Over the weekend, I received an email from Jay Johnson-Castro about a family that was separated at the border by our immigration rules had a happy ending as they finally reunited in South Florida last Friday (video). Abel Gómez showed up one day last month at a U.S.-Mexico border crossing in Texas certain that immigration authorities would let him in, along with his wife and two children. As a Cuban refugee, Gómez, was paroled into the US under the wet foot/dry foot policy. But his wife Ocdalis and children – 2-year-old Abel and 6-year-old Winnelis – are Venezuelan. Border Patrol immediately detained them and took them to the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, TX.
The current state of the immigration debate in the US has affected the we handle immigrant families. Unfortunately, understandable concerns over national security have resulted in increasingly restrictive immigration policies that have led to an increase in immigration detention like the Gómezs. According to Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, on any given day, the government has the capacity to detain more than 600 men, women and children picked up along the border and in major cities. These stricter migration controls are now forcing migrant families to live in tiny cells, like the Hutto Residential facilities. Within each cell contains either a single twin bed or a twin bunk bed with a porcelain or stainless steel sink and toilet. There is no divider separating the sleeping area from the toilet area, leaving families exposed for their family and the world to see.
Even though Ocdalis was happy to be reunited, she also was sadden by the horrors that are occurring within the walls of the Hutto concentration camp.
“I am extremely happy, of course,” she told reporters gathered at MIA. “But I also feel sadness.”
She paused for several seconds and then burst into tears. “Some people qualify for bond and release, but because they don’t have money for bond they are deported with their children,” Ocdalis said, sobbing as she spoke. “It’s very hard being there.”
She said detention officials did not provide adequate medical care for her son. She said he had a persistent cough and he only got cough syrup. Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas, said he “will look into the matter.” She said her daughter got better care when she had an asthma attack.
I highly doubt Rusnok will look into the matter because medical care is not ICE’s responsibility. Health care is provided by the Division of Immigration Health Service (DIHS), an agency within the US Public Health Service (PHS). DHIS is the agency in charge of providing health care for all ICE detainees. However, direct services are only provided to ICE run detention centers, for non-ICE run detention centers, they are required to go through DHIS’ Managed Care Services Unit, which manages the medical care and costs of detainees housed in non-service processing centers (non-SPCs). All health related procedures are required to obtain preauthorization before a detainee is able to get care.
The Service Provider (a state, local, Federal government agency or private provider) shall obtain pre-approval from the Managed Care Coordinator (MCC) by submitting a Treatment Authorization Request (TAR) for all non-routine and emergent medical care. … The Service Provider shall ensure that all invoices associated with detainee offsite and/or onsite medical services are submitted to DIHS.
In an emergency, the Service Provider shall obtain the medical treatment required to preserve the detainee’s health. The Service Provider’s Health Authority shall notify the MCC on the next business day following any emergency care to obtain authorization.
What happen to Gómez’s children should not have occurred because under US law, Cuban Adjustment Act, Cubans and their immediate family members – even if they are not Cuban – are automatically given permanent residence. ICE’s operation of the Hutto facility violates the settlement terms of Flores v. Meese. Under Flores, DHS generally is required to release minors in federal immigration custody to family members or unrelated custodians. This is currently taken place, International Educational Services are taking the children from these concentration camps and sending them to foster homes, where they will live until they can be united.
The reunification of Gómez’s family is a joyous occasion, however, to the nativists of this country, as one blogger, Malcontent of The Two Malcontents blog, put it, they rather “toss these lying breeding illegal aliens back over the border and shoot to kill if they attempt to enter again.”
Note: I refuse to provide links to hate mongers who are advocating the death of another human being. I you are truly interesting in finding the site where this was said, all you have to do is a simple internet search on The Two Malcontents.