New York authorities are investigating the death of an 11-year-old immigrant. The incident occurred in the Stratford Arms Hotel shelter on the city's Upper West Side. The child was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Guadalupe Aguais, from the Aid for Life organization, confirmed to Telemundo that the child was Venezuelan and that his identity has not yet been reported. Likewise, it was detailed that the hotel removed solitary asylum seekers in September and became a shelter exclusively for immigrant families.
Mayor Eric Adams explained that the boy was found with a shoelace around his neck. He maintained that he understands the parents' pain and announced that the incident could have been a suicide, despite the fact that the police are investigating the case.
"An 11 year old child was found with a shoelace around his throat. And when you think about it, and some of the numbers, I think the last number I looked at, 17 percent of our children in high school have serious suicidal thoughts. These are some very scary moments for our children, and it's very painful. It hurts a lot." Adams said during a meeting with the media.
Very painful. You know, sometimes this job, and I can only imagine the trauma that my team has experienced over these last 24 months where I don't think anyone up here who's not a parent and getting that call, there's some notifications that we receive that just makes you just say, damn.
'Should we have done more?' asks New York mayor
Finally, the Democratic mayor questioned whether the government has done enough to care for children, especially immigrants. However, he insisted that he has focused on managing the immigration situation to the best of his abilities.
"You start to ask, did you do enough? Should we have done more? And we know we've done all we could possibly do with what we have, but it hurts a lot. There's a human part of this job," Adams highlighted.
