Reports That a Child Died in ICE Detention Center Spark Twitter Chaos
Reports of mistreatment at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers have been horrifying — from rampant sexual abuse to child separation. Now, an attorney has taken to Twitter to allege that a child has died as a result of neglect in ICE detention, and in typical Trump administration fashion, ICE is denying it via social media.
The Accusations
The accusations began Tuesday night, when immigration attorney Mana Yegani tweeted that “a child died in ICE custody in Dilley, Texas.”
Mana Yegani's now-deleted tweet.
Minutes later, Yegani deleted the tweet, providing the update that the child allegedly died after leaving ICE custody, seemingly due to a respiratory illness that went untreated while she was there.
Update: The child died following her stay at an ICE Detention Center, as a result of possible negligent care and a respiratory illness she contracted from one of the other children.
The events took place in Dilley Family Detention Center in south Texas.— Mana Yegani (@Law_Mana) August 1, 2018
Early Wednesday morning, Yegani provided more details in another tweet, posting a screenshot from another attorney, Melissa Lynn, who is allegedly the source of the report and says she’s working with the family.
This is a statement from the attorney who informed me of this tragic death. She a friend of the victim’s family and she is the one in touch with them. I don’t have any direct contact with the victim’s family. See below the image of her message that was posted on Facebook. pic.twitter.com/ISOCRQBend
— Mana Yegani (@Law_Mana) August 1, 2018
Inverse has reached out to Yegani and will update this post with any response.
ICE Denial
Early Wednesday morning, ICE denied the initial report (that a child died in their custody) on Twitter.
Reports that a child died in ICE custody at Dilley are false.
— ICE (@ICEgov) August 1, 2018
ICE did not address the follow-up, however, that a child died shortly after being released due to respiratory illness. Some are calling the tweet misleading.
Inverse has reached out to ICE and will update this post with any response.
Complicating Factors
Adding to the confusion are tweets from CBS Sacramento editor Mark Kewman, who claims he has more details on the story.
Breaking: Original poster of story about child that may have died in custody at an ICE Detention facility is now retracting the story. Which is why I have deleted my retweet. It's also why I wrote "If true."
— Mark Kewman (@mkewman) August 1, 2018
Kewman tells Inverse that after Yegani adjusted her story, networks were hesitant to report it. “The networks were very careful and did not report it because of the change in details,” Kewman said over Twitter.
As it stands, contact information for Melissa Lynn is not publicly available, and no evidence to verify the story has been produced, leaving the story in the realm of Twitter he-said-she-said.
Of course, the story has already been picked up by both #Resistance and Trump Twitter.
A CHILD refugee was NEGLECTED TO DEATH following her INCARCERATION at an ICE 'ICE BOX office' #TrumpChildConcentrationCamp in S. Texas.@UNHumanRights PLEASE INVESTIGATE! @OHCHR_Pacific PLEASE INVESTIGATE! https://t.co/yP4276fLgY
— Melonia 🇺🇸 RESIST! (@MeloniaSherban) August 1, 2018
Previous Deaths
The death of a child as a result of ICE neglect would be a shocking illustration of the chaos that has ensued as a result of President Donald Trump’s highly covered immigrant detention policies, but the agency has been recently criticized for deaths that have resulted on their watch.
In June 2018, Human Rights Watch published a report documenting deaths that occurred in ICE detention centers, concluding that eight individuals in 2017 died due to ICE neglect. Jose Azurdia reportedly died after a nurse refused to treat him for fear of getting sick. Rafael Barcenas-Padilla reportedly died after ICE employees at a New Mexico processing center delayed transferring him for breathing problems.
While the details of this particular case have yet to be fleshed out, ICE’s track record will certainly help Twitter come to their own conclusion on the case.
Inverse will update this story as more details become available.
Photos via Twitter, CBP