Let me say right off that I don’t have the answer. It’s just obvious that we have to do more than shout or wring our hands about the desperate people illegally trying to cross the border into the U.S., and especially the children who are caught up in a dangerous life and death tug of war. The recent death of a young Guatemalan girl has brought renewed attention to our failure to face the problem.
Seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin died on Dec. 8 while held in Border Patrol Custody. Little Jakelin traveled with her father from Guatemala on the long trek to Texas. He father insists she was in good health and had enough food and water until the Border Patrol agents detained and processed them. She was in their custody for 11 hours when she got sick, vomiting, then spiking a 105.7-degree fever, and later dying at an El Paso children’s hospital. Border Patrol agents, however, blame her father, saying water and food were available and he didn’t alert them when she first got ill. Miscommunication between the father and the Patrol agents also added to the confusion. The father spoke no English and very little Spanish and the forms he had to sign were all in English. Jakelin’s death may be shocking, but migrant children — particularly those unaccompanied — have suffered a long history of abuse by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to a May report by the ACLU. The advocacy group said its review of 30,000 documents revealed “a federal immigration enforcement system marked by brutality and lawlessness.”
The details of Jakelin’s death are under investigation. And in the meantime, it is more fodder for the grist of immigration debates.
I’ll pause here for the outraged people who, right now, are saying the father put himself and his daughter in danger. 'Don’t blame Border Patrol,' they say. 'It wouldn’t have happened in the first place if the two hadn’t tried to make an illegal border crossing.' That is all true. But what is also true is the would-be border crossers keep coming, despite warnings from a president who has made building a wall to keep them out a priority. And they keep coming knowing that, particularly now, there are serious obstacles to getting in.
Polls show Americans are conflicted about how to address immigration issues. Before the midterm elections, the president described the Central Americans making their way to the U.S. to apply for asylum as a threat. A Monmouth University poll found 54 percent agreed with him, but 70 percent said those same asylum seekers should be allowed to apply for the protection. Even more recently, seven out of 10 people said building a wall should not be a priority. Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas led an 11-member delegation to the Lordsburg, New Mexico Border Patrol station where Jakelin died. Congressman Castro is now calling for the head of Customs and Border Patrol to resign. But I fear that attention to this will die down and in the end, there will be no constructive action.
Jakelin’s death at the border would be tragic at any time, but especially heart-wrenching now as I’m reminded of some other folks who couldn’t find room at the inn. I know there are no simple or easy solutions here. But, we can’t figure out what is possible unless we get serious.
