MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Nannette Barragan
Interview
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HAYES: For the second time this month, a child has died in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The agency reported yesterday an 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died shortly before midnight on December 24 at Gerald`s Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
CBP has not released the boy`s name, but House Democrats have identified him as Felipe Alonzo-Gomez. And in a timeline released yesterday, CBP laid out what it said happened.
Last Tuesday, Felipe and his father were apprehended about three miles west of the port of entry in El Paso. Then on Christmas Eve, a number of days later, the boy had, quote, "glossy eyes about 9:00 a.m." He was hospitalized, diagnosed with a common cold. Despite a 103 degree fever, he was released and transported to a temporary holding facility. And that night, around 10:00, he appeared lethargic. In route back to the hospital, he began to vomit and lost consciousness. Less than two hours later he was pronounced dead.
He death coming just three weeks after a 7-year-old girl from Guatemala named Jakeline Caal died at a hospital in El Paso after being detained by border agents herself.
Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer who is poised to become House majority leader announced plans for hearings into both these deaths and the conditions under which of thousands of children are being held.
Joining me now is Congresswoman Nanette Barragan, Democrat of California, who was last on the program when she was down on the border in the port of entry down in San Ysidro, San Diego.
What are the questions you want answered about what happened here?
REP. NANNETTE BARRAGAN, (D) CALIFORNIA: Well, I think one of the big questions is asking about the medical procedures and the screening. We hear CBP often talk about how parents said that their kids were OK. What we really need is for CBP to do real medical screenings. That is a problem now. It was an issue with Jakeline, it`s an issue with Felipe. Making sure that they`re taking vital signs, and making sure that we`re monitoring there`s children. If you see there`s 103 temperature, I think there needs to be some better observation.
I`m not a medical expert, Chris, but let me tell you when you hear the news that it took roughly an hour just to get the child back to the hospital, and then you hear that he started vomiting and it took four hours to get the child back to the hospital, that`s a concern. So we need to ask those questions.
We also need to ask about some of the attitudes that some of the CPB officers have, having heard firsthand some of their attitudes at the border and their just disregard for human life, that is a question we also need to ask about.
There are lots of questions, and certainly resources.
HAYES: Let me stop you there, what do you mean by that? You were down at the border, we had you last on the program as you were working with the woman who, I believe, was from Honduras.
BARRAGAN: Maria.
HAYES: Maria, who had been tear gassed with her children, that sort of iconic photo of getting her through and trying and failing and finally getting her through. And you tweeted about what you heard the kind of comments from CPB what do you mean by that?
BARRAGAN: Well, sitting there with two female officers talking about how migrants were terrible people, they were coming to commit crime, and she was even commenting, oh, when crime happens in the U.S., then we come begging for them asking for help. It is this attitude, this arrogance of what they feel, how they feel about migrants that is concerning. And it makes me -- it makes me wonder if that plays a role in not getting medical attention quickly and not really treating these people like humans.
If you talk to my colleagues who have seen these detention areas, it is inhumane to be treating people the way they are.
HAYES: This is what Kirstjen Nielsen said, her statement on the death of this young boy from Guatemala, "it has been more than a decade since CBP has had a child pass away in their custody. It`s now clear that migrants, particularly children, are increasingly facing medical challenges and harboring illness caused from their long and dangerous journey."
What do you think?
BARRAGAN: It`s disgusting. It`s plain disgusting. No compassion. Playing the blame game again instead of looking at their own policies.
This is the result of this president and this administration`s cruel, inhumane, anti-immigrant policies, turning people away at ports of entry when they get them, not making sure they have the proper medical screenings. To hear that, Chris, is just really sad, especially around this time of the year. It would be nice if the secretary takes some responsibility and making sure that we have accountability over this agency.
HAYES: Final question here, what -- do you think the administration`s policies at ports of entry, where they are doing what`s called metering. They are not letting people through. They are attempting to make it as hard as possible to come in and ask for asylum legally, do you think that`s causing more danger to the people in question?
BARRAGAN: There`s no doubt. When you`re in congress, we have hearings and they say just present yourself at a port of entry. I saw firsthand last week that is not the case. They`re turning people away, even have tactics to try to get them off U.S. soil to go back onto Mexican soil so that they can apprehend them. It is not the way it`s supposed to be done. And I believe it`s a violation to do those things that we saw last week.
People are desperate. They are going to go between the points of entry. And it is going to be more dangerous if they can`t just go present themselves at a port of entry. And so there`s no doubt we have heard stories of people saying I`ve been waiting, I`m desperate, and that`s why I had to cross in a different manner between the ports of entry.
HAYES: Congresswoman Nanette Barragan, thank you very much.
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