There was no misconduct by Department
of Homeland Security officials in December 2018 that led to the deaths
of two migrant children in U.S. custody, the agency's inspector general
said.
In reports released Friday, the inspector general also cleared DHS personnel of malfeasance.
The two unrelated children, aged 7 and 8, died one year ago of
sepsis. The inspector general didn't identify them, but details in the
report indicate they're about 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin and 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonso.
Jakelin died Dec. 8, 2018,
two days after border agents apprehended her and her father in Antelope
Wells, N.M. The girl's father reported the next day that she was sick
with fever, vomiting and seizures at the U.S. Border Patrol facility in Lordsburg, N.M.
Officials flew Jakelin to a hospital, where she died. The state
medical examiner said she died of sequelae of streptococcal sepsis.
In a separate incident, Felipe died Dec. 25,
one week after border agents apprehended him and his father near El
Paso, Texas. Border officials transported the pair to the Alamogordo,
N.M., checkpoint on Dec. 23, and a day later his father requested
medical help for the boy.
Doctors at a nearby hospital diagnosed Felipe with an upper
respiratory infection, prescribed him antibiotics and acetaminophen, and
released him back to Border Patrol custody. After the boy's condition
worsened, he returned to the hospital, where he died.
The state medical examiner said Felipe died of sepsis caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.
The DHS inspector general said it conducted a "detailed
investigation" into both deaths before clearing personnel of misconduct
and malfeasance.
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