipe showed signs of respiratory distress and was taken for medical treatment where hospital staff diagnosed him with a common cold and returned him to Border Patrol custody. He died just hours later.
At the signs of his worsening symptoms, Felipe was taken back to the hospital but lost consciousness on the way. An autopsy later confirmed that Felipe had influenza — the flu — which can be highly treatable with proper medical care. But officials revealed there had been no emergency medical staff on duty at the Border Patrol Station.
This is unconscionable. Felipe and his father came to the United States to seek legal asylum. They sought refuge during the Christmas season, but were instead treated with extreme callousness and neglect.
Sadly, Felipe's father is not alone in his grief. Only days before, seven-year-old Jakelin Caal also died in Border Patrol custody from dehydration, exhaustion, and shock.
President Trump's cruel "zero-tolerance" immigration policy has criminalized those seeking a better life, forcing families apart and children into detention centers that often lack medical care and basic sanitation.
We have to demand better — for Felipe, Jakelin, and the thousands of other children who are still being kept in forced detention centers at the Southern Border.
Please sign the petition calling for Congress to immediately investigate Felipe's death and take action to ensure that no other family will suffer such an unimaginable loss.
Photo credit: CBS news
