Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus toured the Lordsburg Border Patrol Station Tuesday. The tour was planned following the death of a 7-year-old child who crossed the border with her father.
Jakelin Caal Maquin died at an El Paso hospital after being transported there in Border Patrol custody. In a Facebook post prior to the tour, Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro said necessary medical treatment was not available on a 94-mile bus ride from the Antelope Wells Port of Entry to the nearest Border Patrol Station in Lordsburg.
“There are certain policy and practices that clearly need to be changed…and that it looks like CBP has acknowledged need to be changed. Very specifically for example that during that 94-mile bus ride, there wasn’t a single person who was a medical personnel once the young girl’s symptoms became apparent to treat her while she was on the bus. So she had nobody that had medical training…a nurse or a doctor that was available to her to keep her alive,” said Castro.
In astatement on its website, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said, “Border Patrol Agents, including trained Emergency Medical Technicians did everything in their power to provide emergency medical assistance for Jakelin Caal Maquin immediately after her father notified the agents of her distress at a remote Forward Operating Base, 94 miles from the nearest Border Patrol Station. Border Patrol Agents revived Jakelin twice before emergency responders arrived via air ambulance to continue medical care.”
Caal Maquin died at Providence Children’s Hospital in El Paso after attempts to save her life failed.
Rep. Raul Ruiz, a California Democrat and doctor, questioned whether the Border Patrol should have called for an air evacuation as soon as Jakelin's father reported her distress.