Global Courant 2023-05-14 07:50:24
The Honduran government confirmed the death of Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, a young man who had entered a shelter for unaccompanied minors in Safety Harbor, in the state of Florida, on May 5.
According to the information received, the teenager was taken to a hospital after being found unconscious. After an hour of CPR attempts, he was pronounced dead.
The US authorities confirmed the news on Friday, although they did not provide more details “due to privacy and security issues,” they said in a statement.
“As usually happens in any situation related to the death or serious health problem of an unaccompanied child, the Refugee Resettlement Office (…) is analyzing the details of the case, including his medical history. An autopsy is being carried out“, the text reads.
They demand investigation
The Honduran government requested that “an exhaustive investigation of the case be carried out to clarify this fact and if there is any responsibility, the full weight of the law be applied,” tweeted the foreign minister of that country, Enrique Reina.
“This terrible fact underscores the importance of working together on the bilateral migration agenda on the situation of unaccompanied minors, to find solutions, an issue that has been addressed by President Xiomara Castro at various levels with the United States,” he added. .
The US government Department of Health’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is responsible for housing and caring for migrant children and adolescents who arrive at the US-Mexico border without legal guardians.
Border officials must transfer unaccompanied minors to ORR within 72 hours of arrival.
The news of the death of this Honduran teenager comes at a time when the US is implementing new asylum and deportation policies for migrants, after Title 42 expired at midnight from Thursday to Friday.
Since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, Title 42 allowed the immediate expulsion of thousands of migrants who entered the US irregularly and who were returned mainly to Mexico without the opportunity to present their case to request asylum.
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