The mother of Felipe Gómez Alonzo, the 8-year-old Guatemalan boy who died while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, has spoken out about her son’s death. This is Catarina Alonzo.
Catarina Alonzo: “It was a surprise when my husband said that my son died. When I said goodbye to him, he was healthy. But then my husband said he died peacefully. They left because of poverty. My husband called me from Mexico. He said that they had no problem and they were well.”
Gómez Alonzo, who died on Christmas Eve after becoming ill and feverish while detained at a highway checkpoint with his father, is the second child to die in U.S. Border Patrol custody this month. A 7-year-old indigenous Guatemalan girl, Jakelin Caal Maquín, died on December 8, two days after she and her father presented themselves at the border in a bid for asylum.
A recent report by the Center for Migration Studies found that immigration officials systematically and disproportionately deny medical assistance to migrants who speak indigenous languages. Both Jakelin Caal Maquín and Felipe Gómez Alonzo came from indigenous communities in Guatemala.