The government agency that takes custody over all unaccompanied minors who arrive on the border has been unable to answer questions about the number of children who have died in its custody in the years since President Donald Trump took office.

When children who are traveling by themselves either ask for asylum at ports of entry or are apprehended by Border Patrol, they are eventually transferred into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. ORR—an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—maintains a series of shelters for the unaccompanied minors, many of which are run by independent contractors.

As of now, two children are known to have died in ORR custody since 2017: Darlyn Valle, who died on September 29th, 2018, and Juan de León Gutiérrez, who died April 30th, 2019…

Pacific Standard Magazine