Mexico demands US reunite Down's syndrome girl with family
The 10-year-old girl and her brother were sent to a detention centre in McAllen in Texas, while their mother was sent to another facility in the Brownsville in the same state.
Published: 21st June 2018 10:45 AM | Last Updated: 21st June 2018 10:45 AM | A+A A-
In this March 30, 2017 file photo, a portion of the new steel border fence stretches along the US-Mexico border in Sunland Park, New Mexico. | AP
MEXICO CITY: Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray has requested the US to immediately reunite a girl with Down's syndrome and her brother with their family.
Mexico on Wednesday demanded that the Donald Trump administration take all necessary action to ensure an immediate reunion of the child and her brother with their mother and the family, Xinhua news agency reported.
The 10-year-old girl and her brother were sent to a detention centre in McAllen in Texas, while their mother was sent to another facility in the Brownsville in the same state.
According to official data, more than 2,000 migrant children have been separated from their families at the Mexico-US border over a period of six weeks since the policy was enforced in April.
Of those separated children, 25 boys and girls are Mexican, said the Videgaray.
On Tuesday, the Minister had expressed Mexico's "emphatic condemnation" of the US border policy, calling it "cruel and inhumane."
He had urged the US to reconsider the policy which, he said, "clearly violates human rights".
The policy has also been fiercely criticised by other Central American nations, including El Salvador and Honduras, and international organisations the UN Children's Fund (Unicef).
On Wednesday, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera also slammed the policy, saying that "no immigration policy should stop taking care, welcoming and protecting children. This is a universal principle, a principle that more than anything reflects values."
Following the fierce backlash from the international community, on Wednesday, the US President finally signed an executive order to keep the migrant families together.
