This is just a heart rending story.
WASHINGTON (CN) – Yazmin Juarez’s 19-month-old daughter died after getting sick following her stay at an unsanitary immigration detention center in Texas. She told lawmakers her story Wednesday to shed light on the human toll behind the Trump administration’s immigration policy, leaving few dry eyes in the room.
Yazmin and her daughter, Mariee, made the trek from Guatemala to the United States last year. She was fleeing an abusive domestic situation, a scenario that she could not even describe, for her own protection, during a House Oversight subcommittee hearing on inhumane treatment of children at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I was scared. But I made the journey because I feared for her life,” Juarez said in Spanish before a translator relayed the message to a silent group of lawmakers. “I was more scared of what would happen if we stayed. I wanted a new life for my family. Instead I watched my baby girl die slowly and painfully.”
Little Mariee was healthy when she and her mother were detained, but became sick after 20 days in detention. 10 days later she had lost 8% of her body weight and was vomiting constantly.
Yazmin pleaded for her daughter to be taken out for care, even offering to be handcuffed so she could accompany her. By the time she was taken to the hospital, where a viral lung infection was diagnosed, she was greatly weakened. Doctors fought for 6 weeks to save her but to no avail.
“My little girl suffered horrible pain. I couldn’t even hold her to console her. As a mother, I wish I could have taken her place,” Juarez said in tears.
Jazmin and Mariee in happier (and healthier) times before they became guest of the DHS:
Today Jazmin testified before Congress…
"My wish and the purpose of bringing my child here was to move forward with her, to have her grow, and to give her all of the things I would not be able to give her in my country, because this is a country of freedom." -Yazmin Juárez, whose daughter died after ICE detention pic.twitter.com/XdnfML3XD3
— Justice Democrats (@justicedems) July 10, 2019
…and finally got the reception America should have given her on day one.
Yazmin Juárez embraced by @aoc after her powerful testimony about conditions she says led to death of her 19 month old daughter. pic.twitter.com/Oyflqhj2QT
— Alexander Nazaryan (@alexnazaryan) July 10, 2019
Sadly, Mariee could not be there.
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I am so glad that the concentration camps are starting to get the publicity they deserve. Of all the horrors of Trumpworld, the neglect and sexual abuse of these innocent children hits me where I live.
Absolutely loved this. The stories need to be told, over and over again
Welcome to the 21st Century.
Less than 80 years after Auschwitz and the others, and the lessons we should have learned, we have concentration camps in the USA, land of the ‘free’.
The final flowering of the buds of Nixon’s Republicanism, Dimwit Donny’s Trumpism.
I had hoped this site would be a respite from the over-the-top worship of this very unfinished, self-impressed woman elsewhere. Dozens of congresspeople and senators have gone to the border, have sat with refugees and hugged children. But of course, she is SOOOO pretty.
Sure, she wants to be “the face of the Democratic Party.” That’s why her handlers identified, recruited and trained her. But given who they are, that’s very dangerous for the Democratic Party. Her chief of staff and communications director were behind the so-called “Justice Democrats” and “Brand New Congress,” two organizations whose goal is basically to tear the Democratic Party apart & insist on progressive litmus tests most of her colleagues can’t afford because they’re not in safe blue districts with low voter turnout like she is. They are uninterested in electing more Democrats, or supporting those in districts we flipped, so we can actually address the situation at the border. They want to front as heroes, standing on the wreckage. They remind me of Dennis Kucinich. They are not our friends. And she is NOT the “face of the Democratic Party,” no matter how pretty that face is, nor should she be. The people who become wreckage in the world of these purity progressives are too important.
I wish we on the left were more thoughtful, because those on the right have only bad intentions.
I’m autistic…appeal to emotion arguments are a tough sell for me. Ms. Juarez lost a child owing to a variety of wrongs done to her and her child. That someone would embrace them in sympathy is a minimum standard I’d put on a person for being a good human being. It doesn’t signify whether they’re a good or bad legislator.
As for the question of her standing as a legislator…I don’t know. Her objective and challenge seems to be transforming populist power (her following) into political power (actual accomplished legislation).
What her work reinforces is that a challenge with populist power is that it tends to bounce around inside its own echo chamber rather than produce tangible results. Her Tweets have produced a billion op-ed pieces on left leaning sites…we can argue this increases engagement and enthusiasm, but how much is uncertain. It’s also possible that if she weren’t doing this, other activists, journalists and commentators would be filling this space. So she may be spending political capital on something that would be accomplished by others regardless.
So I’m on the fence. Her populist power is admirable and significant, but it remains to be seen how useful this will prove. And there are…let’s speak hard truths…red flags. Her strategy seems to be for her bloc to have disproportionate power – to strong-arm moderates into going along regardless of public support. I’m personally on board with fervent activism…I like seeing her fight for what she believes. But when the time comes, if any given proposal has like 30% public support and the idea is to ram it through via political jiggering…that’d be a hard no from me.
So I’d encourage her, and everyone on the left, to focus on using the populist appeal to truly move the needle on public sentiment. Rallying the base is good for elections, but rallying the nation is necessary for legislation.