A 3-year-old baby died whereas touring on a bus chartered by the state of Texas because it transported asylum seekers from the border metropolis of Brownsville to Chicago as a part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s program to ship migrants from Texas to Democratic-run cities in different states, officers mentioned.
The baby’s mother and father have been additionally on the bus when the kid started displaying signs of an sickness, together with a fever and diarrhea, earlier than dropping consciousness, in accordance with Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman from San Antonio whose workplace was briefed on the demise.
The Texas Department of Emergency Management, which runs Mr. Abbott’s busing program, confirmed the kid’s demise in a press release and mentioned that each passenger on the bus had been processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and that, earlier than the migrants boarded the bus, their temperatures had been checked they usually had been requested in the event that they wanted medical help.
“Following this check, prior to boarding, no passenger presented with a fever or medical concerns,” the assertion mentioned, with out specifying when the demise had taken place. A spokesman didn’t reply to requests for extra data, together with the timing of the demise, the character of the sickness, the identify or intercourse of the kid or the nation of origin of the household.
The Illinois Department of Public Health informed The Associated Press that the demise had taken place on Thursday.
The demise gave the impression to be the primary attributed to Mr. Abbott’s program of busing migrants from Texas to cities like New York, Washington and Philadelphia. Roughly 30,000 migrants have been bused out of Texas because the program started in April 2022, together with greater than 4,600 to Chicago. Texas officers have mentioned that solely migrants who comply with the journey are positioned on buses.
A spokesman for Mr. Abbott didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The baby started displaying signs in Illinois and was taken to a hospital within the city of Salem, about 250 miles south of Chicago and 1,200 miles north of Brownsville, Mr. Castro mentioned. The baby’s mother and father had hoped to get to Indiana, the place that they had kin, he mentioned.
The baby died within the hospital, in accordance with the Texas emergency division.
“Every loss of life is a tragedy,” the division’s assertion mentioned. “Once the child presented with health concerns, the bus pulled over, and security personnel on board called 9-1-1 for emergency attention.”
The Illinois State Police have been investigating the demise, in accordance with a spokeswoman.
Mr. Castro, in a joint assertion with Representative Jesús García of Illinois, referred to as on the federal authorities to intervene to cease the busing program.
“For months, Operation Lone Star has trafficked asylum-seekers across the country in squalid conditions,” the assertion mentioned. “The Biden administration has an obligation to stop them.”
Source: www.nytimes.com