An eight-year-old Guatemalan migrant boy died in US government custody early on Tuesday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said, marking the second death of an immigrant child this month after being detained at the border between Mexico and the United States.
The immigration authority said the boy showed “signs of potential illness” on Monday and was taken with his father to the Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where the boy was diagnosed with a common cold and fever, and eventually released by hospital staff.
The boy was released after 90 minutes observation with prescriptions for amoxicillin and Ibuprofen. But later the boy was returned to the hospital the same evening with nausea and vomiting and died there just after midnight, CBP said.
CBP also stated on Tuesday that the cause of the boy’s death has not been determined and will be reviewed by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, and that the Inspector General has been notified of the death.
Democratic members of Congress and immigration questioned whether border agents could have prevented the death.
> Shiuly Rina
