tonight, border crisis. death of a dream. one mother's decision to protect her daughter ending in heartbreak. >> translator: i would ask her to forgive me. >> why she says the u.s. government is to blame for her toddler's death. >> the moment you're detained, the u.s. government becomes responsible for your health care. >> with tens of thousands of immigrants hoping to find a better life over the border, abc's tom llamas shining a light on the quality of medical care inside detention facilities and the families that say they lost too much. this special edition of "nightline" will be right back.

this special edition of "nightline," "border crisis, death of a dream," continues. >> reporter: that giggle, that curiosity. everything in the world was new for little maria juarez. >> translator: i had many dreams for her. she was my whole life. when she was born, she was really beautiful. and as she got older, she was a

really smart girl. >> reporter: maria was not even 2 years old when her mother jazmine made a decision that would change both their lives, to flee the dangerous impoverished guatemalan city where she says she lived in fear of an abusive husband. >> translator: i would ask her to forgive me. i would say to her, you don't deserve this, your life is going to change, love. >> reporter: in search of a better life, jazmine decided she would seek asylum in the united states and joined the tens of thousands of men, women, and children making that dangerous journey north. >> translator: i knew about the risks for her, but i would tell myself, she's not the only one. many children have crossed under the same conditions, and they're okay. >> reporter: jazmine and maria made the 1,500-mile journey from guatemala through mexico and illegally across the texas border safely. only to face tragedy in the

country she thought was her family's salvation. what happened to them would shine a stark light on what critics say is an overstressed system of medical care in immigration detention centers. >> more family detention means more vulnerable children in the same dangerous system. >> reporter: upon crossing the rio grande on march 1st of this year, jazmine and maria were immediately detained by border patrol. days later transferred to a family detention center in dilley, texas. talk about marie's health at this point. >> translator: she was normal. she was happy. she was playing with all the kids in her group. >> reporter: medical records obtained by abc news show there was no indication that maria was sick when she entered the facility. but that all changed within days. >> translator: i would touch her forehead and it was hot. i felt she was coughing too

much. there was so many people there, so many sick kids. >> reporter: jazmine took maria to the facility's clinic where staff and medical care is provided by i.c.e., immigration and customs enforcement health services. a physician's assistant diagnosed the toddler with an upper respiratory infection, prescribed tylenol and honey packs, told jazmine to follow up in six months. the next day the temperature spiked to 104 degrees. more coughing, congestion. now diarrhea and vomiting. jazmine took her young daughter back to the clinic, this time another physician's assistant diagnosed her with an ear infection and bronchiolitis, prescribing an antibiotic and fever reducers. did you ever see a doctor at this point? >> translator: no. >> you think they didn't care your child was sick? >> translator: i think there was so many people there that it was hard for them to make time to see this little girl or that little boy.

>> reporter: maria is examined three more times. only once by a doctor. but according to jazmine's legal complaint, maria keeps getting sicker. jazmine says she was begging clinic staff to take maria to the hospital, asking to be deported so she could take her daughter to a hospital back in guatemala. you were so worried about your daughter, you asked to be deported? >> translator: of course. but the answer they gave me is that i should wait. >> reporter: on march 23rd, jazmine got some good news. according to her legal claim, a nurse told her maria would see a doctor the next morning. but that never happened. instead, they are suddenly notified they are being released from detention to be sent to new jersey to reunite with jazmine's mother, a decision medical experts we spoke to say was inappropriate without a medical exam for clearance to travel. nobody told you, don't get on that airplane with your daughter? >> translator: nobody, nobody, nobody. nobody was there for us.

>> reporter: it was a grueling 19-hour travel day. jazmine says along the way, maria was listless and vomiting. when they arrived in new jersey, maria was finally taken to a hospital. >> translator: and i asked god for forgiveness. for everything that i did. for having brought maria here. i begged him with my whole heart and i said, tell me what to do and i will do it, so long as you save my daughter maria. >> reporter: but the respiratory infection had already taken its toll on her little lungs. after six weeks, every single day in a hospital, maria died with her mother by her side. doctors we shared maria's medical records with caution that it's impossible to know if she would still be alive today if she had received better care. but they did tell us viral bronchiolitis doesn't have a cure, usually it just has to run its course.

they did say maria's care at dilley was troubling. right now more than 42,000 people are held daily in immigration detention centers. some 14,000 are children. watchdog groups say at times they're being detained in unhealthy conditions with inadequate medical care and limited access to doctors. >> regardless of what you think about illegal immigration, once someone is detained by the u.s. government, that person is our responsibility. >> the moment you're detained, the u.s. government becomes responsible for your health care. >> ethically we have to make sure we keep those people alive? >> that's correct. >> reporter: for years dr. mark stern was a paid consultant for the department of homeland security where he investigated allegations of insufficient or poor health care systems in i.c.e. immigration detention facilities. are you surprised people are dying? >> i'm displayed people are dying. it bothers me tremendously. it doesn't surprise me to the

extent that the system that i know of that exists is a broken system. and you get what you pay for. if you design a system or allow a system to be bad, then you get bad outcomes. from that standpoint, no, i'm not surprised that people are dying. it is preventible. >> when you were at the department of homeland security, did you see similar incidents? >> i cannot talk about that. >> why is that? >> i signed a nondisclosure agreement. >> why would the department of homeland security want you to keep quiet about poor medical practices? >> i don't know. you would have to ask them. >> reporter: dr. stern now volunteers his time reviewing medical records of those who died in detention for human rights watch. according to the nonprofit, there have been 81 deaths since 2010, 12 in this year alone. so far human rights watch has only been able to obtain medical records for 52 detainees who died since 2010. it says almost half those deaths were linked to substandard care. >> we're seeing cases of people who have been in detention for

days, weeks, sometimes years, and developed problems that are easily identifiable and fixable. >> reporter: jazmine says they are now seeking justice and have filed a wrongful death claim seeking $60 million from the federal government. in it, jazmine calls the medical care provided by i.c.e. "woefully inadequate, neglectful, substandard." i.c.e. says it can't comment on the death of maria juarez because of ongoing litigation but says it takes very seriously the health, safety, and welfare of those in our care. when we come back, shocking allegations of what happened to a father of six in detention. >> translator: i told the guard and he says they only take them to the hospital when they're dying. and a former detention center employee speaks out. did this cause a danger to the detainees? >> my opinion, absolutely. i wanted more from my copd medicine...

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this special edition of "nightline" continues. >> reporter: this lush, verdant region of mexico is known for its monarch butterflies and rich agriculture. but devastated by poverty and a hotbed for drug cartel violence. many here feel they have no choice but to go north in order to support their families. your husband went to the u.s. because he ran out of money? >> translator: i would have preferred for him to stay here with me, of course. but he said he could not support his family here, and that's why

he was leaving. he said it was so that we could give the kids a better life. >> reporter: so paula's husband gerardo cruz, like so many other fathers, left his wife and six children behind in hopes of a better future. but he would never return. gerardo crossed the u.s./mexico border on february 4th of 2016 with a group led by a coyote, a cartel member, who runs undocumented immigrants across the border. the group was detained by u.s. border patrol and taken into custody. this video shows him being interviewed by a u.s. border official upon his detention. >> translator: why did you come back here to the border? for what? >> translator: well, to cross again. it's very poor, and well, people are killing other people for no reason. there is no organized law. >> reporter: on february 11th he was placed in the otay mesa detention center, a sprawling facility in san diego that can house up to 1,500 detainees at a time. according to court documents when gerardo first arrives here

he had, quote, no medical problems. in fact, his cellmate said he was eating, playing dominos, going out to the yard. but by february 14th, the lawsuit says he saw a nurse at the i.c.e. medical clinic in complaint of a headache, sore throat, a cough, and nasal congestion. on february 16th, he again sees a nurse reporting his pain as a 9 out of 10. his cellmate alejandro chavez, seen here in this taped deposition, says he was so concerned gerardo was not getting proper medical care he called the mexican consulate to report the matter. listen to these phone calls obtained by abc news. >> translator: he's very sick but he hasn't been getting good medical care, and he hasn't eaten for several days. and anything he eats he throws up. but they won't take him to the hospital or anything else. i told the guard, and he says that they only take them to the hospital when they're dying. i'm hoping they're not going to wait till he dies. >> you don't they treated gerardo like a human? >> no.

i don't. >> reporter: angela zugman is the cruz family lawyer, suing the federal government, saying i.c.e. provided poor medical care and is suing core civic, the company that owns and operates the otay mesa facility, alleging as gerardo's condition worsened, a core civic guard ignored, even ridiculed his illness. >> alejandro, cellmate, says one of the guards was taunting him? >> yes. the taunting made me think, what is it about this facility? >> reporter: core civic and the guard insist it would have been impossible for the guard and alejandro to interact because the guard was stationed in a different area of the facility. but their own employee stated in a court filing the facility is designed for open movement, allowing detainees to move around freely. alejandro said he sought out the guard because he spoke spanish. core civic said gerardo was seen six times by medical staff, but the cruz lawsuit says never by a doctor until it was too late. at one point gerardo starts coughing up blood, according to

the lawsuit. alejandro, the cellmate, calls his wife and paints a desperate picture. >> translator: by the time we came back, his sheets were soaked in blood. we told the officer he was really sick, but no, the officer didn't want to, he was like laughing at him, and that was it. >> those [ bleep ] are really -- there's no human rights. >> reporter: core civic said the guard never said any of these things and he never impeded access to care or refused to assist. later that day guards take him to the clinic, where he sees a doctor and is sent to a local hospital. according to hospital records he had severe respiratory failure due to community-acquired pneumonia. three days later, another phone call. >> translator: my friend died. >> translator: no wonder. they let him die. >> translator: even now when i think about it, i feel like crying. >> you think they killed him? >> translator: well, yes. what else can you call that, other than they killed him? they refused to help him. if they'd helped him, maybe he

would still be alive. >> it could have been his death was swept under the rug and no one would have known what happened to him, and she'd get his body in a gray steel box one day. >> reporter: the otay mesa and the dilley detention facilities are owned and operated by core civic, one of the largest companies in the business of housing detained immigrants. >> we've defended other nations' borders while refusing to defend our own. >> reporter: and under president trump's policy on immigration, it's a booming business. one-quarter of core civic's revenue comes from contracts with immigration and customs enforcement. >> those who choose to break our laws and enter illegally will no longer be able to use meritless claims to gain automatic admission into our country. we will hold them, for a long time if necessary. >> reporter: this former core civic training manager who worked at the otay mesa

detention center is now a key witness for the cruz family in their lawsuit. he had left on medical leave weeks before the incident, but says he was troubled by the way the facility was run. he agreed to talk to us as long as we did not show his face. were you surprised gerardo cruz sanchez didn't go to the hospital until apparently it was too late? >> death will always surprise me in that kind of environment, because there are a lot of safety precautions put into that. however, it doesn't surprise me major incidents up to this happen, unfortunately, no. >> you felt something bad was going to happen? >> absolutely. >> reporter: these allegations made by the former employee who was promoted five times during his tenure are included in the cruz family filing. he says core civic prioritized profits over the well-being of detainees, and the company opened a new facility by increasing the amount of inmates by almost 50%, while cutting staff 15% to 20%. >> we'd supervise 64 on average, to now might be supervising 120.

>> did this cause danger to the detainees? >> my opinion, absolutely. >> reporter: the former insider says morale among the guards was low and stress and turnover was high. according to the lawsuit, the guard who allegedly callously dismissed gerardo's illness had worked 50 hours in four days. before gerardo was finally sent to the hospital. >> if staff don't feel management cares about them, which a high, high percentage don't, that's going to decrease the amount they care about how they're performing their job. >> reporter: core civic denies the former employee's claim of understaffing, saying the staffing pattern at the facility was appropriate and within the standard of care for a detention facility. they say their facilities provide safe and appropriate environments. core civic emphasizes i.c.e. health services is solely responsible for providing medical care. >> to the guard who was taking care of him what would you say? >> translator: why didn't you help him? just because he was mexican does not mean he did not have the right to be treated. even if they're mexicans, they go to the country to work, not to steal or to kill anyone or

commit crimes. they go to work, to fight for their families, to feed them. >> reporter: as for jazmine, she wanted nothing than to give her daughter a better life. instead she ended up losing her. her own asylum case pending, she faces an uncertain future and one without her daughter. what would you tell the people at dilley who were supposed to take care of you? >> translator: frankly, to me, it was completely irresponsible. i think they should think about the children. the children are little angels, and this is not their fault.

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this investigation is a call to action for all of us on capitol hill, that we need much tougher scrutiny and oversight. we need to have hearings on these deaths.