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# In Whose Custody the Flags?
- URL: https://www.andyposner.org/whose-custody-flags/
- Published: 2017-01-10T16:06:49.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-21T01:17:07.000Z
- Description: The flags are at full-staff Though Jackeline is dead Of dehydration And the Guatemalan boy whose name Has not been released Is dead Of the flu—
- Author: Andy
- Tags: America on the Brink, Be The Change, poetry, America, Politics, protest, racism, social change, #Migrated-1784090317409, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-15 04:39

\[caption id="attachment\_5275" align="alignright" width="237"\]

Jakelin Ameí Rosmery Caal Maquin\[/caption\]

The flags are at full-staff  
though Jakeline is dead  
of dehydration  
and the Guatemalan boy whose name  
has not been released  
is dead  
of the flu—

They died in our custody.

The flags remain at full-staff,  
their stars going dim with grief  
as refugees beg  
for a glass of water  
or a dose of Ibuprofen and Amoxicillin  
on the kitchen counter,  
next to the bills and Church flier—

They died in our custody.

Just after Jakeline died  
but before the Guatemalan boy  
whose name has not been released,  
my son Richard was born  
at a world-class hospital:  
8 pounds 6 ounces. Apgar score of 7—

They died in our custody.

In whose custody are these flags?  
In whose name are they raised and lowered,  
repaired or replaced, honored or disgraced?

I ask because  
Jakeline is dead  
of dehydration,  
the Guatemalan boy whose name  
Has not been released  
is dead  
of the flu—

And they died in America.

—

*(Jakelin Ameí Rosmery Caal Maquin died in US Customs and Border Patrol custody at the age of seven on December 8, 2018\.* ([The Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/jackeline-caal-identified-as-guatemalan-migrant-girl-who-died-in-us-custody?ref=andyposner.org))

*My son Richard Alexander Posner was born on Saturday, December 22, 2018*

*The Guatemalan boy died in US Customs and Border Patrol custody on Christmas Eve, 2018, at the age of eight. He was later identified as Felipe Alonzo-Gomez.* ([CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/25/us/guatemalan-boy-dies-in-us-custody/index.html?ref=andyposner.org))

*Written Wednesday, December 25, 2018)*