Border Wall Debate: Merkley Makes Third Trip To Southern Border

PORTLAND, OR – Jeff Merkley made his third trip to the southern border since last June. Merkley, a Democrat who is Oregon's junior senator, was in New Mexico investigating the death of Felipe Alonzo-Gomez, the 8-year-old boy from Guatemala who died on Christmas Day while in United States custody.

Alonzo-Gomez and his father had crossed the border hoping to get asylum.

Merkley visited the cell where the child was held as well the Alamogordo Border Patrol Station, the point where he had crossed the border with his father.

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"It’s chilling to know that an 8-year-old came here seeking a better life—and now is dead," Merkley said Monday. "We need to do everything in our power so this never happens again.

"The death of any child is a tragedy. As a parent, I can't imagine the heartbreak of fleeing to a new country, only to watch your child die just at the moment you thought you had reached safety."

A preliminary autopsy said the boy had the flu but his death is still under investigation.

Merkley first visited the border last June when he went to a child detention center in Brownsville, TX hoping to get a fist-hand look at how children who had been separated from their parents were being treated.

He was turned away.

In December, he returned to Texas to get a look at internment camps that were housing families as well as a ten prison being used to house children.

"I want to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again," Merkley said Monday.

Merkley made his visit the same day that the White House said that President Trump will make his first visit to the border this Thursday. The White House has also asked the networks to cover a presidential speech live Tuesday night.

Photos via Sen. Jeff Merkley.