Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) — The mother of a 5-year-old Guatemalan boy sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the medical care he has received in detention for a head injury suffered before the family was arrested.
© ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE - In this July 8, 2019, file photo, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer looks on during an operation in Escondido, Calif. A sweeping expansion of deportation powers unveiled this week by the Trump administration has sent chills through immigrant communities and prompted some lawyers to advise migrants to gather up as much documentation as possible _ pay stubs, apartment leases or even gym key tags _ to prove they’ve been in the U.S.(AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
The lawsuit filed late Friday in California asks a judge to order the child to be taken to a pediatric neurologist or pediatric neurosurgeon. It also seeks to prevent ICE from trying to immediately deport the family.
The boy fell out of a shopping cart in December, fractured his skull and suffered bleeding around his brain. About a month later, he and his family were detained by ICE during what they thought was a routine check-in. The boy, his 1-year-old brother and their mother were taken to ICE's family detention center at Dilley, Texas, while their father was taken to a detention center in California.
The child's relatives and advocates allege that ICE is not properly treating symptoms caused by the accident that began before he was detained. The boy has severe headaches and is hypersensitive to normal levels of sound, according to his aunt and Dr. Amy Cohen, an advocate working with the family. He is also starting to wet himself, according to his aunt. They allege the boy's mother has pleaded for medical care, but has been disregarded.
ICE has defended the care the boy has received at Dilley. The agency says medical staff at the detention center conducted multiple check-ups and found no lasting neurological issues. After The Associated Press first inquired about the case on Monday, ICE took the boy to the Children's Hospital of San Antonio on Tuesday and Wednesday, where he was found to have a normal MRI and no signs of continued bleeding in his skull.
The boy was not seen at the hospital by a pediatric neurologist, according to medical records obtained by his family's attorneys. According to the records, hospital doctors consulted the neurosurgery department and determined that no follow-up was necessary because the MRI was clear.
Cohen said the boy had an appointment to see a neurologist before the family was detained by ICE. The symptoms his family reported began before their detention and could be caused by a head injury even if the initial bleeding is gone, meaning that an MRI would not be enough, she said.
The San Antonio hospital also did not have the paperwork from the California hospital that first treated him, according to the latest records. Doctors at the first hospital determined that the boy needed a neurosurgery follow-up within four weeks.
In a statement Thursday, ICE said it was determined that “no issues were present that required the need to elevate the case to another neurological specialist.” It declined to comment Saturday on the lawsuit. The Children's Hospital of San Antonio declined to comment Friday on the case.
The AP is withholding the names of the boy and his family because they fear imminent deportation to Guatemala, where the boy’s mother says she was threatened.
Boy with a fractured skull faces deportation; family was detained after ICE check-in
A 5-year-old Guatemalan boy with a fractured skull and his parents and younger brother are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after a routine check-in.
The lawsuit filed late Friday in California asks a judge to order the child to be taken to a pediatric neurologist or pediatric neurosurgeon. It also seeks to prevent ICE from trying to immediately deport the family.
The boy fell out of a shopping cart in December, fractured his skull and suffered bleeding around his brain. About a month later, he and his family were detained by ICE during what they thought was a routine check-in. The boy, his 1-year-old brother and their mother were taken to ICE's family detention center at Dilley, Texas, while their father was taken to a detention center in California.
The child's relatives and advocates allege that ICE is not properly treating symptoms caused by the accident that began before he was detained. The boy has severe headaches and is hypersensitive to normal levels of sound, according to his aunt and Dr. Amy Cohen, an advocate working with the family. He is also starting to wet himself, according to his aunt. They allege the boy's mother has pleaded for medical care, but has been disregarded.
ICE has defended the care the boy has received at Dilley. The agency says medical staff at the detention center conducted multiple check-ups and found no lasting neurological issues. After The Associated Press first inquired about the case on Monday, ICE took the boy to the Children's Hospital of San Antonio on Tuesday and Wednesday, where he was found to have a normal MRI and no signs of continued bleeding in his skull.
The boy was not seen at the hospital by a pediatric neurologist, according to medical records obtained by his family's attorneys. According to the records, hospital doctors consulted the neurosurgery department and determined that no follow-up was necessary because the MRI was clear.
Cohen said the boy had an appointment to see a neurologist before the family was detained by ICE. The symptoms his family reported began before their detention and could be caused by a head injury even if the initial bleeding is gone, meaning that an MRI would not be enough, she said.
The San Antonio hospital also did not have the paperwork from the California hospital that first treated him, according to the latest records. Doctors at the first hospital determined that the boy needed a neurosurgery follow-up within four weeks.
In a statement Thursday, ICE said it was determined that “no issues were present that required the need to elevate the case to another neurological specialist.” It declined to comment Saturday on the lawsuit. The Children's Hospital of San Antonio declined to comment Friday on the case.
The AP is withholding the names of the boy and his family because they fear imminent deportation to Guatemala, where the boy’s mother says she was threatened.
Boy with a fractured skull faces deportation; family was detained after ICE check-in
A 5-year-old Guatemalan boy with a fractured skull and his parents and younger brother are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after a routine check-in.
© Jabin Botsford Image: Migrant women and children walk at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, on Aug. 23, 2019.
Relatives accuse ICE of negligence, saying the child, Mateo — who was put on a plane to a Texas detention center with his mother and his younger brother, has frequent headaches and cries in pain.
The child's father was separated from his family and sent to a detention center in California, where the family has lived while it sought asylum; they say they were threatened in their country. All family members now have deportation orders.
ICE said in a statement that Milda RodrÃguez, the boy's mother, did not warn authorities of her child's condition at the time of the arrest and medical examinations revealed no problems.
Mateo fell from a supermarket cart Dec. 22 while playing with his 1-year-old brother, the family said. Two days later, the family visited two medical centers in the Los Angeles area after the boy kept crying from pain.
Doctors there performed an MRI and detected blood in the brain (epidural hematoma) and a fracture in the skull, according to medical records obtained by Telemundo News.
The family said they were unable to take their child to see a neurologist or a neurosurgeon because ICE detained them during a routine check-in last month after they missed a hearing in the immigration court processing their asylum case back in November.
"His head hurts a lot"
The children and their mother were sent to an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas. The father, José Pedroza, was sent to a detention center in Adelanto, California, that only houses adult inmates.
The children's aunt, Leidy Rodas, said the family told the government about Mateo's health condition and showed officials the child's medical report. ICE denied this in a statement.
"My sister calls me every day very stressed and worried about what is happening with Mateo," the aunt said in Spanish. "We are very concerned that they are not giving her the medical care she's requesting for the child. With any noise, he covers his ears with his hands and starts screaming because his head hurts a lot. "
ICE told Telemundo News that health workers at the detention center visited the child Tuesday. The agency added that both on Jan. 23 and 27, routine examinations were performed on the child, which "revealed no apparent medical problems."
After the mother mentioned that her child was wetting his bed since the accident, ICE took Mateo to a hospital in San Antonio for further tests.
ICE said that an MRI done in the hospital found no signs of epidural hematoma, contradicting what the previous medical report showed.
Mateo was discharged from the hospital and returned to the family detention center in Texas on Wednesday.
Dr. Amy Cohen, who is working with the family, said that the child's treatment is "consistent with other observations of indifferent treatment" she has seen in ICE detention centers, as well as in Customs and Border Protection facilities.
"They are serious violations of human rights," Cohen, a member of Physicians for Human Rights, a group that investigates medical irregularities in detention centers, told Telemundo News.
A private company, CoreCivic, manages the Dilley family detention center where Mateo, his mother and his brother are being held. It is one of only two detention centers across the country that house families and is able to hold about 1,600 people, according to the latest ICE report published in November. At that time, more than 56 percent of the detainees were minors.
Mateo and his family have been in ICE custody for 17 days. The U.S. government is not allowed to hold detained families for more than 20 days.
Even though ICE said the detention of families should "generally be limited to 20 days," its own internal reports show that most families spend 35 days in the Dilley detention center. Others have been there for 91 days.
At least six children have died in immigration custody under the Trump administration. An 18-month-old girl died in 2018 after being detained with her mother at the Dilley detention center. The mother sued ICE for inadequate treatment after her child became ill while in detention, her lawyers said.
"My sister is very desperate and she's always crying," Rodas said. "And the boy tells me on the phone: 'Nana, I already want to be with you, come for us.'"
Relatives accuse ICE of negligence, saying the child, Mateo — who was put on a plane to a Texas detention center with his mother and his younger brother, has frequent headaches and cries in pain.
The child's father was separated from his family and sent to a detention center in California, where the family has lived while it sought asylum; they say they were threatened in their country. All family members now have deportation orders.
ICE said in a statement that Milda RodrÃguez, the boy's mother, did not warn authorities of her child's condition at the time of the arrest and medical examinations revealed no problems.
Mateo fell from a supermarket cart Dec. 22 while playing with his 1-year-old brother, the family said. Two days later, the family visited two medical centers in the Los Angeles area after the boy kept crying from pain.
Doctors there performed an MRI and detected blood in the brain (epidural hematoma) and a fracture in the skull, according to medical records obtained by Telemundo News.
The family said they were unable to take their child to see a neurologist or a neurosurgeon because ICE detained them during a routine check-in last month after they missed a hearing in the immigration court processing their asylum case back in November.
"His head hurts a lot"
The children and their mother were sent to an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas. The father, José Pedroza, was sent to a detention center in Adelanto, California, that only houses adult inmates.
The children's aunt, Leidy Rodas, said the family told the government about Mateo's health condition and showed officials the child's medical report. ICE denied this in a statement.
"My sister calls me every day very stressed and worried about what is happening with Mateo," the aunt said in Spanish. "We are very concerned that they are not giving her the medical care she's requesting for the child. With any noise, he covers his ears with his hands and starts screaming because his head hurts a lot. "
ICE told Telemundo News that health workers at the detention center visited the child Tuesday. The agency added that both on Jan. 23 and 27, routine examinations were performed on the child, which "revealed no apparent medical problems."
After the mother mentioned that her child was wetting his bed since the accident, ICE took Mateo to a hospital in San Antonio for further tests.
ICE said that an MRI done in the hospital found no signs of epidural hematoma, contradicting what the previous medical report showed.
Mateo was discharged from the hospital and returned to the family detention center in Texas on Wednesday.
Dr. Amy Cohen, who is working with the family, said that the child's treatment is "consistent with other observations of indifferent treatment" she has seen in ICE detention centers, as well as in Customs and Border Protection facilities.
"They are serious violations of human rights," Cohen, a member of Physicians for Human Rights, a group that investigates medical irregularities in detention centers, told Telemundo News.
A private company, CoreCivic, manages the Dilley family detention center where Mateo, his mother and his brother are being held. It is one of only two detention centers across the country that house families and is able to hold about 1,600 people, according to the latest ICE report published in November. At that time, more than 56 percent of the detainees were minors.
Mateo and his family have been in ICE custody for 17 days. The U.S. government is not allowed to hold detained families for more than 20 days.
Even though ICE said the detention of families should "generally be limited to 20 days," its own internal reports show that most families spend 35 days in the Dilley detention center. Others have been there for 91 days.
At least six children have died in immigration custody under the Trump administration. An 18-month-old girl died in 2018 after being detained with her mother at the Dilley detention center. The mother sued ICE for inadequate treatment after her child became ill while in detention, her lawyers said.
"My sister is very desperate and she's always crying," Rodas said. "And the boy tells me on the phone: 'Nana, I already want to be with you, come for us.'"
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