Congressional Hispanic Caucus Statement on Death of Teen Migrant in US Custody

WASHINGTON — Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, released the following statement on the death of Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, a 16 year-old Guatemalan migrant, in CBP custody this morning:

"We haven't been told exactly what happened at the border this morning, but we do know this: Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez was detained by CBP for one week and now he is dead. This is not an isolated incident. When CHC went to the border to investigate the death of another child, Jakelin Caal Maquin, then-CBP Commissioner and now acting DHS Secretary McAleenan told us that a child had not died in CBP custody in more than a decade. Since then, five migrant children have died in US custody under the Trump Administration, three of whom died in the last month alone. It is clear that this Administration's policies hurt families and have proven deadly for immigrant children and parents.

"This Administration has worsened our broken immigration system, and they have broken the trust of the public by failing to care for the well-being of migrants. The Trump Administration owes the American people answers. We must hold this Administration accountable for the chaos and humanitarian crisis they have helped create on the US-Mexico border."

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The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), founded in December 1976, is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The CHC is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.