Photo credit: Patrick McElhenney

BREAKING: Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officials in paramilitary gear ARRESTED doctors attempting to offer flu vaccines to jailed children in San Diego. Tell CBP: stop denying medical care to jailed children.

John,

16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez had a fever of 103. Rather than send him to the hospital -- the CBP locked him into an isolation cell.

With proper care, the flu can be treatable.

But Carlos was denied medical care and left to die alone in a detention center in Texas, laying in a pool of his own vomit on a cold concrete slab next to a toilet.

Immigration authorities did NOTHING as their security camera recorded Carlos's last moments.

SIGN THE MOVEON PETITION: No child should die from the flu.

On Monday, Families Belong Together marched with Doctors for Camp Closure to the Chula Vista border station in San Ysidro, California, with 120 flu vaccines in hand. The doctors -- including the physician in charge of the California Medical Association -- volunteered their time and were ready to treat the children -- but the Trump Administration's Department of Homeland Security barred them from entering.

For six hours, we stood in the driveway of the camp with the vaccines, but the metal gates remained closed. The CBP sent four police cars and five armed officers to keep watch on us as we peacefully stood vigil for the children who died.

So, on Tuesday, we headed to the CBP headquarters in San Diego to demand they let the doctors in -- only for armed officers in full paramilitary gear to arrest six of us.

Photo credit: Patrick McElhenney

Children in detention are nine times more likely to die from the flu than the general pediatric population. But as flu season ramps up, the Trump administration has ignored demands from medical professionals and the Centers for Disease Control to vaccinate children in their immigration jails.

Carlos was the third child to die of flu-related illnesses in immigration detention in the last year. His death was preventable.

Tell the Trump Administration: Withholding medical care from children and families in custody is appalling and inhumane.

We've got to stop throwing children in jails, we've got to undo the damage of the Trump administration's cruel immigration policies. But right now, we've also just got to give these kids urgent medical care.

We're keeping up on the pressure on the Trump administration and are doing everything we can to prevent more deaths in custody.

Add your name: Demand flu vaccines for children and families in detention.

Thanks for all you do,

Paola Luisi
Families Belong Together Communications Director

Families Belong Together is a campaign of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA). NDWA is the nation’s leading voice for dignity and fairness for the millions of domestic workers in the United States, most of whom are women. If you would like to get in touch with Families Belong Together, click here.