Children Die at The Border

Children Dying At The Border

Seeing the growing number of minors held in jail-like facilities near the U.S.-Mexico border, John Sanders can't help thinking of Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez. The 16-year-old boy from Guatemala died in the care of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the last record-breaking detention of unaccompanied minors during the Trump administration, when Sanders led the agency. The former acting CBP commissioner spoke exclusively to NPR about that experience and his concerns about the current crisis. "My greatest fear and the hardest thing for me when I was at CBP was the death of children," said Sanders, his voice breaking with emotion. "My greatest fear is children will die, and that's what I think we have to make sure never happens."   At least five children died in custody or after being detained by federal immigration agents at the border during that surge in 2018 and 2019, when as many as 2,600 children were being held in border facilities. The U.S. government had more than 4,200 unaccompanied migrant childrenin its custody as of Sunday, according to a Department of Homeland Security document obtained by NPR. The children are spending an average of 117 hours in detention facilities before being moved to more hospitable shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services — far longer than the 72 hours allowed by law. Sanders said kids who arrive at the border facilities are already physically and emotionally strained after weeks — if not months — of traveling under very difficult conditions. "What is heartbreaking to me is that history is repeating itself," Sanders said. "And there is no surprise to people that this was going to occur. I'm not making a political statement there. It's just I think we as a country have to figure out and have some tough conversations, so this doesn't keep happening again and again. Because it's the children who suffer at the end of the day."

— Franco Ordoñez, NPR White House correspondent