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White House says death of detained migrant girl in U.S. "horrific, tragic"

(Xinhua)    13:39, December 15, 2018

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- "It's a horrific, tragic situation," a White House press official said Friday of the death of a Central American migrant girl early this month after she was detained at a U.S. Border Patrol station on the U.S.-Mexico border.

"It's also senseless. It's a needless death and it's 100 percent preventable," White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters.

The 7-year-old Guatemalan girl, whom the Guatemalan foreign ministry identified Friday as Jackeline Caal, died on Dec. 6 in El Paso, Texas -- two days after she was taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol with her father as they crossed the border into the United States.

"If we could just come together and pass some common sense laws to disincentivize people from coming up from the border and encourage them to do it the right way, the legal way, then those types of deaths, those types of assaults, those types of rapes, the child smuggling, the human trafficking that would all come to an end," Gidley said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Friday that Caal died from dehydration and septic shock after having gone days without food and water.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine the girl's death, but the results may take weeks to come out.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said the border agents "are deeply affected and empathize with the father over the loss of his daughter," adding that they "cannot stress enough the dangers posed by traveling long distances, in crowded transportation, or in the natural elements through remote desert areas without food, water and other supplies."

Caal's death came "as immigration officials are being increasingly criticized for their treatment of migrants who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border," the Associated Press said in a Friday report.

"It's illegal and simply barbaric to deny water to a young girl in custody, particularly after they turned themselves in to authorities," Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, said in a statement.

"There are no words to capture the horror of a seven-year-old girl dying of dehydration in U.S. custody," Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tweeted on Friday.

Trump has deployed thousands of National Guard troops and active-duty military troops on the U.S.-Mexico border to handle the migrant caravans.

However, recent data from the CBP showed that the number of migrants who applied for asylum status before entering the United States -- thus becoming legal border crossers - has been on the rise, raising questions about the Trump administration's law-enforcement response to the migrants.

The CBP has instituted "queue management" systems that require migrants to wait on the Mexican side of the borders for days or weeks.

Trump's border security policy, especially his proposed border wall, has been a source of fierce partisan dispute in Washington.

The president has requested that 5 billion U.S. dollars be included in the 2019 budget package for erecting the wall and strengthening border security, which was denied by Democrats.

Trump met with Democratic congressional leaders in the Oval Office last week to discuss the budget issue, during which the border wall funding became so contentious that Trump vowed that he would be "proud" to shut down the government if Congress failed to approve the sum.

"And we hope Democrats join the president," Gidley said at Friday's press gaggle.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji)

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