Responding to news reports of the death of an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy in the custody of a Customs and Border Protection in New Mexico, Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement:
“On this day that many of us are grateful to spend with loved ones, it is heartbreaking to learn of the tragic death of another child in custody of Customs and Border Patrol. Both the death of this young boy and 7-year-old Jakelin Caal must be thoroughly and independently investigated, and the Trump Administration’s policies of cruelty toward migrants and asylum-seekers at the border must cease immediately before any more children are harmed.
“The Trump Administration is deliberately and unlawfully turning asylum-seekers away from points of entry and delaying the processing of individuals seeking protection to an unbearable crawl, forcing families to take desperate measures to seek safety.”