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Major Texas border station closed for flu outbreak after teen death
LOS ANGELES, May 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A major Texas border station has
been temporarily closed due to a fever outbreak, officials said, one day
after a Guatemalan teenager diagnosed with flu at the facility died in
immigration custody.
Medical staff imposed the quarantine at the McAllen processing center after
a “large number” of detainees were found to have high fevers and symptoms of
a flu-related illness.
“To avoid the spread of illness, the Rio Grande Valley Sector has
temporarily suspended intake operations at the CPC,” Customs and Border
Protection said in a statement late Tuesday, referring to the Central
Processing Center.
“Medical staff are currently working to provide all subjects with proper
medical treatment.”
People detained in Rio Grande Valley will be held in other stations until
the situation is resolved, it said.
A 16-year-old boy died Monday in immigration custody in Texas, becoming the
fifth child from Guatemala to die since December after being apprehended by
US border patrol agents.
The boy, identified as Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, had been detained
on May 13 after crossing the border, and was processed at the McAllen center,
according to US media reports.
He was seen by a nurse who determined he had the flu and moved to a nearby
facility at Weslaco to avoid other detainees getting sick.
He was found unresponsive Monday during a welfare check, an hour after
agents had last checked on him.
The Border Patrol agency has come under intense scrutiny in recent months
over its treatment of children apprehended at the border.
Border enforcement officials earlier this year said the country’s
immigration system had reached a “breaking point” of illegal border crossings
that have overwhelmed the system, especially in the Rio Grande Valley.
Almost half a million people have been stopped at the southern US border
since October. Most who cross without authorization surrender to authorities
and file for asylum.
Overcrowding at emergency shelters has forced authorities to release some
migrants from detention as they await a review of their asylum applications.
The McAllen center is one of the busiest along the US-Mexican border.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1641 hrs