(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A migrant teenager reportedly lost his life Wednesday while under the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, Honduran foreign minister Eduardo Reina said, who also called for an “exhaustive investigation” into the death.
17-year-old Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza from Honduras was found unconscious at the Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Serves shelter in Florida, which is being used by the federal government to house unaccompanied migrant children, the Tampa Bay Times reported Friday.
Espinoza’s death marks the second loss of a minor under the Biden administration’s custody, casting a shadow over the infamous Office of Refugee Resettlement, which cares for unaccompanied minors who cross the border illegally.
Biden had previously criticized the Trump administration over the deaths of underage migrants under their custody, describing them as “unacceptable.”
“Over the last year, six children have tragically died in US custody at the border,” Biden said in May 2019. “It’s unacceptable. It’s not who we are. And silence is complicity. It’s on all of us to stand up and speak out. America is a nation of immigrants. We must guarantee everyone’s treated with dignity.”
Over the last year, six children have tragically died in US custody at the border. It’s unacceptable. It’s not who we are. And silence is complicity. It’s on all of us to stand up and speak out. America is a nation of immigrants. We must guarantee everyone's treated with dignity.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 23, 2019
The Biden HHS confirmed the death but declined to offer more details.
“The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our heart goes out to the family, with whom we are in touch,” the agency said in a statement.
“As is standard practice for any situation involving the death of an unaccompanied child or a serious health outcome, HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Division of Health for Unaccompanied Children (DHUC) is reviewing all clinical details of this case, including all inpatient health care records,” the agency continued. “A medical examiner investigation is underway.”
The Biden HHS has come under intense fire for it failures in dealing with the flood of migrant children illegally crossing the border. A HHS whistleblower called the Biden administration the “middleman” in a child-trafficking racket of illegal immigrants that benefitted Mexican drug cartels. Adding to the criticism, the president’s Office of Refugee Resettlement failed to check children’s caretakers for sex offender status.
GOP senators introduced legislation earlier this month that would require Homeland Security to take steps to prevent human trafficking at the border between the United States and Mexico
While HHS cited “privacy and safety reasons” as the reason for withholding information regarding the migrant’s death, a federal official told CBS News that there had been “no altercation of any kind.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she does know whether President Joe Biden had been briefed on the child’s passing.
“It’s deeply saddening to hear, and we are certainly aware of the tragic loss, and our hearts go out to the family members,” Jean-Pierre said, while also refusing to offer more details.
.@JacquiHeinrich: "Would the administration…track that down, especially after…HHS lost contact w/85,000 children…the last two years and lost immediate contact w/a third of migrant children, that data not being there is alarming.
KJP: "I expect HHS to provide that data. pic.twitter.com/awlCBmoHWB
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 12, 2023
“It is a devastating news and incredibly saddening, saddened to hear that news. There is a medical examination that started on May 10. We’re going to allow that process to continue,” she continued, later admitting that there was no information on whether Biden would reach to the migrant’s family.
The migrant’s sudden death comes a day after the Biden administration came under heavy scrutiny ahead of the May 11 lifting of the Trump-era Title 42 policy that allowed border patrol agents to swiftly remove unauthorized migrants from the U.S.
