Felipe Alonzo-Gomez has been identified as the eight-year-old Guatemalan boy who died in U.S. custody late on Christmas eve, after he and his father were apprehended in El Paso, Texas, for attempted illegal entry.
It was later revealed that Felipe had been suffering from the flu, according to the Cut. The Cut described how the child became “increasingly feverish and nauseated” before he died.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Full Timeline of Alonzo-Gomez’s Final Days, Per CNN:
.@HispanicCaucus Chair Elect @JoaquinCastrotx: “I’m deeply saddened by the death of 8-year-old Felipe Alonzo-Gomez last night in @CBP custody and offer my condolences to his family.” Full statement here: t.co/e0GWKQgPTJ
According to CBP via CNN, here is the timeline for Alonzo-Gomez’s final days:
December 18: Alonzo-Gomez and his father were apprehended by border patrol near El Paso, Texas, for illegal entry into the United States.
December 20: Alonzo-Gomez and his father were taken to the Paso Del Norte processing center and given food, snacks, and water; the agents logged 23 total welfare checks over two days.
December 22: Alonzo-Gomez and his father were transferred to the Alamogordo Border Patrol Station in New Mexico, due to capacity levels in El Paso.
December 24: Alonzo-Gomez was noted to be coughing with glassy eyes, per a processing agent’s report. He was taken to a medical center for influenza symptoms with his father at nine in the morning, was given a diagnosis of common cold by noon, and was found to have a fever of 103 degrees right before he was released.
Alonzo-Gomez was released from the emergency room with a prescription for an antibiotic, and was taken back to the processing facility. Later that evening he was found to be nauseous and vomiting, per the CNN report, and agents helped him and then eventually brought him to the hospital, where he lost consciousness. Right before midnight on Christmas day, Alonzo-Gomez was pronounced dead.
The Washington Post notes that the timeline by CBP has changed multiple times, regarding the events surrounding Alonzo-Gomez’s death, first saying that he died on Christmas day, then clarifying that he died on Christmas Eve.
2. Read: Full Statement by the Hispanic Caucus Chair, Rep. Joaquin Castro (TX-20)
.@HispanicCaucus Chair Elect @JoaquinCastrotx: “I’m deeply saddened by the death of 8-year-old Felipe Alonzo-Gomez last night in @CBP custody and offer my condolences to his family.” Full statement here: t.co/e0GWKQgPTJ
The chair of the Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Joaquin Castro, released a statement on the death of Alonzo-Gomez on December 25. Here’s the statement in full:
“I’m deeply saddened by the death of 8-year-old Felipe Alonzo-Gomez last night in U.S. Customs and Border Protections (CBP) custody and offer my condolences to his family. While the CBP notified Congress within 24 hours as mandated by law, we must ensure that we treat migrants and asylum-seekers with human dignity and provide the necessary medical care to anyone in the custody of the United States government. Congress should investigate this tragedy upon its return to session.
“The Administration’s policy of turning people away from legal ports of entry, otherwise known as metering, is putting families and children in great danger. We learned this first-hand last week during our Congressional oversight trip to Lordsburg Station. Serious concerns were raised about the condition of CBP detention facilities, and the lack of adequate medical supplies, equipment and resources to properly treat migrants and the agents working there. Many questions remain unanswered, including how many children have died in CBP custody. With two deaths that we know about just in the last few weeks, Congress will continue to press the Department of Homeland Security until we get answers to all our questions.”
The news of Alonzo-Gomez’s death comes in the midst of a partial government shutdown, which was the result of the partisan battle over funding for a border wall along the United States-Mexico border. POTUS has not yet acknowledged the death of Alonzo-Gomez, but he did speak to reporters on Christmas day regarding the shutdown, per The Washington Post.
Trump said, “I can’t tell you when the government is going to reopen. I can tell you it’s not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they’d like to call it. I’ll call it whatever they want. But it’s all the same thing. It’s a barrier from people pouring into our country.”
3. Alonzo-Gomez’s Death Comes 16 Days After the Death of Another Guatemalan Child in U.S. Custody: Jakelin Caal Maquin
The name of the boy who died just after midnight on Christmas is Felipe Alonzo-Gomez.
The Border Patrol’s El Paso sector, which had custody of Alonzo-Gomez and Jakelin Caal, Tuesday ordered immediate medical assessments on all 700 children in its custody.
Alonzo-Gomez’s death comes just 16 days after the death of another Guatemalan child, a little girl named Jakelin Caal Maquin, who had just turned seven years old and was in custody of Border Patrol for less than 48 hours before she died. The official cause of the death by the hospital was determined to be sepsis shock.
At the time of her and her father’s detainment, her father, Nerv Caal, had signed a waiver saying the two of them were in good health, per The New York Post, but there has since been speculation about whether he actually knew what he was signing.
The body of the young girl has since been returned to Guatemala for a burial with her family.
Following the death of Caal, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen called the incident a “very sad example of the dangers to migrants” during an interview with Fox & Friends. She said, “It’s heart-wrenching is what it is, and my heart goes out to the family…This is just a very sad example of the dangers of this journey. This family chose to cross illegally. They were about 90 miles away where we could process them.”
4. The Guatemalan Foreign Ministry Has Announced its Intention to Look Into the Events Leading to the Death of Alonzo-Gomez
CHC chair-elect Castro on the death of 8-yo Felipe Alonzo-Gomez in CBP custody: “We must ensure that we treat migrants and asylum-seekers with human dignity and provide the necessary medical care to anyone … Congress should investigate this tragedy upon its return to session.”
Per CNN, Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that it has asked for a copy of Alonzo-Gomez’s medical records and for a full investigation into the events surrounding his death.
The cause of death for Alonzo-Gomez has not been determined, and an autopsy is planned, per The Washington Post.
5. A Picture of Alonzo-Gomez Was Eventually Released
A photograph of Alonzo-Gomez or his family was not immediately released. Per The Washington Post, the hospital where Alonzo-Gomez died has since said in a statement, “privacy regulations prevent us from sharing information about any individual patient. . . . Our thoughts and prayers are with this family during this very difficult time.”
Here is a photo of the child:
Felipe Alonzo Gomez, the 8-year-old Guatemalan boy who died in CBP custody, wasn’t sick when he & his father left a shelter before being detained by CBP agents outside in TX. Trump said the boy was sick before he entered federal custody. That was a lie.
