Girl who died in US fled poor Guatemalan village
957 views · Published 21 December 2018 · 1:52 · Indexed 31 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(16 Dec 2018) The family of a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl who died in US Border Patrol custody said her father took her on the perilous trip to the United States to flee "the extreme poverty" they live in. Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin's death has yet again drawn attention to the dangerous routes that Central American migrants traverse to reach the US, where some plan to apply for asylum, and to the way migrants are treated once in custody. Jakelin's family told the Associated Press her father paid a human smuggler to sneak them across the border; asylum was never the plan. Grandfather Domingo Caal said Jakelin's father Nery Caal decided to migrate with his favourite child to earn money he could send back home. Nery often took his daughter to fish at a nearby river. The long journey north would be an even greater adventure. The girl leapt with joy when she was told about the trip, Domingo Caal said in Spanish. Members of 13 families from San Antonio Secortez, a lush mountain hamlet with 420 inhabitants within the municipality of Raxruha, have established homes in the US, and community members set off firecrackers to celebrate each time word arrived that one of the townsfolk had made it. The Caals - who live off 5 US dollars a day - said they believed that Jakelin and Nery would make it, too. The girl and her 29-year-old father, Nery Gilberto Caal Cuz, were arrested with a large group of migrants near the Antelope Wells border crossing on 6 December in a dry, rugged area flecked with ghost towns and abandoned buildings. US Customs and Border Protection said on Friday that the girl initially appeared healthy and that an interview raised no signs of distress. Authorities said her father spoke in Spanish to border agents and signed a form indicating she was in good health. She was then put on a bus with other unaccompanied children to go to the nearest station 94 miles (152 kilometres) away. About eight hours after having been apprehended, Jakelin began vomiting. Officials said agents radioed ahead to have emergency medical technicians available in Lordsburg but when they arrived, 90 minutes later, she had stopped breathing. Jakelin's death drew immediate questions from members of Congress and others about whether more could have been done. The Homeland Security Department's inspector general has opened an investigation. An autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause of death. The results could take weeks. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/5a882e20390207da25cfb5150b3c526e
