Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin is a 7-year-old migrant child from Guatemala.  She died in the custody of US border officials on December 8th 2018.  

She was extremely close to her father and was excited beyond belief to make the journey to America with him. They hoped to seek asylum from destitute living conditions, with the aim to provide monetary support to improve the lives of their family back home.  She began the journey wearing the first, and what would be the last, pair of shoes that she would ever own.  Although there have been claims that Jakelin and her father had been traveling through the desert for several days without food or water, Jakelin’s father, Nery Caal, explained that they were dropped off by bus in Northern Mexico only a 90-minute walk to the border.  Jakelin had not been deprived of food or water on the journey and so appeared to be in good spirits upon arrival. It was not until after she was in the custody of border patrol that she suddenly fell sick. Her father then notified officials but they failed to respond for an hour and a half. At that point she had stopped breathing and later passed away after being rushed to a hospital.

Cynthia Pompa, the advocacy manager for the American Civil Liberties Union border rights centre, said the number of migrant deaths had increased last year even through the number of border crossings had decreased: “This tragedy represents the worst possible outcome when people, including children, are held in inhumane conditions. Lack of accountability, and a culture of cruelty within [Customs and Border Protection] have exacerbated policies that lead to migrant deaths.” 

In the painting, the halo behind Jakelin is collaged with cut out foliage decals from the American dollar bill. This represents the billion-dollar industry that is paid for by federal tax dollars to detain migrants and manage migrant shelters.  It represents a government that enshrines life only to the extent that it has an economic interest.  As Tamir Kalifa in a New York Times article illustrates, in the private companies charged with holding immigrants there are “financial improprieties and poor management. The charity [shelters] stockpiled tens of millions in taxpayer dollars with little government oversight, possibly engaged in self-dealing with top executives and paid them significantly higher than the federal salary cap for migrant shelter grants.” 

There is a big profit being made off the migrant population and they are the ones paying for it with their lives.