U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reopened its McAllen processing center after closing it temporarily due to a possible flu outbreak in which a 16-year-old from Guatemala died.
Border Agent Chris Cabrera says a total of 32 illegal aliens being held at the facility tested positive for influenza, forcing officials to shut it down for cleaning, and send detainees elsewhere.
“We're having to send them to stations that already are overcrowded, there's just no where left to put them,” Cabrera told KGBT television. “We're trying to put people in every available spot that we have.”
Cabrera says border agents assigned to the facility also have fallen ill.
“Respiratory infections. Some of them have gotten scabies from being in there,” he says. “Most of the guys just keep soldiering on. They get sick. They have a terrible cough. They just push through every day and go to work."
The White House called the teen's death a tragedy, adding this is exactly what President Trump is working to prevent.