Migrant Teen Dies In U.S. Custody—As Officials Grapple With Title 42 Expiration

Topline

A 17-year-old migrant who was traveling from Honduras without a parent or guardian has died in a shelter in Florida, officials said Friday, marking the first reported migrant child death in U.S. custody since President Joe Biden took office.

A border patrol agent helps a migrant child.

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Key Facts

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed in a statement Friday that the minor died in an Office of Refugee Resettlement facility—the first death of a minor at one of the facilities since 2019.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is responsible for housing and caring for unaccompanied migrant children, is “reviewing all clinical details” including the minor’s health care records, according to HHS.

Honduran President Enrique Reina identified the minor as Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza in a tweet Thursday night, stating he died at a shelter in Safety Harbor, Florida, near Tampa.

Reina called for an “exhaustive investigation” by HHS, which said there is an ongoing medical examiner investigation.

This is the first unaccompanied child migrant death reported by HHS since 2019, when seven migrant children died in U.S. custody within a 10 month period, drawing significant media attention.

Key Background

News of Espinoza’s death comes on the same day Title 42, a pandemic-era immigration policy, has officially expired. The Trump Administration established Title 42 to reduce overcrowding at Border Patrol centers during the height of Covid-19—ostensibly due to concerns about the spread of the virus—letting officers swiftly turn away migrants at the border rather than holding them. The Biden Administration is now implementing a series of new regulations to deter immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border, and migrants will not be able to cross for five years if they are caught crossing illegally.

Tangent

As the Title 42 policy expires, Border Patrol centers are buckling down for even more overcrowding. Overcrowding has been an ongoing issue ,which has led to some Border Patrol stations releasing migrants into the U.S. with instructions to appear at an immigration office within 60 days or face deportation. Florida, where Espinoza died, filed a lawsuit to stop these releases, which a federal judge approved on Thursday. Customs and Border Protection said it would comply with the order but called it a “harmful ruling that will result in unsafe overcrowding,” according to the Associated Press.

Chief Critic

In 2020, doctors told a congressional committee two migrant childrens’ deaths in prior years were “preventable” and could have been avoided. Jakelin Caal, 7, died of septic shock which “went untreated over many hours” and led to organ failure, and Felipe Gomez Alonzo, 8, died of “untreated influenza,” which also spiraled into health complications, Fiona Danaher, a pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital, told the committee. The often crowded conditions of shelters where detained children are held create a “risk for medical neglect,” Danaher said.

Surprising Fact

While there have not been any child migrant deaths in U.S. custody reported since 2019, a government oversight report released last week showed Border Patrol agents may be significantly undercounting immigrant deaths, with the number of people dying potentially twice as high as previously reported. Customs and Border Protection “has not collected and recorded, or reported to Congress, complete data on migrant deaths or disclosed limitations with the data it has reported,” according to the report from the Government Accountability Office.