Kern County sued over death of boy, 3
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The biological mother of a 3-year-old boy who authorities say was killed by his foster mother is suing the county, alleging social workers knew and withheld information about the foster mother's mental health issues and troubled childhood.
Margaret Eichhorst, the foster mother, is charged with first-degree murder and assault of a child under 8. She's accused of killing Alejandro Perez Jr. last year.
The wrongful death lawsuit alleges county policies have led to the deaths of at least five children placed in foster care over the past six years, including the high-profile disappearance and presumed deaths of Orrin and Orson West. The West boys' foster parents were convicted of murder.
Filed last month, the suit seeks damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
A competency hearing is scheduled in June to determine if a court-appointed attorney will serve as guardian for Alejandro's mother, Ashley Sinden.
The attorney who filed the suit on Sinden's behalf says she doesn't understand the nature of the proceedings due to 'mental disability and severe and ongoing drug abuse issues.'
Alejandro was removed from Sinden's care after her then-1-year-old daughter suffered burn injuries in March 2023. Sinden was giving her daughter a bath when she noticed steam rising from the water and the girl started screaming.
The girl was taken to a hospital and Sinden explained to deputies that a former roommate was responsible both for the burns and the messy state of her home. She claimed the ex-roommate trespassed on her property after being evicted and tampered with the water heater — resulting in the accidental burns to her daughter — and dumped trash inside the home.
Despite her explanation, the suit says, deputies decided to remove the daughter, Alejandro and a teen boy from the home and placed them in protective custody with the Department of Human Services.
They arrested Sinden, but prosecutors decided not to pursue charges.
Some Social Security recipients could get 3 checks in May
The suit says the home was cleaned up the next day and the teen was returned a few days later.
The family could have been reunited at that point, the suit says, but 'that is not how DHS operates, once they have possession of children, they maintain possession for a period most usually not less than six months.'
In subsequent court hearings, according to the suit, DHS didn't give Sinden's relatives preferential consideration when deciding where to place the children. On Sept. 14, 2023, they ended up in Eichhorst's home.
They were placed there even though Eichhorst, during the application progress, said she had PTSD, depression and anxiety, and acknowledged 'her own trauma may impede her ability to provide safe and suitable care,' according to the suit.
Information on her mental health history was withheld from the court that approved their placement.
'This gross, inexcusable incompetence led to (Alejandro's) tragic death at the tender age of only 3 years old,' the suit says.
Alejandro was pronounced dead on Feb., 9, 2024, at Eichhorst's home in the 500 block of El Tejon Avenue. An autopsy determined he died from blunt force trauma to the head, and suffered internal injuries including bleeding to his chest and bladder.
Eichhorst has a preliminary hearing scheduled in June.
She remains in custody on no bail.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Boston Globe
39 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Some migrants detained in LA ICE raids have already been deported
Advertisement 'The way they deported him wasn't right,' said his father Javier, 42, who spoke on the condition that only his first name be used because he does not have legal immigration status. 'He is a calm, working man. We are asking for justice because they violated his rights.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up As protests over workplace raids in California's largest city continued Monday and the Pentagon announced it would be sending 700 Marines to backstop National Guard troops, immigration lawyers, advocates and relatives were scrambling to find information about those detained. Mexico's foreign minister said four immigrants detained in the raid had already been removed from the United States, a speed that some advocates said was unusual. The Trump administration has not released a total count of how many immigrants have been picked up in the raids that sparked a wave of unrest in Los Angeles and demonstrations around the country. But as the protests continued, a picture of who was detained was slowly coming together. Advertisement The Department of Homeland Security released information on 16 people who they said had criminal histories that included charges or convictions of crimes including robbery, sexual battery and drug possession, according to the agency. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News on Monday that those picked up in the raids represent the 'worst of the worst.' But immigrant advocacy groups say they have collected information indicating that more than 200 people were detained and that many do not have criminal records. Eva Bitran, director of immigrants' rights and a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, said that among the people detained is a woman who was pulled over while dropping her 4-year-old son off at day care. 'The people who have been arrested are our neighbors and community members and the workers that make the city of Los Angeles run,' Bitran said. 'We know there were arrests at car washes, at Home Depot - really the places where immigrants are just trying to go about their lives and go about their jobs.' The administration has sought to ramp up its daily arrest numbers as part of an effort to fulfill President Donald Trump's campaign promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said in May that the administration's goal is for ICE to make a 'minimum of 3,000 arrests' every day. Since then, the administration has increased its arrest numbers. Advertisement A senior DHS official last week credited ICE's 'enhanced enforcement operations and increased cooperation from local law enforcement partners' for the increase in arrests. The senior DHS official said that 2,368 people in the country illegally were arrested on June 4 and 2,267 on June 3. Those numbers are a dramatic increase from the roughly 660 arrests a day that the Trump administration touted during its first 100 days. Officials attributed the increase, at least in part, to the mobilization of other law enforcement units to bolster ICE's operations. These include the FBI, US Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. While DHS highlighted the arrests of some of those detained in Los Angeles, the agency did not answer further questions about the operation, including whether any employers were among those arrested and how many of those picked up had a criminal record. Immigrant and community advocacy organizations have established a hotline and a 'rapid response' network to quickly assist people facing detention and deportation. As of Sunday night, their emergency line had received more than 120 calls from distraught families, said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, a spokesperson for CHIRLA, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Cabrera said that advocates have obtained information for about a third of those taken into custody and that they include undocumented immigrants who had been in the United States for decades. Many also do not have legal representation and are being transferred quickly to detention facilities far from their homes, he said. Elaina Jung Hee Vermeulen was among a group of attorneys who waited for hours Sunday outside ICE's Metropolitan Detention Center hoping to speak with detainees. She said she had succeeded in speaking with just one of the more than a dozen individuals detained at Ambiance Apparel, whose relatives she is assisting. Advertisement 'We've been consistently deprived access to them,' Vermeulen said. 'There's a robust coalition of immigration attorneys ready and willing to consider representation for folks if they are kept in California, but we can't do that until we have access to them. It's been effectively impossible.' The garment factory operation devastated members of the tight-knit Indigenous Zapotec community, which has roots in southern Mexico. Many had been working at the warehouse for years before ICE descended on the location. The Biden administration ended workplace immigration raids and said merely being in the United States illegally wasn't cause for removal. But Trump has renewed the worksite raids, which can lead to arrests for alleged crimes. They can also lead to the detention and deportation of workers for being in the United States without legal papers, a civil offense. US Attorney Bilal 'Bill' Essayli said federal agents were conducting a criminal investigation and served a search warrant on the business related to an investigation about fake employee documents. Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' on Monday that ICE's raid in the Fashion District 'wasn't an immigration raid' and that authorities were carrying out 'criminal warrants' connected to money laundering, tax evasion and customs fraud investigations. When asked on MSNBC whether everyone arrested had a criminal record, Homan replied, 'Absolutely not.' He added: 'We're going to enforce immigration law' and said they'd do so 'especially in sanctuary cities.' Carlos Gonzalez's brother and uncle were two of those detained by ICE. The 22-year-old was half asleep when he got a call and said he could hardly believe it. He went down to the Fashion District and watched as several members of his Indigenous community were put in chains. He said he felt powerless. Advertisement 'You don't know how to help,' Gonzalez said. He was particularly concerned for his mother, who had already lost one son. 'It almost hurts more knowing your son is alive but you don't know how to reach him.' Gonzalez represented one of six families demanding ICE liberate their loved ones during a news conference on Monday just outside the factory's iron gates. Sons, wives, uncles and daughters held up signs with blown-up family photos. Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente said two of those removed from the United States back to Mexico had final deportation orders while two others opted to leave voluntarily. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called on the Trump administration to respect the rights of those detained in the immigration sweeps while also urging protesters to refrain from violence. 'We make a respectful but firm call to United States authorities for all immigration procedures to be carried out with adherence to due process, within a framework of respect for human dignity and the rule of law,' she said at a daily news briefing. Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, said anyone picked up with a final deportation order has few options. 'If they had final orders of removal and especially if they weren't responding, that means they had orders and never left,' he said. 'The position of the administration is that you don't even get a hearing, you already had a hearing and we're just executing the old order.' Advertisement Yliana Johansen-Méndez, chief program officer at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said her organization has confirmed with family members that two people were deported the same day as their arrest. After she heard about the first removal, she said, she thought, 'That seems really fast. Maybe we got it wrong.' But then, 'the next day we heard the same thing.'iedad attended the protest outside Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles on June 8, to show solidarity for other immigrants.

Epoch Times
an hour ago
- Epoch Times
DHS to Forgive Fines of Illegal Immigrants Who Self-Deport
Any civil fines and penalties an illegal immigrant faces for failing to leave the United States shall be forgiven if they self-deport via the CBP Home app, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in a June 9 The CBP Home app provides illegal immigrants a streamlined digital solution to


The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Noem: LA a ‘city of criminals'
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem declared Los Angeles a 'city of criminals' while slamming Mayor Karen Bass (D) and California Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D) handling of ongoing protests against the Trump administration's immigration raids. 'Today, we had over 400 to 500 targets we were going after that were known members of gangs in L.A. that have been victimizing people for years, that Gavin Newsom has done absolutely nothing about, that Mayor Bass has done absolutely nothing about,' Noem said during a Monday night appearance on Fox News' 'Hannity.' 'And now she's [Bass] holding press conferences, talking about the fact that people have the right to peacefully protest and that they're a city of immigrants,' Noem said. 'Well, they're not a city of immigrants, they're a city of criminals because she has protected them for so many years,' the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief added. Noem's remarks come as President Trump has deployed another 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, increasing the total count to 4,000, according to Newsom. Trump has argued the deployment of National Guard troops is necessary to address violence as protesters clash with law enforcement while protesting ramped-up Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations that have taken place in recent days. The Pentagon has also deployed about 700 Marines to Los Angeles to protect federal buildings and officials. Trump's moves have been criticized by Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D), who sued the administration on Monday over the decision to send in the National Guard, deeming it an 'unprecedented power grab.' 'And so, we're coming in and doing what the president has said that he's going to do and he's going to allow people to live in a safe community again and we're going to use the authority that he has as president of the United States to conduct these operations,' Noem said Monday night. The DHS secretary said that 'the more that people' use violence against law enforcement, 'Boy, we're gonna hit them back and we're gonna hit them back harder than we ever have before.'