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IMMIGRATION

Family Disputes Official Account of 7-Year-Old Girl’s Death

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Jakelin Call Maquin

Disputing the account laid out by U.S. officials, the family of Jakelin Caal Maquin, a 7-year-old Central American girl who died under care of the U.S. Border Patrol says that she was in good health as she traveled through Mexico with her 29-year-old father, Nery Gilberto Caal Cuz.

In a statement released by lawyers for the family, Jakelin had adequate food and water and was healthy while she was traveling through Mexico.

“Prior to going into CBP custody and contrary to the report that Jakelin has ‘not eaten or had any water for several days,’ Jakelin has not been crossing the desert for days,” reads the statement in part. “Jakelin’s father took care of Jakelin — made sure she was fed and had sufficient water. She and her father sought asylum from border patrol as soon as they crossed the border. She had not suffered from a lack of water or food prior to approaching the border.”

Jakelin and her father reached the U.S. border near the Antelope Wells port of entry in New Mexico. Border Patrol agents interviewed the pair the morning of the 6th to determine if they needed medical care, and Jakelin’s father signed a form saying that she was healthy,

The form was in English, a language the father doesn’t understand. The father speaks Q’eqchi’, a Mayan language, as well as Spanish as a second language.

Early the next morning, the father told agents that his daughter was sick and vomiting, and border patrol agents summoned an EMT to meet with their bus. She passed early on the 8th.

Jakelin was severely dehydrated when she passed, though officials claim all migrants were given water while at Antelope Wells.

The Department of Homeland Security has claimed, via a Facebook post, that Jakelin’s father told them that she, “had not been able to consume water or food for days.”

The also claimed that the duo traveled, “through remote and barren terrain,” a view others dispute. According to Tekandi Paniagua, the Guatemalan consul in Del Rio, Texas, the family had been dropped off only about a 90-minute walk from the border.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security blames Jakelin’s family for the death, saying in a statement that, “traveling north illegally is extremely dangerous.” while reiterating that people should reach a port of entry to “enter legally and safely.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen echoed this in a Fox & Friends appearance, saying that Jakelin’s death, “is a very sad example of the dangers” faced by migrants.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus plan to visit Lordsburg Station, the detention site, this coming week.

Image via the family of Jakelin Caal Maquin

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IMMIGRATION

Migrant Buses Arrive In New York City Hours Before Grace Period Expires on Mayor’s Order

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Hours before the grace period expired on New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ executive order requiring notice before migrant-filled buses arrive from Texas, more buses arrived.

Adams announced Wednesday that charter bus companies needed to provide 32-hours notice that they were arriving in New York City with buses of migrants from Texas. The executive order also limits the time buses can arrive to 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. Monday through Friday, as well as the locations where migrants can be dropped off.

Early Friday morning, six buses arrived in New York City, according to WABC-TV. No action was taken against the owners of the buses that arrived Friday, as it was still under the grace period. However, NYC’s chief counsel Lisa Zornberg told WNYW-TV that the administration would soon enforce the order.

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene Accuses Biden of Legalizing ‘Human Trafficking of Millions’ in Immigration Row

“Those who knowingly violate it do so at their own peril,” Zornberg said. “The NYPD has a variety of tools at their disposal, including seizure of evidence and impounding of evidence, but this is going to be treated like any other law.”

The executive order was a response to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s policy of sending busloads of migrants to sanctuary cities.

“Last week, 14 rogue buses from the State of Texas arrived in a single night, the highest number recorded by the Arrival Center,” an Adams spokesperson told WABC-TV Wednesday. Abbott boasted in October that the state has sent more than 50,000 migrants to cities from Texas. Over 7,200 migrants arrived in New York City in the last two weeks, according to WNYW-TV.

Adams’ executive order was announced in a joint video call with the majors of Denver and Chicago. Those cities have also been targeted by Abbott’s busing policy.

“We cannot allow buses with people needing our help to arrive without warning at any hour of day and night,” Adams said during that press call. “To be clear, this is not stopping people from coming, but about ensuring the safety of migrants and making sure they can arrive in a coordinated and orderly way.”

“We really are saying to bus operators and companies, ‘Do not participate in Governor Abbott’s actions,’” Adams added. “We want them to take the appropriate actions of being responsible.”

After Adams accused Abbott in the call of treating migrants as “political pawns,” an Abbott spokesperson said Adams was doing the same thing.

“The sheer hypocrisy of these Democrat mayors knows no bounds,” Renae Eze, Abbott’s director of communications, told the Houston Chronicle.

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Democratic Mayors Demand Notice Before Arrival of Migrant Buses From Texas, Florida

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The Democratic mayors of New York City, Denver and Chicago have come together to place restrictions on when and where migrant buses from Texas and Florida can arrive. The regulations have been made in order to be able to provide help to the passengers.

The mayors came together on a joint video call to announce new regulations. Eric Adams of New York issued an executive order requiring 32 hours’ notice of the arrival of a bus with migrants, according to the New York Times. Adams’ order also requires migrant buses only go to certain locations in the city and only during the workweek between the times of 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m.

Brandon Johnson of Chicago and Mike Johnston of Denver enacted similar orders. Denver allows arrivals from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m, according to the Denver Post. Chicago recently increased penalties for bus companies who didn’t file paperwork or use the correct location, according to The Hill. In response, Republican Governor Greg Abbott of Texas started flying migrants to the city instead of using buses.

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene Accuses Biden of Legalizing ‘Human Trafficking of Millions’ in Immigration Row

Adams said that the new rules were not intended to turn away the migrant buses.

“We cannot allow buses with people needing our help to arrive without warning at any hour of day and night,” Adams said. “To be clear, this is not stopping people from coming, but about ensuring the safety of migrants and making sure they can arrive in a coordinated and orderly way.”

“We really are saying to bus operators and companies, ‘Do not participate in Governor Abbott’s actions,'” Adams added. “We want them to take the appropriate actions of being responsible.”

Many migrants aren’t dressed for the winter weather, according to the Times.

“People are getting off the bus in shorts and flip-flops,” Joshua Goldfein, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society, told the paper. “The city is not getting any kind of real-time information on when and where these buses are going to arrive.”

Texas and Florida have been sending migrant buses and planes to sanctuary cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. This February, GOP presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill to earmark $10 million to fund the program sending migrants out of the state, according to CNN.

Texas, however, is the main state sending migrants to Democratic cities. Abbott boasted in October that Operation Lone Star has sent more than 50,000 migrants to cities from Texas.

“In no way what the state of Texas is doing is helping the cause,” Johnson said, according to The Hill. “As we recognize that there are challenges — significant challenges — at the border, we do need real substantive immigration reform and policies that allow us to have a structure and a pathway to citizenship.”

Johnston said that Denver in particular was one of Abbott’s targets due primarily to its location.

“We, at this point now, have had more migrant arrivals to our city than any city in America per capita,” Johnston said, according to the Post. “And that is not because there is a thoughtful or coordinated strategy to entry. It is because we are the first big city north of El Paso — and the cheapest bus ticket and the shortest trip for the [Texas] governor and others who are trying to find a place to send people.”

Though Abbott has yet to publicly comment on the joint press conference between the three mayors, in the past he has attempted to circumvent regulations on migrant buses. In Chicago, in addition to sending migrants by plane, he has also sent buses outside the city limits and in Chicago suburbs, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Johnson says, the buses are “literally dropping off individuals alongside the road,” according to WGN-TV. This has led to suburbs passing their own rules increasing fines for bus companies or banning migrant drop-offs.

The mayors also asked the Biden administration to declare a national emergency. The White House has yet to comment on this, however, last week, a Biden spokesperson criticized Abbott.

“Yet again, Governor Abbott is showing how little regard or respect he has for human beings,” Angelo Fernández Hernández told The Associated Press. “This latest political stunt just adds to his tally of extreme policies which seek to demonize and dehumanize people.”

 

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Jeffries: Trump Holding Taxpayers ‘Hostage’ Over Wall

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Representative Hakeem Jeffries

The incoming chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, had forceful words for President Trump over his request for a southern border wall, speaking out in response to Trump’s Saturday tweet claiming that any deaths at the border were the fault of democratic immigration policies. 

“Yes, we need comprehensive immigration reform. Yes, we need to enhance border security,” Jeffries told ABC’s “This Week.” “But we are not willing to pay $2.5 billion or $5 billion and wasting taxpayer dollars on a ransom note because Donald Trump decided that he was going to shut down the government and hold the American people hostage,” Jeffries added. “That’s unreasonable.”

The government shutdown is predicated on the President’s demand for $5 billion for a wall along the length of the southern border, a price tag that is sure to balloon. Democrats did offer $1.3 billion for a number of border security options, but Trump dug his heels in, forcing the Republican-dominated congress to shut down. 

“At its core, our responsibility in government is to manage public money,” Jeffries said. “We can either manage it efficiently or we can waste taxpayer dollars. And what Donald Trump and the Republicans want to do is waste $5 billion in taxpayer money on an ineffective medieval border wall that is a 5th-century solution to a 21st-century problem.”

The government shutdown shows no signs of abatement, even though incoming house democrats are planning to move towards reopening the government soon after they take power. It remains to be seen if their efforts will be successful against a president unwilling to move off his signature demand.

View the exchange in full below:

Image via screen capture from video source.

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