Baby held in locked room at airport (by Homeland Security!) dies

[KamaAina]

14-day-old Michael Futi was traveling to Honolulu for heart surgery -- from American Samoa. Yet DHS goons detained the family anyway, and Futi died of respiratory failure. A wrongful death lawsuit is in the offing.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/NEWS01/802120340/1190/NEWS01

A 14-day-old infant traveling here for heart surgery died at Honolulu International Airport on Friday after he, his mother and a nurse were detained by immigration officials in a locked room, a lawyer for the boy's family said.

The Honolulu medical examiner's office yesterday identified the infant as Michael Futi of Tafuna, American Samoa's largest village, which is located on the east coast of Tutuila Island. Autopsy findings have been deferred.

According to police, the child died at 5:50 a.m. It is unknown why immigration officials detained the mother, the nurse and the child.

Scott Ishikawa, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said the child went into respiratory failure while in the customs office, which is located near the baggage claims area of the overseas terminal. Airport paramedics were called about 6:10 a.m., he said.

So the Keystone Kops Homeland Security called the paramedics 20 minutes after the baby had died?! In the words of those Guinness ads, "Brilliant!" :sarcasm:

:cry:

[lisa58]

1. how sad

[wolfgangmo]

168. Sad

There is not any reason to hold these people that I can see. Admittedly I was not there. However, even if there was a reason, that reason was overrode by the illness of the infant.

Likely here is what happened. Some low level goon saw the brown skin, looked at the "arriving from" information and decided that they must me potential islamofascists and had them held until someone had "the time" to check their story. Was there a lunch break in there or did they just let them sit so that they "sweat" a bit. So someone may have or may only intended to call the hospital , and getting no info decided to hold them until verification.

When the mother and/or nurse started to plead they assumed it was just another clever islamofascist ploy to allow them access to the country so they could plant a "dirty bomb" at the guards beloved local WalMart. "We can't have those terrorists messing up my ability to buy cheap chinese crap," the guard must have thought.

Jeebus H. Christ on a Harley, but this was a boneheaded, mean-spirited, inhuman act.

There is no reason for it.

I work in a prison and we are not this callous and cavalier with prisoners lives. Why the heck can't these airport goons have a little compassion? A little humanity?

Sigh. We are walking down a long dark road. Can anyone see the end? When do we turn?

[PDJane]

2. I don't think of America as

a place with much compassion anymore. This is simply sickening.

[Mad_Dem_X]

16. I don't even recognize my country anymore

Every day, we get further and further away from what America used to be. I am absolutely disgusted.

[Elspeth]

76. Me neither.

This is outright criminal.

[jjr5]

104. This is ridiculous.

This is one of the saddest things I've heard. Poor child and poor family. So sad.

[bagrman]

156. Bet a dime to a donut hole this doesn't make the news, in the US.

[dh1760]

159. Outside of Hawaii, the only US news agency to pick it up...

is the Arizona Daily Star. Other than that, it's been picked up in Australia and New Zealand. However, it will eventually get wider notice, as the Daily Star tends to be linked to by a number of news websites.

-dh1760

[Sanity Claws]

3. So very sad

This is criminal.

[Solly Mack]

4. too angry to comment

K&R

[malaise]

6. Ditto

:puke:

[Stinky The Clown]

5. American Gestapo

Can anyone convince me that descriptor is inappropriate?

[aquart]

22. Works for me.

And if anyone thinks it was NOT created to be just that, they ain't thinking.

[lpbk2713]

27. There are several parallels

Both were created by the man at the top.

Both had free rein to do whatever they choose.

Both accountable only to him.

[ooglymoogly]

154. It is no longer a matter of hr. * alone. It is a democratic congress that is

giving him carte blanche to rob pillage rape and murder and sell the soul of this country. Think Diane Feinstein, Chuck Shumer (on the Mukasy matter), The evil Nelsons of Fl. and Nev. All in all 17-20 shape shifters and frauds in the new rubber stamp Senate alone. In other words The treacherous DINO's who are selling us down the river as fast as they can be bought.

[conscious evolution]

48. We have the Gestapo and the SS here now.

I know a lot of people who will be taking up arms against blackwater if they ever come to Atlanta under arms.

[bdamomma]

88. and the guns Americans have probably outnumber those Blackwater mercenaries

[Frisbee]

98. I'm sure they do...

... but don't forget that Blackwater is equipped with the finest the nations military can supply. Fully automatic, nightvision, incendiary and armor-piercing, body-armor, grenades of all types... you get the picture.

[conscious evolution]

101. That is what scares me

They draw upon some serious firepower.Including air support.

[reggie the dog]

109. gangs

american gangs have a lot of those same weapons.

[Recursion]

164. That's why Iraq was a cakewalk

Oh... wait...

[wolfgangmo]

169. and let's not forget the training that most of them have.

I work with some of these ex special service guys and take my word for it, it will take more than some nice guns to take these dudes out.


If they want to take over a city they will be able to unless every dick in the city is swinging at them.



Just saying

[comradebillyboy]

108. as a gun nut myself, I'll attest to that

we (us gun nuts) won't put up with any shit from Blackwater thugs, and that includes my right wing shooting buddies, who, like me , all have concealed carry permits and lots of guns and ammo. We shoot at least twice a month at our gun club, and I think I am a lot better with a gun than the average cop. Better armed too. By the way, there are lots more Democratic gun owners and recreational shooters than the average DUer might expect.

A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone. If you think the government will protect you, you are kidding yourself.

[greyghost]

155. Exactly, the cops can't even protect themselves much less us.

The Blackwater SS could suffer MANY more losses here then in Iraq.

[Echo In Light]

115. You said it

[wizstars]

124. I refer to it as the KGWB

think of it as the Soviet KGB with a W in the middle.

F&*%ing b@st@rds

[zingaro]

127. ooh

"the Soviet KGB with a W in the middle"

niiiiiiiiiiice. veddy veddy niiiiiice. Wish I'd thought of that.

[wizstars]

157. "vee haff vays of making you dalk, comrade......"

[Plague]

135. Stasi, perhaps...

With all the talk of torture and wiretapping, it seems almost as appropriate.

[Auggie]

138. Here's another scary group: InfraGard

The new corporate member spies who may target citizens and identify them as "terrorists"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2852341

[uppityperson]

7. k&r with condolences. How sad.

[gaspee]

8. They need to be tried

For manslaughter. Our fucking police state is a disgrace. Forget the goddamned candidate wars and work on fighting back the power of the police state.

[Hepburn]

34. I would say Murder Two....

...these bastards need to PAY!!! :grr:

[lpbk2713]

9. They can do this shit because they operate without any accountability.

They can do whatever they want to do and get away with it because they answer to no one.

That's how BushCo set it up and they would not have it any other way.

Unfuggenbelievable.

[kath]

58. Hey, they're keeping us safe from terra! Why should there be any accountability??

:sarcasm:

Jeebus H. Christ on a trailer hitch.

[90-percent]

10. Well then

I'm feeling safer already. Who should I vote for to further these efforts of my government to protect me from the terrorists?

-90% Jimmy

[niyad]

11. may ell those involved get EXACTLY what they deserve.

there are not enough words to express my outrage and anger over this situation--and over all the people involved in turning this country into something I don't know,and don't want to know.

if I believed in hell, I would say they should all rot there.

[lurky]

12. Wait a second...

The family was from American Samoa. As in the United States of America. Why would immigration be holding them? Aren't they citizens with the right to travel within the U.S.? Are we going to be detained on our flights between New York and Chicago now?

[lpbk2713]

14. They may have been brown skinned.

That would have been their first big offense.

:sarcasm:

Then it was downhill after that.

[Alcibiades]

143. I get your point, but it had to be something else

I would think that this wouldn't be the first time that someone in Homeland Security or the TSA or whatever stationed in Honolulu would have run across a Samoan. There's a fairly sizable Samoan community there, so one would expect that there's plenty of traffic between American Samoa and Honolulu--did this flight originate there? I mean, if there's a flight coming to Honolulu from Pago Pago (Hawaiian Airlines runs just such a flight three times a week), you wouldn't exactly single out a passenger for further scrutiny just because they were Samoan.

TSA's mission is to look for terrorists. Surprise, surprise, they find potential terrorists everywhere. They see anything unusual (such as a mother and a sick baby traveling with a nurse) as a red flag. 99.999999999999% of the time they are wrong. They have my toothpaste and my corkscrew. Is anyone made any safer from any of this bullshit? I think not.

[blondeatlast]

144. They might have had--GASP!--accents, too, like my 100% American citizen brown-skinned husband.

This is no longer my country. I'm deeply ashamed of it and I never thought I could say that. :cry:

[KamaAina]

28. American Samoans are U.S. nationals, not citizens

but that status does indeed give them the right to travel to the U.S. (There are about 4 times as many American Samoans living here and in Cal., Wash., etc. than on the islands themselves.) The major difference is that U.S. nationals can't vote in Federal elections.

American Samoa is outside the U.S. customs zone, so they would have to pass through immigration, but that should be closer to a formality than a cop-movie-style grilling.

[1monster]

57. Please explain the difference between American "nationals" and citizens. Does that

also apply to Puerto Ricans? What about national elections. Do they have the right to vote in elections?

If one comes from American Somoa, Guam, or Puerto Rica, do they have to go through naturalization to become citizens?

[Evil Librarian]

60. The residents of American Samoa need no more documents to enter the US then a person flying from

Nashville to Memphis do, with the exception of the "customs." American Samoa is like Puerto Rico, freely associated with the US, and under its federal law, but not citizens, but can become citizens by merely moving to a US state and meeting residency. Of course, then they have to pay federal taxes, but they get to vote in federal elections. . .
When going into Miami from San Juan, for example, the US citizens and PR residents line up on one side of the line, those holding foreign passports another, and the customs are not so interested in nationality as they are flora and fauna coming into Florida, and then it is the federal agriculture inspectors who give you the once over.
Yet one can get waved on through in Canada or Mexico at times!
This is an outrage against a national of the US, and due to the huge expat Samoan population on the West Coast and Hawaii, there is a chance the child and parents could be US citizens!

[gristy]

85. Thanks for all the detail!

I was going to say welcome to DU, but then I see you've been a member since last April!
So I'll just say this: post more often! :)

[elehhhhna]

36. Well, you know terrorists always travel with sick babies.

better safe than sorry

[TheMadMonk]

43. Um, it's been happening for a while now.

Just exactly what sand pit have you had you head in since 9/11 and the Patriot Act?

[lurky]

80. That was a rhetorical "wait a second"....

I though using a :sarcasm: was a bit too obvious. My mistake.

[MrsBrady]

119. that's what i was thinking...

plus....
why in the heck do you need to detain a sick baby? WTF?

[Warpy]

13. Oh, boy, is this one going to produce a stench!

1. How long were they in a locked room?
2. How long did they have to pound on the door and scream to get help?
3. Just who decided a critically ill infant accompanied by its mother and a nurse was a security risk?

My heart goes out to this poor mother, whose only crime was most likely flying while brown.

The first thing any incoming Democratic administration needs to do is disband DHS and fire every half witted goon the administration has hired to run it.

[KamaAina]

20. They couldn't have been in the room that long

the flight landed at 5:30 a.m., and the baby died at 5:50.

The answer to (2) appears to be "at least 20 minutes", because paramedics (who are right on-airport) weren't called until 6:10.

[truebrit71]

26. Amen to that! DHS has to be erased from the ground up.

.

[Gormy Cuss]

55. Don't worry, by the time HS has to explain it they'll have figured out a nice neat explanation

just like they did when the NY woman died in custody. It may take more time because the infant probably isn't on video having a hissy fit in the terminal.

I can't imagine what the mother endured just to lose this child within miles of the hospital and doctors who were prepared to take care of him.

[pengillian101]

79. Too sad

"I can't imagine what the mother endured just to lose this child within miles of the hospital and doctors who were prepared to take care of him."

Me neither.

[Krashkopf]

172. Disband DHS! Yes!!

You said:

The first thing any incoming Democratic administration needs to do is disband DHS and fire every half witted goon the administration has hired to run it.

Maybe NOT the first thing, I think restoring the Constitution and the Right of Habeas Corpus should come first, but I think disbanding the Department of Der Fatherland Security should rank right up there with OUTLAWING private Armies, like Blackwater.

[enlightenment]

15. I don't know where to start with this one.

Unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. This should be ALL OVER the news, but is it? Of course not.

Disgraceful.

[whatchamacallit]

17. Thanks for the security

:thumbsup:

[trashcanistanista]

18. I hope the mom sues them out of

business. I don't know if that's possible, but at the least every person involved\should go to jail for first degree murder. They are a disgrace.

[elehhhhna]

38. Congress will give them retro-immunity. Just watch.

[TheMadMonk]

44. No need. Congress gave it in '01. nt

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

19. Manslaugher or Negligent Homicide? Do you think this will happen?

I certainly don't. We are such a "Great" nation, aren't we?

:cry:

[trashcanistanista]

21. Where are the lawyers?

If someone steps up, it will happen. If it gets into MSM maybe one of the "big" corporate type celeb lawyers will step up. Paging Nancy Grace, where are you when we need you!

To have a nurse present really sways the case. Nurses give good testimony. Thank god for nurses and lawyers.

[walldude]

23. Sickening...

Everyone feel safe now?

[truebrit71]

24. This is a criminal case for the local DA to pursue. Good grief...

...methinks there will be several Fatherland Security folks up to their eyeballs in the shit about this...:grr:

[supernova]

25. Just Awful!

:cry:

Why was this family detained? Esp if they are American Samoan? :wtf:

[Bumblebee]

29. Hope this story is on the front page of EVERY major paper tomorrow!

Unbelievable.

[hvn_nbr_2]

37. By now, I think we all know that CorpoPravda won't touch this story. nt

[KamaAina]

41. The Advertiser is a Gannett paper

but note: in the print edition, this appeared on page 1 of the B section -- and the incident took place last Friday.

[blondeatlast]

145. Gannett, B section, a week after it happened... Our biggest downfall?

We have no press hungry for a story.

The glorification of the lazy-ass, starstruck, copy and paste media will be the downfall of this nation. It pretty much already is.

This story is a STUNNING example of it. :cry:

[bonito]

30. Also includes immunity for all involved as well

No impeachment for that offense. edit, wrong post, but I suppose the wh will want to pass another law to fit this crime as well.

[Hepburn]

31. Fucking Nazi assholes!!!!!

:grr: :grr:

[The Backlash Cometh]

32. !

[Arugula Latte]

33. What is wrong with these people?

:banghead:

[mindfulNJ]

35. I don't know what to say. Too terrible for words.

Why did they wait so long to call the EMTs???

[Contrary1]

39. Junior best get busy signing some bill into law...

so he can insert a retroactive immunity clause via signing statement regarding this atrocity.

[Rosemary2205]

40. Sigh.

Oh and Fuck you Homeland Security.

[Occam Bandage]

42. Some people had better get fired and tried.

[ConcernedCanuk]

45. Bad move HS, lawsuit on it's way -

.
.
.

American Samoa Baby Dies While Detained At Honolulu Airport

Wednesday: February 13, 2008

/snip/

Rick Fried, a Honolulu lawyer retained by the Futi family, said that immigration officials detained the American Samoa party in a locked room at the airport. A state Transportation Department spokesman said the boy went into respiratory failure while being detained in the customs office. He said paramedics were called about 6:30 a.m.

Fried, who is one of Hawaii's top plaintiff's attorneys, said the family plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit, the newspaper reported.

Link

And message to Rick

Watch your back . . .

[High Plains]

46. This is the third thread today about vicious law enforcement behavior

And some wonder why people call them pigs.

[1monster]

61. I'd never so insult a

pig. They are really rather neat animals.

[newburgh]

100. I doubt you saw this one on Friday, make this number 4...

The cop responsible has a long list of civilian complaints against him...

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/NEWS/802080335/-1/COMM03

[vickitulsa]

47. Monstrous! And I just viewed on tv a cop dumping a paraplegic

out of his wheelchair onto the floor at the Police Department in Florida!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2852847

See that story at the above link, plus OP provides link to the video, if you haven't seen it (and think you can stomach it). There is no (visible) blood; but otherwise, this is one of the most cruelly horrifying things I have ever witnessed via CCTV!

As a daughter of an extremely abusive, molesting, and small-time tyrant State Trooper who retired after 23 years on the force of the OHP only because he could not rein in his temper enough to satisfy his tough-guy LT anymore, I have been aware for a long time of the potential for abuse of their positions by "law enforcement professionals."

Now it seems everywhere I turn these days, even the so-called "mainstream" media is finding stories like these two compelling enough to publish. I'm wondering if seeing police types of all ilks so out of control is scaring even the corporate media/propaganda types just a bit?

I'm going to look for more on this story of the infant dying due to unforgivable actions by Homeland "Security." These incidents of cruelty and violence perpetrated on innocents and the helpless by armed enforcers seem to be increasing -- and they've been voluminous for years already!

Like others here, I do NOT recognize my country anymore....

[PDJane]

51. This is part of the fascist shift, too........

The fact that these men and women don't even try to cover their actions up means they assume that nothing will happen to them; they are immune.

I'm disgusted, not the least with the reactions I have had on another board to this article. One of those comments was, well, the baby would die anyway......and one was to the effect that Canada wouldn't do differently if we had someone arrive with no documentation. And a general complaint is that the article is too short to tell what really happened anyway.

I'm tired, and I'm uttertly gobsmacked. I don't think I can understand this at all.

[RuleOfNah]

63. "don't even try to cover their actions up means they assume that nothing will happen to them"

Or worse, assumed they were being patriotic.

[Libby2]

170. Oh my!!

[Jed Dilligan]

49. Baby-killers

[cutlassmama]

50. Prison/lawsuit

[Usrename]

52. No!

Is anybody ever going to try and stop this? Nancy?... Harry?...

[Matariki]

53. And did they 'tase' the mother when she got upset?

very sad.

[marmar]

54. I can't even come up with words right now....

:cry: :mad: :argh:

[Highway61]

56. My God

How Terrible. What country do we live in???

[bdamomma]

89. our country is being taken away from us, and when are we going

to hold them accountable. Or do we need to see more needless death. Sickening, gestapo state is right.

[myrna minx]

59. THis nearly made my teeth shatter.

My heart aches for this family.

[Kajsa]

62. How horrible- this is disgraceful!

They are completely responsible for that baby's death!

:cry:

I hope they get charged with the crime they committed-

murder!

:grr::

[Xenotime]

64. That's how they crack down on terra

[AX10]

65. The Department of Homeland Security is nothing but...

a terrorist organization.

[angstlessk]

66. More people have died at the hands of 'Homeland' security than terrorists since 9/11

this is just disgusting!

[DinahMoeHum]

67. A tragic example of "standing on a brick to kick a duck in the ass"

These DHS/TSA people are fucking assholes.

:evilfrown:

[Hekate]

68. Some aloha, dat.

x(

:cry:

Hekate

[enki23]

69. fucking awful

.

[Divine Discontent]

70. I hate the fascist regime

shame on these people. this is awfully evil, how can people go to bed at night after doing this shit to people and effecting their lives so horribly....

oh, I know, they just don't give a damn because they're happy going out to the airport parking lot, jumping in their lexus or escalade and heading home to get ready for a nice night out at a good restaurant and drinks.... soulless it seems...

[northzax]

137. Lexus and Escalade?

at $12-14/hour? what world do you live in?

[McCamy Taylor]

71. Solution (and a costly one it will be) is Homeland Security needs RN screeners

An RN will not risk his or her license allowing the minimum wage employees to lock up medically ill people like the woman who died in custody a few months ago or this baby who obviously needed to be in an ambulance on a monitor on the way to a children's hospital. With access to a defibrillator and oxygen and the right medications and intubation equipment the child might still be alive.

Yes, it will cost Homeland Security a bundle of money. But it will keep us all safe from Homeland Security. And that is what HS is for---our safety.

[EstimatedProphet]

152. Or we could just get rid of Homeland Security

[scarface2004]

72. so called homeland security sucks!

assholes!

[bagrman]

166. Homeland goons.Should be easily recognizable by their limp.

[lonestarnot]

73. They were not held even an hour. The group arrived on a Hawaiian Airlines flight that landed at

5:30. Was surgery scheduled for 5:35? Wrongful death claim? :shrug:

[orleans]

75. the baby died twenty minutes after the plane landed.

i wonder if the mother & nurse had an ambulance waiting to take them to the hospital--or were they just going to take a cab? sounds like that baby was in big trouble no matter what was going on. i'm just curious as to why it took twenty minutes for someone to call the paramedics after he died.

[lonestarnot]

81. It sounds like c student jobbers at the helm again.

[Divernan]

128. That 20 minutes/time of death estimate probably came from DHS PR

nt

[Cass]

74. This is so heartbreaking.

Why the 20 minute delay in calling for medical assistance? This is just awful.

[edhopper]

77. I wonder

if the real criminals will ever be brought to justice.

[LibDemAlways]

78. This is horrible, but it should surprise no one who

has dealt with TSA goons. They are dumber than dirt and paranoid as hell. I witnessed a 90 year old woman with Alzheimers being yanked out of her wheelchair at SeaTac after having her shoes literally pulled off. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had died of fright on the spot. She looked terrified. Her daughter, also a senior citizen, couldn't even comfort her mother because she was being publically felt up nearby.

This abusive shit ought to have the American public outraged, but they are mostly compliant sheep. When I told this story to a group of women in my neighborhood, they mostly agreed that the two woman could have been terrorists and I should have thanked TSA for protecting me so diligently. Idiots.

[Caria]

84. So sad

If they had not been in the custody of Homeland Security, they probably would have had access to emergency medical services IN the airport.

[Texano78704]

82. American Samoa?

Who would have thought that American Samoa was a hotbed of terrorism? I mean, that is what we are talking about here, detaining potential terrorists arriving here from regimes that support terrorism.

[LibDemAlways]

83. Welcome to DU!

The goons at TSA just act indiscriminately without rhyme or reason. About what we should expect from low paid morons who are handed a badge and given too much authority.

[KamaAina]

91. Far from it. American Samoa has sustained a higher ratio of casualties in Iraq,

per capita, than any of the 50 States. (Of course, its population is only 55,000 or so...)

And this is the thanks they get. :grr:

edit: header

[Connonym]

165. an infant American Samoan no less

you gotta be really careful, they're recruiting terrorists younger and younger these days. :sarcasm: (but hopefully that was evident)

God this is truly sick. I want my fucking country back from these CREATURES who have made it into something so grotesque. I don't like this version of America.

[JerseygirlCT]

86. Oh that's awful! Just unforgiveable.

I hope they successfully sue them for huge sums. Not because any amount of money will bring back their precious child, but because only HUGE money talks with these people.

[bdamomma]

87. people are not going to go to the States anymore it is getting to

gestapo like now, damn Homeland Security, I hate that name, Homeland, but everyday we are becoming like it. Damn.

[Indenturedebtor]

90. Disgusting

Thanks goons for protecting us against sick babies, their mothers, and their nurses. WTG you jackbooted nazi fucks. :(

[Dorian Gray]

92. That's truly a tragedy.

So sad for the baby and his parents. :(

[mdmc]

93. :(

:(

[caligirl]

94. when our elected officials are almost criminally stupid, its not surprising.

But I have questions.

The nurse probably had medical supplies that included syringes of emergency medications in the event of resp, or heart failure en route, resuscitation equipment.Where were those supplies? Did DHS take them and hold them while putting the baby in a separate room from either the supplies or and or the nurse. Did the children's hospital get a call from the nurse alerting them to their arrival and where was the hospital crew that might have been waiting for the baby at the hospital? Was the baby in a special travel isolate with monitoring equipment attached which would have been so obvious. Did DHS interfere initially with the nurses ability to provide life saving care to the infant in any way which led to resp failure?

[NMMNG]

95. Bastards!

:grr:

[Rex]

96. Wow, they murdered a baby. I guess there is nothing fascists won't

sink to. I hope they pay with their jobs and livelihood.

[emmadoggy]

97. This turns my stomach.

I can't imagine the horror and pain that mother must be going through.


:cry:

[TankLV]

99. If it were my child - I would commit myself to something that I cannot say here on DU. Period.

These fuckers should FRY...

I don't believe in the Death Penalty, but for these REPUKE assholes at our gestapo security department, I know they would pay...

[tuckessee]

102. Where is DU's resident cop bunny brigade? n/t

[drm604]

103. Not the first death caused by Homeland Security.

Some more examples:

http://www.thebody.com/content/legal/art42839.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HST/is_2_7/ai_n12937368
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/26/2096
http://www.aamovement.net/news/2007/ice_detention.htm

I have to wonder if they haven't caused the loss of more lives than they've saved.

[fortyfeetunder]

105. Outrage to the nth degree.

I can't contain my rage, and the more I read, I get sick to my stomach. This was fricking avoidable.

A newborn going into respiratory arrest in a customs room and no one could have helped this helpless little soul? The baby was critically ill? Where were the emergency personnel available to help him?


And my deepest sympathies to the baby's parents.

[FloridaJudy]

106. No words can express my feelings,

Just :cry:

I'm ashamed of being a citizen of this country.

[the808]

107. how sad

i was reading the paper at work today when i saw the little article the Advertiser ran. i almost missed it since i tend to just scan this Gannett owned entity. The bigger story was King Kalakaua's royal jewels on display for one day only, one day only!

[reggie the dog]

110. flying within the schengen zone of the EU

is so much easier. The damned Americans and Brits forced us to do that bs liquid ban, but other than that you just show your ID. There are no customs agents within the schengen zone so you have no customs when flying from Warsaw to Amsterdam and then from Amsterdam to Nice or Nice to Rome etc. So when I fly back from Amsterdam to Nice I know there will be no customs agents, that would violate Schengen. When I fly from Chicago to Florida I have been patted down, searched etc. Funny that this does not happen between the Netherlands and France but it happens between Chicago and Tampa.

[Voltaire99]

111. We're fighting the American Samoan babies OVER THERE...

...so that we won't have to...

...BLURP...SPLUTTER...

...fight the American Samoan babiess...

*** CRONK! ***

...over here?

[mojowork_n]

112. A search on Google News just now only produced two hits.

One from New Zealand, that was linked to seven or eight others, including the Honolulu link you had, and one from Australia, five hours ago. (This is Wednesday morning.)

This Hilo, Hawaii radio station link came from the first group, and has all the bare details:

http://www.kpua.net/news.php?id=13926

No other news reports from any of the states in the 'lower 48'.

[liberal N proud]

113. All for the grand illusion of security

This is just sickening.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

114. Revulsion, sadness, grief and anger.

:cry:

[gademocrat7]

116. How evil

Detaining a critically ill infant. For what reason?

[marshall]

117. This child should NEVER have been allowed o fly

My guess is that the US did not grant a visa to the child because they deemed him too ill to handle the stress of the flight. I adopted a child from southeast Asia and one of the main things the US consulate was concerned with was whether the child could handle the stress of the flight. Many children adopted internationally are ill and if they can't at least handle he flight they are not given visas.

[Redstone]

120. Uh, excuse me? The kid survived the flight just fine. It's DHS that killed him. Besides,

I doubt that you need a visa to go from a US Trust Territory to a US State.

Redstone

[marshall]

125. ....the child died less than thirty minutes after landing

Perhaps he needed to be accompanied by better medical staff. It would seem the stress of the flight exacerbated his condition. Not that there aren't faults to be handed out here. The forms were not done properly by somebody before they left A.S.
You are correct about American Samoa being a US Trust Territory and a visa not being necessary. The problem here is that the mother of the child was NOT a US citizen--she was born in Western Samoa.

[Divernan]

130. According to the DHS PR spokesperson?

nt

[northzax]

139. and the family's lawyer

so both parties seem to agree.

personally, I want to know how they got off the plane, got their bags and got to customs in under 15 minutes, that's remarkable.

[Marrah_G]

132. He barely survived the flight and died 20 minutes after landing.

Now I don't know the whole story and who fucked up where, but the child was obviously to ill to travel and probably would have died on the way from the airport anyway. This is a case where we really don't have all the facts and are reacting out of emotion.

[mainer]

141. Baby was fine on oxygen -- had problems only after lockup

"After about 30 minutes in this warm, locked room, the baby starts to have problems with his oxygen. ... We're way past the time when this baby would have been in good hands at Kapi'olani. ... The door is locked. They cannot get out....


"Futi, her son and Veavea arrived around 5:30 a.m. Friday morning after a nearly five-hour Hawaiian Airlines flight, he said.

During the flight, the boy was hooked up to an oxygen tank.

Later, inside the locked room, Michael's condition worsened..."

[marshall]

147. We've only heard so far from the attorney

When all the facts come out it may shed new light on the story.

[Ilsa]

171. mainer, I need the site for these quotes. Do you have them handy?

ITA with you that something is terribly wrong with what the DHS was doing. This should never have happened.

On edit: nevermind, I found the site further down which is more thorough.

[GOPBasher]

118. Those fucking pieces of horseshit better be charged with 1st degree MURDER. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

121. Full version here at this link :

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Feb/13/ln/hawaii802130417.html

Yes it is odd - the scant media coverage elsewhere.

I think this the saddest post I've ever come across on DU.

[TechBear_Seattle]

122. OF COURSE there is scant media attention about this

It casts the government in a bad light; the Junta would never stand for that, so the media engages in doublethink and blackwhite. Only traitors would call this the act of a wicked government agency.

[EvilAL]

123. Tragedy.

That's awful.

I have only flown once, and I was young, but it seems like breaking a small rule or something at an airport these days can fucking kill you. When people in "custody" die more than the actual people on the planes.. Watch out.

[gollygee]

126. Were they expecting an ambulance when he landed? He died 20 minutes after the plane landed.

I think the immigration people were very wrong to detain them and not get them to a hospital ASAP, but I wonder if he would have died anyway. It's really sad, but he died not long after landing. It would have taken more than 20 minutes to get the luggage and get out of the airport. So unless they had an ambulance with people who could help him waiting right there, I don't know if he would have lived regardless.

I can see actions against the people who detained them simply for detaining them when there was a sick baby who obviously needed medical help, but I'm not sure about the wrongful death suit. In order for them to be proven responsible for the baby's death, wouldn't it have to be proven that it's more likely than not that the baby would have lived if they hadn't been detained? I think that might be hard to prove.

[mainer]

133. The baby was on oxygen and doing fine on landing

Apparently there was a problem with the oxygen delivery system inside that locked room.

[gollygee]

134. Well 20 minutes without oxygen (one way or another) would kill anyone

that would certainly make their case much stronger.

It's absolutely a tragedy. :( They went there wanting help for the baby and the baby died. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to be locked in a room watching their baby die.

[northzax]

140. this is not the place

for cold logic, we have a good anti-TSA hate fest going on here, so stop it.

it is funny that everything the plaintiff's lawyer says is considered completely true and everything TSA says is considered a lie, isn't it?

they are going to be hard pressed to win anything here unless there is a lot more to this story than either side is saying.

[flasoapbox]

129. That's just fucking great

Now we're killing infants.

[poverlay]

131. .......screaming silently inside.....nt

[0007]

136. ........and this country wonders why were the most hated county

in the world.

This is beyond the pale.

[opihimoimoi]

142. Them Brown shirt dudes have really fucked up on this case. How Cruel and unwarranted

When will they grow a BRAIN...?

[debbierlus]

146. It is all hate. Wtf? How on earth could this happen?

Fuckers.

[blondeatlast]

148. Words fail me. May you finally be at peace, Michael, in God's embrace.

I'm so very sorry for what was done to you. :cry:

[Dukkha]

149. another validation for hating america

this fucked up country deserves it's own fate

[Broadslidin]

150. Behind Locked Court Room Doors, quietly settled & investigation documents sealed, Inc.

The Michael Futi Wrongful Death Case...?

Sorry, nothing appears on file..

[Summer93]

151. Heat a problem for infants

I think it may be an issue - infants don't handle the stress of being overheated especially one already ill with a heart condition. For the infant to spend time in a closed and hot room may too stressful for his young body to handle.

It is so sad, he was not a threat to our country, our country was a threat to him.

It is very very sad that he lost his life.

It is also sad that our security cannot discern anything that is NOT a threat.

[fascisthunter]

153. But, But, But... America's New Nazism is Good for Secuirty

yeah rrrrright.... this country is getting really fucking sick!

[goforit]

158. 20 min after baby dead........ Call 911 for the official pronouncement.

Homeland security......the tipp of the iceberg.

[Joe Chi Minh]

160. Is there no limit to the abyss of this Administration's moral turpitude?

I regret to inform you that you are being policed and herded by compliantly malign, epsilon-minus semi-morons, country-wide; the perfect employees of this regime. Moral bankrupty = the worst kind of stupidity. Indeed, in reality, it is the only form of stupidity, as will be made clear in the next life.

[Wise Doubter]

161. Would this have happened if the baby were WHITE ?!! n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

162. If the family were relatively poor, I expect so. They have to show

their muscle. "I'm in charge!"

[lb rox]

163. Homeland Insecurity

We got the Homeland Insecurity
Osama bin Laden got the better of me
Got no job, no revenue
The babies are dyin' and the rent is overdue

We got the Homeland Insecurity
In the land of milk and honey we get nuthin' for free
It's a long way to paradise
But you can get a ride if you can pay the price

Rock on.

[Lars39]

167. That's good, lb rox!

Welcome to DU. :toast:

[GreenPartyVoter]

173. Oh, God! This country stoops to ever new lows. *cry*