Border Patrol chief says agents did all they could to save kids’ lives

The head of Customs and Border Patrol said his agents did everything they could for the two young migrant children who died while in government custody this month — deaths that have been “devastating” for the agency.

“It’s been over a decade since we’ve had a child die anywhere in our processes,” CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said on ABC’s “This Week.” “What I can tell you about these two cases … is that our agents did everything they could as soon as these children manifested symptoms of illness to save their lives.”

Felipe Gomez Alonzo, 8, died at a New Mexico hospital on Christmas Eve after he and his father had been detained a week while trying to cross the border in El Paso, Texas.

The medical examiner said the boy had influenza B.

On Dec. 9, Jakelin Caal died at a hospital in El Paso just days after she and her father were among a group of migrants stopped at a border crossing in New Mexico.

Both children were from Guatemala.

McAleenan said immigration is a “multi-faceted problem that requires a multi-faceted solution.”

“We … need to invest in Central America,” he said on ABC, comments at odds with President Trump, who has called for cutting off aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

“The State Department’s announcement of an unprecedented increase in aid, I think, is a tremendous step forward. Our green shoots of progress, both on security and the economic front in Central America, we need to foster that and help improve the opportunities to stay at home,” he said.

Trump in a tweet on Friday suggested he would close the southern border if Congress doesn’t fund his barrier wall and called for cutting off aid to the Central American countries.

“Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are doing nothing for the United States but taking our money,” Trump wrote. “We will be cutting off all aid to these 3 countries — taking advantage of U.S. for years!”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is expected to be the next chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he will hold hearings on the children’s deaths.

“I’m going to hold hearings on the deaths of these two children and the policies that entice people to come,” the South Carolina Republican said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “One of the mothers of these two children was not seeking asylum, she was just trying to come here to find a job,” he added.

Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said responsibility for the deaths of Jakelin and Felipe rests with the Trump White House.

“[The] Trump administration bears blame to the extent that the buck stops at the top,” the Democrat said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“That was unacceptable, un-American, and unconscionable, and we need to do better,” he added.