US halts intake at Texas facility tied to migrant teen’s death

One day after the death of a 16-year-old with the flu, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has stopped processing new migrants at one of its main border facilities due to an outbreak.

A CBP spokesperson told The Hill in a statement Wednesday that the agency on Tuesday identified “a large number” of migrants at their facility in McAllen, Texas, who displayed flu-like symptoms. 

“On May 21, 2019, medical staff at the Centralized Processing Center (CPC) … identified a large number of subjects in custody with high fevers whom are also displaying signs of a flu related illness. Medical staff are currently working to provide all subjects with proper medical treatment,” the spokesperson said.

{mosads}”To avoid the spread of illness, the Rio Grande Valley Sector has temporarily suspended intake operations at the CPC,” the statement added. It also noted that migrants apprehended in in its Rio Grande Valley sector will be held elsewhere for the time being.

The spokesperson later added that medical staff on Tuesday identified 32 people at the facility who tested positive for the flu.

Authorities have been lamenting overcrowding at the facilities amid a surge of border crossings. Treatment of migrants at the facilities has also come under scrutiny as five migrant children have died after being apprehended since December. 

On Monday, a 16-year-old boy from Guatemala who was being held in the Rio Grande Valley Sector died. The Washington Post has identified the boy as Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez and reports that he had been diagnosed with influenza.

Updated at 4:39 p.m.