US: Migrant minors marked with numbers video goes viral
Video's release comes on heels of death of 7-year-old girl who died in US custody
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
Video of migrant children with numbers marked on their arms has gone viral after a 7-year-old girl died in U.S. custody of apparent septic shock.
The MSNBC news network first reported on the practice this weekend following the death of Jakelin Caal
While being put on a bus en route to a border patrol facility in Lordsburg, New Mexico,
She died hours later Dec. 8 at a hospital in El Paso, Texas, after she was flown to a children's hospital there.
Children, with numbers on their arms & their lives on the line wait to cross into the US from Juarez, Mexico. More tonight with @Lawrence on @TheLastWord #MSNBC pic.twitter.com/J4k7NWwNzP
— Cal Perry (@CalNBC) December 15, 2018
Official autopsy results have yet to be made public. Sepsis occurs when the body seeks to respond to an extreme infection and can lead to organ failure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Department of Homeland Security said her father denied
"The initial screening revealed no evidence of health issues," the department said in a statement. "During the screening, the father denied that either he or his daughter were ill."
Some have drawn parallels between the practice and the tattoos Nazis would use to identify Jewish prisoners in concentration camps.
"Visions of Auschwitz," commented Twitter user @bob_glatter, referring to the infamous Nazi concentration camp in Poland.
The numbers
Migrants from Central America have been increasingly seeking to reach the U.S. amid widespread poverty and gang violence in the region.
Large groups