Congress members visit New Mexico Border Patrol station after Guatemalan boy's death

ALAMOGORDO, NM — The Congressional Hispanic Caucus toured the Alamogordo U.S. Border Patrol station Monday to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy while in Customs and Border Patrol’s custody.

Felipe Gomez-Alonzo died shortly after midnight Dec. 25 at Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo. Gomez-Alonzo tested positive for influenza B, according to a December CBP statement. New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator has not determined Gomez-Alonzo's cause of death.

Prior to Gomez-Alonzo death, Jakelin Caal, also of Guatemala, died Dec. 8 at Hospitals of Providence Memorial Campus in El Paso while in CBP custody.

The Hispanic Caucus also toured other CBP stations Monday in southern New Mexico.

More:From a border wall to clergy sex abuse, these were the top NM stories of 2018 

Democrat Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, NM-Dist. 2, said she and her fellow Caucus members continue their fact-finding mission.

“We have a serious situation here,” Torres Small said. “In the last three weeks since we visited, we’ve seen some improvement. We’ve seen a response having medical personnel on the ground but we’re continuing to wait to see what the additional response is. We still need to have medical equipment in all of our facilities in the most rural reaches of the border to make sure we have a Border Patrol that’s responding to the changing circumstances that we continue to see.”

She said she and Caucus members want to have a "nimble agency."

“To make sure that we have a nimble agency that’s able to insure our border security and also reflect our values,” Torres Small said. “We have to make sure that we have the facilities appropriate when families are being held. We have to make sure the processing is occurring, so we can keep people detained by an agency that’s not equipped to do that for long periods of time.”

She said she has heard too many stories about agents who have reported poor working conditions, to have recommendations and not have them fulfilled.

“As we continue our investigation, I want to make sure we are working together to address real border security,” Torres Small said. “It means having a strong, smart and fair approach to our border policy.”

More:New law mandates New Mexico governor account for social spending

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D, NY-Dist. 10, said Caucus members have heard wildly different accounts of conditions in the Border Patrol stations.

“We will get to the bottom of this,” Nadler said. “... We know the President has been talking about the emergency at the border. The only emergency at the border is a humanitarian emergency caused by this war on children. The fact of the matter is the apprehension of migrants and migrant children are way down over the years. It’s not an emergency.”   

Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Joaquin Castro, D, Texas-Dist. 20, said he and Caucus members wanted to express their condolences to the Gomez-Alonzo’s family on their loss.

“There is a humanitarian crisis at our southern border,” Castro said. “The Trump Administration is making that crisis more tragic. The Trump Administration policy of metering or disallowing certain people for asylum at the U.S. border and ports of entry is encouraging and incentivizing desperate people for claiming violence and oppression to go around to more remote and rural areas to cross the border.”

He said it’s a great danger to themselves and often their children.

“I believe its contributing to more serious injuries and, possible in these cases, more deaths,” Castro said. “Today’s visit reaffirmed the fact that the federal government under the Trump Administration has a long way to go in making sure migrants are treated humanely that there’s proper medical care, personnel, equipment, staff, supplies and all of it to treat migrants who encounter medical emergencies.”

More:Alamogordo officials react to New Mexico Governor nixing PARCC testing

He said he and his fellow Caucus members are also concerned for the federal employees’ health and safety while patrolling the U.S. border.

“It’s true not only of the migrants themselves but for the border patrol agents, federal employees of the United States government who are patrolling the border,” Castro said. “They’re in danger because of the lack of proper medical care, equipment and personnel on the part of the federal government and CBP. Today’s visit, while Sec. Nielsen’s initiative to get medical supplies and personnel down here represents an improvement, it’s still a long way from where it needs to be.”

He said he wants to respond to President Trump addressing the nation about border security and a border wall Tuesday, Jan. 8.

“It would be profoundly inappropriate for the President of the United States to circumvent the U.S. Legislative branch and Congress, and single handily go against the will of the American people and Congress, put up a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border,” Castro said. “We would challenge it in every single way that we could in Congress, the courts and otherwise. I hope he will chose a different path, that remains to be seen. But he can expect a strong and swift challenge from the American people and Congress.”