Jeremy Raff
Atlantic Magazine
MCALLEN, Texas—Inside the Border Patrol warehouse on Ursula Avenue, Dolly Lucio Sevier saw a baby who’d been fed from the same unwashed bottle for days; children showing signs of malnutrition and dehydration; and several kids who, in her medical opinion, were exhibiting clear evidence of psychological trauma.
She left the area for college and medical school. From afar, she told me, she began to understand that she had grown up in one of the poorest places in the United States, where low-quality, high-calorie food leaves kids both hungry and obese.
More than 1,000 migrant children sat in the detention facility here, and Sevier, a local pediatrician, had been examining as many as she could, one at a time.
But she wasn’t permitted to enter the area where they were being held, many of them in cages, and find the sickest kids to examine. Instead, in a nearby room, she manually reviewed a 50-page printout of that day’s detainees, and highlighted the names of children with a 2019 birth date—the babies—before moving on to the toddlers.
When it was almost time to leave, Sevier asked to see a 3-year-old girl, and then two other children. But by that point, the friendly and accommodating Border Patrol agent assisting her earlier in the day had been replaced by a dour guard, wearing a surgical mask, who claimed that he couldn’t find the toddler.
When it was almost time to leave, Sevier asked to see a 3-year-old girl, and then two other children. But by that point, the friendly and accommodating Border Patrol agent assisting her earlier in the day had been replaced by a dour guard, wearing a surgical mask, who claimed that he couldn’t find the toddler.
“We can wait,” Sevier said, as she recalled to me in an interview. Her tone was polite but firm; she knew that she had the right under a federal court settlement to examine whomever she liked.
“She’s having a bath,” Sevier recalled the guard as saying, a luxury one official told her is available only to babies removed from their guardians. In the facility’s standard cages, there is no soap or showering for the kids. Though 72 hours is the longest a minor can be legally confined in such a facility, some had been there almost a month. Sevier waited.
Finally, the guard returned with news. He had found the girls after all.
“She’s having a bath,” Sevier recalled the guard as saying, a luxury one official told her is available only to babies removed from their guardians. In the facility’s standard cages, there is no soap or showering for the kids. Though 72 hours is the longest a minor can be legally confined in such a facility, some had been there almost a month. Sevier waited.
Finally, the guard returned with news. He had found the girls after all.
“We located the bodies,” he said, in paramilitary slang. “I’ll bring them right in.”
I visited sevier’s medical practice last week in the border town of Brownsville, Texas, 60 miles from the Ursula facility, where she’d been a few days before.
I visited sevier’s medical practice last week in the border town of Brownsville, Texas, 60 miles from the Ursula facility, where she’d been a few days before.
In mid-June, a team of immigration attorneys had asked Sevier to come with them to their next appointment in Ursula, after they’d had an alarming visit there earlier in the month.
They wanted a doctor to evaluate the children and then use the findings to force the government to improve conditions in Texas immigration facilities. It wasn’t the kind of work Sevier usually does.
Sevier grew up in Brownsville, and to Rio Grande Valley kids like her, then as now, the border was not a crisis but a culture. Sevier went to nearby Matamoros, Mexico, for dinner, dentist appointments, weddings, and baptisms.
Sevier grew up in Brownsville, and to Rio Grande Valley kids like her, then as now, the border was not a crisis but a culture. Sevier went to nearby Matamoros, Mexico, for dinner, dentist appointments, weddings, and baptisms.
Each year on All Saints’ Day, she scrubbed relatives’ tombstones in Matamoros with soap and water, then shot BB guns with her cousins at the cemetery. She had American classmates who lived in Mexico and commuted to school over the international bridge.
She left the area for college and medical school. From afar, she told me, she began to understand that she had grown up in one of the poorest places in the United States, where low-quality, high-calorie food leaves kids both hungry and obese.
Diabetes is widespread, and because access to health care is so limited, diabetic amputations are far more common than in the rest of the country. She thought that here was a place in need of a doctor like the one she was becoming. So after she completed her pediatric residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, five years ago, she returned home.
The morning I visited, Sevier’s pediatric clinic was bustling.
The morning I visited, Sevier’s pediatric clinic was bustling.
A mural with characters from the Disney movie Inside Out, about the emotional lives of children, brightened the hallway. For Sevier, the role of a pediatrician includes “being the voice for the kid, the advocate.”
In some families, she explained, children’s experiences “are just not valued.” A child who is overweight or has a preteen crush may be the subject of ridicule, not attention and understanding. “I get to chip away at that in my office,” Sevier told me.
To read rest of article, click on link: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/07/border-patrols-oversight-sick-migrant-children/593224/
20 comments:
The veterans (immigrants too!) who have served our nation proudly would like to see your cowardly ass on the frontlines. You talk a big game, Tad Hasse, but your fealty to the most treasonous, racist, rapist, syphilitic slug criminal to squat in the Oval Office is all you've got.
Let's celebrate America, the land of the fee and the home of the slave!
@ 9:32 AM
Hear, hear!
Hasse is not a veteran. That's why he never wins an election. LOL
What In the world does a preteen crush have anything to do with migrant children. From what I read she is putting down Brownsville,TX as making it seem we are the poorest third world country. If she doesn't like it here then leave to San Antonio with your husband and quit putting us down. She is the replica of Rose Gowen always saying we need to be told what to eat, how to live, what to wear and now how to raise our kids.
Pre Teen Crush, Go crush your nalgas. I tell you Juan. Now a days everyone wants to come and tell us what to do. What about her parents and grandparents. Muy flacos I guess.
Nothing new here. Docs have been seeing the kids for years.
I'd rather go to the drive inn tonight at Mercedes and see godzilla. I have never seen a gringo/a there
not everyone grows up with a silver spoon
in their mouths Dr.
at 9:32 AM
Running around blogs leaving the same off topic comment is kind of lame, dude. You're a lib loser, live with it.
Her name Lucio, is she related to the political Lucio's or sheriff Omar Lucio? Did she get her student loan forgiven for practicing in one of the poorest, third world permitted area? I've lived in
Cameron county all my life and we never saw nor heard of going to the cemeteries to scrubbed tombs. I am over sixty years old and paid for my student loan. She looks like maybe late twenties, plus, she seems to have a lot of memories of the culture of Matamoros. Questionable.
Now we are going to start seeing a whole bunch articles from the Seveirs and praising Dr. Lucio because now Trey Mendez is her husbands partner and of course Juan you have to suck up to them. Sad how sometimes a mear article of self praising shows up on this blog. Just like praising Mike Hernandez and Carlos Marin, not to mention George Gavito. I guess since Mike and Carlos candidates lost,their power over the city commission is over, here comes the new scammers.
Get used to it people, We are now going to have to read stories of self praising from Rose Gowen (puke) esta vieja Lucio Sevier, Trey Mendez, John Cowen,Nurith Galonsky,Ben Neece, Adela Garza, Sylvia Atkinson, Prisci and their click.
from now on I will read this blog with the same value as a grain of salt from the ocean during a hurricane.
Dont like the message? Attack the messenger. Brilliant!
Damn she is good looking. Anyone have her number?
To the blogger of 2:53 - hit the nail on the head. So sorry that this town has come down to be governed by those you mentioned in your answer.
Typical Mexican woman who is embarresed of her heritage marries a Gringo white boy because they so desperately want to be white. Same as Rose Gowen this Mexican married a white boy to take his name as Sevier. She uses Lucio for credibility with the Mexicans to show she is one of them, same as Rose Gowen instead of Zavaletta. When it is convenient to them they pull either last name to make themselves more important than the poor Mexicans they represent.
Viejas nacas.
Just like the newly installed off-white mayor El Coco so embarraed to use his real name JUAN!!!
The only thing I can't understand is why did the gringos voted for a off-white coco??? We'll soon find out
@July 8, 2019 at 5:26 PM
I agree
Put the title "Dr." in front of anybody's name and shazam they have no political adgenda. They are to be believed as a neutral disinterested party. I am calling bullshit on this.
Let me see if I got this right. We live in a place where Democrats have vastly superior numbers. Democrats are the party that passes themselves off as inclusive, non-racist and color blind. Yet here we are on a Democrat blog with comments filled with racism and racial animas.
It would make a fellow or gal believe that Democrats, at least the local variety, are either hypocrits or DINOs (Democrats in name only).
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