Tonight, when @realDonaldTrump addresses the nation, let’s all remember that the only crisis on the border is the one he created by separating families, snatching kids from their parents, blocking refugees from legally seeking asylum and putting lives at risk.
Yesterday, I went to New Mexico with @RepTorresSmall, @JoaquinCastrotx , @RepEscobar, @RepJerryNadler, @davidcicilline, and members of the @HispanicCaucus to investigate the death of Felipe Alonzo-Gomez.
Felipe’s death is tragic, as is the death of 7-year-old Jakelin earlier in December. No child should ever die in American custody from insufficient medical care.
One clear point is this: A medical professional should be on hand to give every immigrant child a basic medical check. If a child has a fever, or is dehydrated, or listless, let’s get them to a hospital.
Second, these tragedies flow in part from the Trump war on immigrant children: Child separation; a vastly expanded string of child prisons; family internment camps; and an overall strategy of inflicting trauma on children as central to a political “deterrence” strategy.
Inflicting trauma on children as a political strategy comes from a very dark place in the heart of the @realDonaldTrump administration, and it must end.
We cannot allow another child to suffer Felipe’s fate. Children need and deserve necessary medical care. Period. CBP has now belatedly hired someone to revamp their systems. Congress must ensure this happens.
The REAL crisis is America’s mistreatment of Felipe and other children – not @realDonaldTrump’s desperation to build his wall for his own political reasons. This shutdown is political theater and it’s wrong.
