Premature Baby Found in Texas Detention Center

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blackforest

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Where do we draw the line? When do we stop making excuses for the horrid conditions at migrant detention centers? When do we stop blaming the victims and making excuses for the abusers? ("Well, there are consequences . . . " “They shouldn’t have come, anyway.” “Hopefully this deters others.”) When do we Catholics - members of arguably the most vociferously pro-life faith on the planet - start saying that enough is ENOUGH?

The girl said border authorities made her throw away a backpack with the baby’s clothing and hadn’t given her anything else, so the baby was in a dirty onesie bundled in a sweatshirt that another migrant mother gave her.

At one point, the baby got sick and was listless and unresponsive, Frye said.

Frye said the baby and her mother should never have been kept there. She said she isn’t sure how premature the baby was born but said she is “minuscule” and that her head was “the size of my fist or smaller than my fist.”
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Some things just make yur heart cry.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph and you, were refugees in Egypt for a time after Your birth, because the king’s soldiers sought to murder You, and murdered many other baby boys.
We ask Your merciful love and protection, and the humane answers for just outcomes for genuine suffering refugees
 
blackforest said:
Hopefully this deters others.
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None of this will deter others. Considering where and what they are fleeing, this is s drop in the bucket. That is reality. We should all ponder that and pray on it.

This case, though, should also have people upset with Mexico. This mom had an emergency C-section in Mexico in May. What Dr performs an emergency C-section, delivers a premature baby, and releases them both? How was nothing along the way done to intervene for this mom or baby? She should not have been carried across the Rio Grande but instead carried to a hospital a long time before she got to the border.

This mom and baby were failed and are being used as pawns. It’s disgusting. The entire situation is disgusting. Why would a dr allow that? Why would aid workers not help them before she arrived? Why didn’t other migrants help them? Why did Border Patrol not insist on medical care? Why didn’t mom ask to have a Dr care for her and her baby? And why is the news not asking why she was even allowed to leave the first Dr in Mexico in the first place?
 
From the article:

“She says the mother, a 17-year-old from Guatemala, had an emergency cesarean section in Mexico in early May and crossed the border with the baby June 4. She was in a wheelchair in extreme pain when legal advocates found her this week.”

Never should have happened. The mom and baby had a high likelihood of dying along the way north. That makes me mad.

Also from the article:

“Frye first met the teenage girl at the McAllen facility on Tuesday. The girl said border authorities made her throw away a backpack with the baby’s clothing and hadn’t given her anything else, so the baby was in a dirty onesie bundled in a sweatshirt that another migrant mother gave her.

At one point, the baby got sick and was listless and unresponsive, Frye said.“

Also should never have happened. I would like to hear the reasoning for why the bag was discarded to see if there is a solution to prevent that from happening. I also would like it clarified when baby was listless and unresponsive. The “at one point” in this situation doesn’t cut it. What did mom do to get baby to respond and was care denied or was it not asked for? If it was denied, who denied the care? Was this at the Border Patrol or while still in Mexico? “At one point” could mean anything.

And this:

“Frye said the baby and her mother should never have been kept there. She said she isn’t sure how premature the baby was born but said she is “minuscule” and that her head was “the size of my fist or smaller than my fist.”

I 100% agree. They should not have been kept there. They should have been kept at the hospital in Mexico until both mother and baby were recovered and healthy. I want to know why they weren’t.

And finally:

“Customs and Border Protection says its agents are overwhelmed and don’t have the funding or resources to handle the influx.”

The federal government needs to get together on this. Stop using people as pawns in a political fight and actually do something to help. This is disgusting. When everyone’s hands are tied due to the government not funding agencies that are attempting to actually do their job, bad things are going to keep occurring. And the only people that will be blamed are the border patrol agents by one side and the migrants by the other. My heart breaks for the ones stuck between two parties using them to vilify each other.
 
Very good question. The article isn’t clear about that. It says:

“The mother and daughter were expected to be transferred to a privately run facility for underage immigrants without parents on Thursday after outcry on social media.”

And later this:

“Customs and Border Protection, which runs the facility the girl and baby were held in, has not issued comment.”
 
13pollitos said:
What Dr performs an emergency C-section, delivers a premature baby, and releases them both?
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Exactly. This whole fiasco would make sense if she had delivered the baby out of hospital. But actual doctors had no business denying her and her baby the postnatal care that they obviously needed.
13pollitos said:
Why did Border Patrol not insist on medical care?
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Whatever happened in Mexico is infuriating, to be sure, but it doesn’t get the detention center off the hook. They are directly responsible for what happens under their watch. No excuses.
13pollitos said:
Why didn’t mom ask to have a Dr care for her and her baby?
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I don’t think it’s possible to know what happened here. I wonder how much a 17-year-old who clearly didn’t get adequate prenatal or medical care in Mexico will know about infant care. Does she even know what looks normal for a baby? Or was she just satisfied that her baby was quiet and sleeping?
13pollitos said:
This mom and baby were failed and are being used as pawns.
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This sounds like an uncharitably cynical assumption. Am I and other advocates “using them as pawns” or advocating for human rights and humane treatment of the Least of These?
13pollitos said:
“At one point” could mean anything.
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A baby who is “listless and unresponsive” at any point needs emergency medical care.

It only happened - finally! - because a dedicated aid worker found them, and a U.S. Senator had to intervene! @poche this should answer your question about what happened to the mom and baby. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offb...ed-border-patrol-facility-in-texas/ar-AACV1Ot
US Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, followed up on Milano’s post, retweeting it and saying that he made an emergency call to the Department of Homeland Security to release the family.
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It is through the grace of God that this happened.
13pollitos said:
The federal government needs to get together on this.
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You and I are in agreement here.

An entire system of medical staff and government agents have failed this poor mother and child. It scares me to think that they’re not unique.
 
blackforest said:
A baby who is “listless and unresponsive” at any point needs emergency medical care.
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Of course you are correct and why I am so mad about the Dr in Mexico! What I meant is, if the baby was recognized as listless and unresponsive at the center, that puts the greater blame on center staff not to intervene. If it was in the Dr care in Mexico, the dr is the one with greater blame. If it was somewhere in between, then blame lies elsewhere.

A 17 year old in Guatemala knows more about newborn care than the average 30 year old in the US. Simply based on family life and the way the world there looks. She was failed by so many people here and obviously knew baby was listless and unresponsive or else it would not be in the article.
blackforest said:
This sounds like an uncharitably cynical assumption. Am I and other advocates “using them as pawns” or advocating for human rights and humane treatment of the Least of These?
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Not what I said. This is what I said
13pollitos said:
And the only people that will be blamed are the border patrol agents by one side and the migrants by the other. My heart breaks for the ones stuck between two parties using them to vilify each other.
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This is the way they are being used as pawns in a political fight.
blackforest said:
It only happened - finally! - because a dedicated aid worker found them, and a U.S. Senator had to intervene! @poche this should answer your question about what happened to the mom and baby. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offb...ed-border-patrol-facility-in-texas/ar-AACV1Ot
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This still doesn’t answer where the baby is now or how she is doing. It doesn’t say if medical care has been given to either mom or baby.
 
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13pollitos said:
This is the way they are being used as pawns in a political fight.
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To be fair . . . I have my issues with border patrol, as you well know, but I think a different group is responsible here. They’re probably still DHS employees, but in this case they’re called Detention Officers. I think I got that wrong in my previous post.

I need to release my PC to my children now but will elaborate more later.
 
Is there any indication that the doctor in Mexico who delivered the child voluntarily and knowingly discharged mother and child from care? Seems they may be being unfairly criticised.

Mother and child may may have gone AWOL (maybe against the mother’s will if she was ill?) Or the doc may have been misled about where they were going.
 
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Ya basta!
If people, including babies, are going to be detained, they need to be treated in a humane, compassionate manner.
 
It’s possible. But having received health care in Mexico I doubt this is the case. For one, they will not give any care unless paid up front. (So yes, I believe someone with money knew and was involved in this mess. There are free clinics but they don’t have all services available.) People who are dying are literal left to die if payment is not secured (either cash or insurance) C-sections are standard procedure in hospitals. Most drs follow suit in their offices as well. They rarely allow a woman to give birth vaginally. Most deliveries are in a “clinic” or office and not a hospital setting (yes, even C-sections). I have been to a dr in Tuxpan who had an incubator for premature or sick babies right by the door. Many women in Mexico suffer from infections and other problems after C-sections mostly due to the procedure and also due to conditions after birth. Most women go home the same day as their C-section even, usually walking. A friend actually rode her bicycle home with the baby in the front basket. There are many reasons women there are pushing for the right to use midwives again or to go to “birth homes” like they used to be able to do.



Medical care in most of Latin America is nothing like here. There are some very good drs and the price of care is very low. Many if not most drs still do house calls and will come very quickly. Closer to the border and in major cities you can find excellent care that rivals anywhere in the world. The likelihood that a migrant found this excellent care is close to zero though.
 
They do. What do you suggest to make that possible? Do you think maybe there are many places along the way this mom and baby were failed or just at the US border?
 
It could be. I don’t think that gets DHS off the hook for this mom and baby’s treatment, though.
13pollitos said:
People who are dying are literal left to die if payment is not secured (either cash or insurance) C-sections are standard procedure in hospitals.
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This is horrible! I thought they had more of a universal safety net in Mexico . . . At least I’ve heard the middle and upper classes there tout it. Might help if you’re middle class . . .

I found this part disturbing.
She was in a wheelchair in extreme pain when legal advocates found her this week.
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I do praise God for the people in the trenches working so hard for the suffering. If there weren’t any, we wouldn’t be reading this news story.
 
blackforest said:
This is horrible! I thought they had more of a universal safety net in Mexico . . . At least I’ve heard the middle and upper classes there tout it. Might help if you’re middle class . . .
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Not all of Mexico lives in the city. Even fewer have insurance. In rural areas there is no jobs so the idea of coverage from “social security” is nonexistent. They do have a free government clinic in some towns including my in-laws town. We have used it when we go visit. They have very, very limited services there though. The good thing it is 100% free for EVERYONE regardless of who you are, where you are from, what nation you are a citizen of. They are preventative medicine mainly. Give out vitamins, electrolyte solutions to add to water, vaccines, contraception, and give classes on health and nutrition. They also give out antibiotics when needed (tetanus is still a big threat and penicillin is OTC) but that is really it. No real check ups and nothing beyond basic first aid. That is why I don’t think this poor mama was seen at the free clinic. Mexico talks big and claims a lot, but delivers very little. The cities are better, but it’s kind of debatable there too.

My sister in law says under AMLO some things are improving while others are getting worse.
blackforest said:
I found this part disturbing.
She was in a wheelchair in extreme pain when legal advocates found her this week.
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100% agree.
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blackforest said:
I don’t think that gets DHS off the hook for this mom and baby’s treatment, though.
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Oh please don’t think I am saying they don’t share the blame! I just think so many other people also failed this mom and her baby. I pray they are now somewhere safe and receiving the much needed care and support they deserve.
 
Interestingly, McAllen, TX, where she has been detained, has some of the highest health care costs in the country. . . at least it did ten years ago. The Cost Conundrum | The New Yorker Jeff Merkley is my Senator and quite passionate about these issues. I’m assuming with utmost confidence that she and her baby are getting the care they need.
 
The baby probably needs to be in an incubator or a hospital if it is that small. I think there should be an accounting of where the baby is now.
 
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