Marco Antonio Muñoz died nearly a month ago on May 13, 2018, but it has not been reported by any local news, nor the Department of Homeland Security. The Washington Post reported it yesterday. Why not, I wonder? Is it because it illustrates the unspeakable cruelty of trump's "zero-tolerance" policy for illegal immigration? It had just very recently been implemented.
Mr. Muñoz had become agitated when ICE officials forcibly separated his 3-year-old son from him after he and his wife and son arrived at the processing station. Agents had to forcibly rip the child from his father's arms, and put take the mother and child away from him. They placed him in the chain link cage, but he was still so agitated, they needed to keep him somewhere more secure.
An ICE agent was quoted as saying, without a trace of irony or self-awareness,
“We had to get him out,” the agent said. “Those cells are about as secure as a dog kennel. He could have hurt someone.”
Remember. Those dog kennel cells are where they like to keep children when they are separated from their parents, too. And of course, the ICE agents wouldn't want anyone to get hurt.
After they transported the father to a local jail, where they placed him in a padded isolation cell. They checked on him every half-hour or so, where he continued to be extremely agitated. Who knew this kind of treatment would result in a father lashing out with anxiety, anger, and attempts to fight back? The next morning, on one of the checks, they found him dead from apparent suicide. He strangled himself with a piece of clothing.
In what can only be interpreted as an audition for our "president"'s communications team, an ICE official familiar with the case said:
[H]e couldn’t understand why Muñoz “would choose to separate himself from his family forever” by taking his own life.
I don't even know where to begin.