On Tuesday, CNN noticed another problem in the illegal immigration detention system that already existed before Donald Trump became President as it highlighted the case of an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who is suing the government alleging that her child tragically died as a result of contracting an infection while in detention.
Not mentioned was that ever since the inception of ICE in 2003, there have been a number of deaths each year that have occurred inside the facilities, including during the Obama administration.
At about 10:30 a.m. Eastern, on CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow, fill-in host Erica Hill informed viewers:
A mother and her attorney blaming the death of her eighteen-month-old daughter on substandard care she received while in ICE custody. The toddler died six weeks after being released from an immigration facility in Texas, and that's where her mother claims the little girl contracted a respiratory infection and wasn't given adequate treatment.
Correspondent Nick Valencia then recounted the timeline provided by the attorney who is assisting in a lawsuit against the government which alleges that the child came down with a respiratory infection, was given treatment that was inadequate, and then was transferred to an emergency room where she died six weeks later.
He also read a statement from ICE in which the government agency asserted that it does, in fact, supply adequate medical care to detainees.
A couple of hours later on Inside Politics, fill-in host Dana Bash read a half-minute brief on the same story.
But there is a long history of groups like the ACLU criticizing medical care at detention facilities, blaming inadequate care for deaths. In President Trump's first year in office, the total number of deaths in immigrant detention facilities was only two more than it had been the last year of the Obama administration, increasing from 10 to 12.
