Claudia Patricia Gómez González (Mam), 20-year-old. From San Juan Ostuncalco, Quetzaltenango. Murdered on May 23rd, 2018, by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) after being shot in the head in Rio Bravo, Texas.
Jakelin Caal Maquin (Q’eqchi’), 7-year-old. From Raxruhá, Alta Verapaz. Detained by US CBP in Antelope Wells, New Mexico, and died two days later at Providence Children’s Hospital in El Paso, Texas, on December 8th, 2018, from a bacterial infection (streptococcal sepsis).
Felipe Gómez Alonzo (Chuj), 8-year-old. From Yalambojoch, Huehuetenango. Detained with his father in El Paso on December 18th, 2018, and died on December 24th from a flu and bacterial infection at Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
Juan de León Gutiérrez (Ch’orti’), 16-year-old. From Camotán, Chiquimula. Detained in El Paso on April 19th, 2019. Died on April 30th in Corpus Christi, Texas, from an infection.
A 2-year-old boy whose name has not been released. From Chiquimula. Died on May 14th, 2019, in El Paso, Texas, from pneumonia after being detained by CBP on April 3rd.
Carlos Hernández Vásquez (Achi), 16-year-old. From Cubulco, Baja Verapaz. Detained by CBP near Hidalgo, Texas, on May 13th, 2019. Died on May 20th, 2019, from Influenza A virus.
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The Guatemalan government is responsible for all these deaths. The Guatemalan government, which has remained silent on the subject, should denounce them and aid families whose children have died in detention. The United States government is also responsible for all of these deaths. US Immigration officers in charge of these detention facilities should resign. Children should not be held in detention centers, and the US should stop this practice immediately. A statement issued by the International Mayan League calls for an “exhaustive, fair and transparent” investigation by the Office of Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security, into these deaths, as well as a “dialogue with leaders of the Guatemalan Maya diaspora for the development of humane immigration policies.” These measures are necessary in order to prevent future tragedies from occurring and to not let these cases remain in impunity and without justice.
These deaths highlight the violence that indigenous children and youth face at the US-Mexico-Guatemalan borders, which will continue to happen. A recent study by anthropologist Lauren Heidbrink found that about “95% of returned minors are indigenous (primarily Mam and K’iche’) from rural communities in the departments of Quetzaltenango, Totonicapán, San Marcos, and Huehuetenango.” According to the CBP, there were 41,435 unaccompanied minors detained in 2017, 50,036 in 2018, and 44,779 in 2019 so far. In 2014, there were 17,057 unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, a number that has increased to 22,327 in 2018.
The Guatemalan and Mexican governments are also responsible for the deaths of children and youth who were crossing Mexico and never made it to the US. For instance, a truck transporting over 70 Central American migrants crashed in Chiapas, Mexico, on March 8th, 2019. In this accident, 23 Guatemalans died (three of them were minors) and at least 30 were injured. An unidentified 10-year-old girl died on May 15th, 2019, in Mexico City while detained by immigration officers. Central American migrants’ clandestine graves are periodically found in Mexico. There are countless stories from the last four decades of others who have died along the way.
The International Mayan League also asks in their statement: “How many more children must die before there is collective outrage, actions, denouncements? How many more times do we need to say this is a crisis specifically affecting indigenous children and youth?” Many of us are also asking these questions. How many more?
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Read it in Spanish here.
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