In a shocking incident, an 11-year-old Texas schoolgirl took her own life after months of constant taunting from her sixth-grade classmates regarding her family's immigration status.
Some classmates of the deceased even bullied her, saying that they will call US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and ask them to deport her.
ICE is in charge of upholding immigration rules, which includes holding and expelling illegal foreign nationals. ICE is now at the center of the immigration enforcement discussion.
The girl's mother, a single parent, was called on February 3 to inform her that her daughter tried to commit suicide inside the Gainesville, Texas, home where the family resides. However, her 11-year-old daughter passed away on February 8 after being sent to a critical care unit in Dallas, as per a GoFundMe page.
Speaking to Univision about her daughter's death, the mother said, “I waited a whole week for a miracle that my daughter would be well, but unfortunately nothing could be done.”
Texas girl's death probe launched
The Gainesville Intermediate School knew that the girl was being teased and harassed by pupils who threatened her that she would be abandoned if her parents were deported. She was seeing a school counselor several times a week due to a surge in teasing incidents. However, the school reportedly never informed her family.
{{/usCountry}}The Gainesville Intermediate School knew that the girl was being teased and harassed by pupils who threatened her that she would be abandoned if her parents were deported. She was seeing a school counselor several times a week due to a surge in teasing incidents. However, the school reportedly never informed her family.
{{/usCountry}}The mother is now collaborating with investigators and the school to figure out what exactly went wrong and why the the family wasn't informed.
“My daughter will always live for me, and I will always love her,” the mother said while remembering her 11-year-old daughter.
The death of the sixth-grader coincides with the Trump administration's stepped-up attempts to deport immigrants who are unlawfully residing in the country. The White House on Tuesday released a video of shackled migrants being forced to board an aircraft destined for an unidentified location.
‘Stop dehumanizing immigrants,’ say netizens
Reacting to her death, several X users called for justice and punishment for the culprits.
“I hope and pray that the parents of her bullies burn in hell for raising such God awful “children”," one X user wrote.
“Why isn't this national news?” another asked.
“She died by suicide after classmates threatened to call ICE on her family. Stop dehumanizing immigrants. Stop celebrating shackled immigrants being led onto airplanes back to war zones and crime scene scenes. That is not America,” a third user commented.