Dec. 25 (UPI) — An 8-year-old Guatemalan migrant died in U.S. Border Patrol custody on Tuesday, the agency announced.
In a news release, CBP said the child, whose name was not released, was showing signs of illness on Monday while in custody with his father. Both were taken to the Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, N.M. The child was diagnosed with a common cold and, when evaluated for release, was found to have a fever, the agency said.
CBP said the child was given a prescription for amoxicillin and ibuprofen and taken back to the migrant detention center. Later Monday, the child began vomiting and was returned to the hospital and died there shortly after midnight.
“The official cause of the child’s death is not known,” CBP said.
A review is underway and the Guatemalan government has been notified.
In its initial release, CBP did not say how long the child and his father had been in custody.
The death comes less than two weeks after 7-year-old Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin, also from Guatemala, died in CBP custody in New Mexico.
Maquin showed signs of illness shortly after being taken into CBP custody. She was apprehended with her father and a large group of migrants that had illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said.
