Sixth Child Dies in Border Patrol Custody
GORANI: Well, let's get the very latest on the Florida shooting. Natasha Chen joins me live now from Pensacola. And, Natasha, I understand you have more information on the weapon that the suspected shooter used?</s>NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just heard from several officials here at a press conference at the base of this bridge. We heard from the governor, from the mayor, from the sheriff. And one thing that the sheriff wanted to emphasize is that because of the nature of this investigation involving a foreign national, that there are going to be a lot of questions that they cannot answer for us. So the information, he says, is going to be more limited than usual, and to trust them to go through this process involving federal agencies investigating and figuring out exactly what happened here. The sheriff also talked about the heroics of their deputies, people in uniform both with the Navy and with the Sheriff's Office, really helping others who were injured, even when they were wounded themselves. They talked about visiting some of the victims and families, still in hospitals; some of them are still going through surgery. Hala, I also want to mention that Governor DeSantis mentioned that he spoke with the president about this foreign national and the fact that there was training going on for him and other foreign nationals here in Pensacola. And he said that, you know, there will be a time, down the road, when it is appropriate for this, but he feels that the government of Saudi Arabia should make things right for the victims here. So he also talked about this being a dark day for this great place, and that's sort of the sentiment that a lot of them had. They're really just thankful for the heroics of their people on the ground here today, and thinking of those victims, Hala, right now, who are recovering.</s>GORANI: All right. Natasha Chen in Pensacola, thanks very much. I'm just checking my Twitter here. The U.S. president, Donald Trump, just tweeted regarding this shooting in Pensacola. "King Salman of Saudi Arabia just called to express his sincere condolences and give his sympathies to the families and friends of the warriors who were killed and wounded in the attack that took place in Pensacola, Florida." Donald Trump, in a second tweet, writes, "The king said that the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter, and that this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people who love the American people." So this tweet, just a couple minutes ago from the U.S. president, you see it on your screen there. We'll have more on this story when we have more details on it. Now, U.S. immigration officials are once again facing questions over how they treat migrant children who are supposed to be in their care. Those questions are louder than ever after a newly released video shows the agonizing final moments of a Guatemalan teen who died in custody without receiving any help or attention. A warning, it's shocking video and very disturbing. Nick Valencia walks us through this story.</s>NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the final moments of life for 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant Carlos Hernandez Vasquez. The video is not only disturbing to watch, it calls into question the official narrative released by Border Patrol after the teen's death in May. The security footage was first obtained but the investigative team at ProPublica. In the surveillance video from the early morning hours of May 20th, the Guatemalan teen, who was diagnosed with the flu and a 103-degree fever, can be seen inside his cell at a Border Patrol station in Weslaco, Texas. Time stamps have been added by ProPublica. At 1:20 a.m., Vasquez is seen laying on a concrete bench, appearing to be in pain. Four minutes later, he collapses on the floor, face down, clutching a mylar blanket. After more than 10 minutes and with seemingly no one responding, the teen picks himself up and appears to prop himself against a toilet inside the cell. His feet can be seen flailing for minutes before the video abruptly ends at 1:47 a.m. According to Welfare Check records obtained by ProPublica, Border Patrol says an agent checked on Vasquez three times over the next four and a half hours. The log does not indicate how those checks were done. At 5:48 a.m., the video begins again. Officials did not provide an explanation for the gap. Vasquez still hasn't moved. In an official press release by Border Patrol, the agency says Vasquez was found unresponsive during a welfare check. But video shows it isn't until Vasquez' cell mate wakes up that anyone realizes something is wrong. Several agents are then seen tending to Vasquez, but it's already too late.</s>GORANI: And thanks to Nick Valencia for that report. As Nick said, ProPublica is the nonprofit news organization that first obtained the video of the teenager's death. Eric Umansky is ProPublica's deputy managing editor, and he joins me now. Eric, who is this young man? A Guatemalan teen, 16 years old, he was diagnosed with the flu. He was, in fact, in a holding facility for sick migrants. Why did he die?</s>ERIC UMANSKY, DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR, PROPUBLICA: Thanks for having me. So Carlos Hernandez Vasquez, as you've said, a 16-year-old boy. He made his way up from Guatemala, he came with his sister, actually, who's an adult. And they crossed the border, they presented themselves to authorities, and then they were detained. What's supposed to happen is they're supposed to be quickly -- the minors are supposed to be quickly transferred to shelters or family. And that didn't happen here. He wasn't given the appropriate treatment, and he died as a result.</s>GORANI: But the official account contradicts what the video shows, right? Because the video, I understand ProPublica acquired from law enforcement, from police. Border Patrol initially said they conducted welfare checks, but that's not what the video shows.</s>UMANSKY: Yes. So the video actually shows that the facts seem to contradict the government's account in two different ways. One is that in the -- the government said that they were, as you've noted, were doing repeated wellness checks, is what they call them. And then during one of those wellness checks, the boy was found. In fact, what we see from the video is, though a log shows that somebody, you know, noted welfare checks had been done, the boy, Carlos collapsed and his body stopped moving hours before he was discovered, so that's one thing. If they were conducting wellness checks, they weren't very good wellness checks because they didn't notice that he had stopped moving and was splayed on the ground. And then, second of all, he was not discovered by border agents or government officials. He was discovered -- and the video shows this quite clearly -- by his cell mate, who was actually another sick boy who found him on the ground. You can see him, though, then going to the door, alerting government agents and then coming in. So that's two ways in which this -- in which it contradicts the government story.</s>GORANI: But I guess my question is, why are sick children being held in this way? The cell looks -- it's very bare and basic, they don't even have a bed. If these boys are ill, and so severely ill that they might even die from some sort of respiratory infection of pneumonia, or I'm not sure exactly what killed this young man, but something severe enough that he lost his life, why are they held in such conditions? What do Border Patrol officials say about that?</s>UMANSKY: Well, border officials have a few specific answers. For this, they say, for example, that they were mistaken about his age, and that that delayed his transfer. They also are not getting into details about this case because they say it's under investigation. The broader reality of this is that Border Patrol was never designed to -- and doesn't really have capacity to hold people for any length of time, right? And they should be transferred. But what has happened because of the stricter policies of the Trump administration is, they've now been stuck with this new role that they simply don't have the capacity and expertise for. One of the things we noted is that last year, there were 20 medical staff working for Border Patrol across about 2,000 miles. And you can do the math, that's not a lot of staff. So --</s>GORANI: Yes.</s>UMANSKY: -- you end up having some real failures here. And in this case, you know, a nurse had said he should have been checked on, it was written down in her orders. He was not apparently checked on. They said if he got worse or even remained the same, he should go to the hospital. He did not go to the hospital. He was instead transferred to another facility that was a quarantine for other kids with the flu.</s>GORANI: Right. And you tweeted that there's more to come in this investigation? What is ProPublica working on in terms of how some of these kids are held in border facilities?</s>UMANSKY: Well, broadly speaking, we are -- we have been doing a lot of reporting about Border Patrol and related agencies. And we're going to continue doing that. We have interest both in these specific cases, the treatment of children, and more broadly, how the system is working overall. And I would just say quickly, if people have information, we are very interested in hearing it.</s>GORANI: All right. And they can actually find that link on -- I know you tweeted it out. And this would be the sixth minor migrant death in U.S. custody, I understand?</s>UMANSKY: That's correct. And that's a little bit of critical context to understand. This was the sixth death of a child who had been detained by Border Patrol in less than a year. In the 10 years prior to that, there had not been one death of a minor.</s>GORANI: Eric Umansky, thanks very much, the deputy managing editor at ProPublica. We'll be right back.