Migrant mother plans multiple lawsuits after toddler detained at ICE dies weeks later

A migrant mother from Guatemala who alleges that substandard care at a Texas detention facility is to blame for her toddler’s death is reportedly planning to take legal action against the U.S. government.

CBS News reported on Wednesday that Yazmin Juarez, 20, and her 18-month-old daughter, Mariee, arrived in the U.S. in March seeking asylum. The young mother claims she and her child were then placed in a detention facility operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), where she alleges her child received inadequate medical care that lead to her death six weeks after they were released.

“She had an amazing smile and chubby cheeks. She had never had any serious medical conditions or chronic medical conditions of any kind. She was a healthy kid,” said Stanton Jones, Juarez’s lawyer, said, according to the network.

{mosads}Lawyers representing Juarez said her daughter contracted a respiratory infection at the facility, which they allege went under-treated for nearly a month. Juarez claims she sought treatment for Mariee and she was prescribed medication, including Tylennol and honey, that failed to help her daughter.

Shortly after their release from the center, the mother and daughter flew to New Jersey to stay with Juarez’s mother. The toddler would later be diagnosed for respiratory failure and hospitalized before dying six weeks later.

CBS News reports that Juarez now plans a series of lawsuits, one of which seeks $40 million in damages from an Arizona city that serves as the government’s prime contractor for the Texas facility.

Due to pending litigation, ICE has declined to comment on Juarez’s case. However, the agency said in a statement to CBS News that it “takes very seriously the health, safety and welfare of those in our care…including providing access to necessary and appropriate medical care.”