Seven-year-old girl dies in U.S. custody
WASHINGTON (AP) — Immigration officials say an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death of a 7-year-old migrant girl who suffered seizures in custody and later died.
Officials say the girl was found Dec. 6 near Lordsburg, New Mexico, by U.S. Border Patrol agents. They say the girl was taken into custody for about eight hours and then began having seizures.
Emergency medical technicians discovered her fever was 105.7 degrees Fahrenheit (40.9 degrees Celsius). The girl was airlifted to an El Paso, Texas, hospital, where she died.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson sent condolences to the girl’s relatives, saying US Border Patrol border “always takes care of individuals in their custody and does everything in their power to keep them safe”.
“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and the best efforts of the medical team treating the child, we were unable to stop this tragedy from occurring,” the spokesperson added.
“Once again, we are begging parents to not put themselves or their children at risk attempting to enter illegally.”
Thousands of migrants have travelled from Central America to the US border.
The migrants say they are fleeing persecution, poverty and violence in their home countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Tension has been running high on the US-Mexican border since the arrival of almost 7,500 migrants in recent weeks. The Trump administration has been under fire for their treatment of immigrants at the United State border with Mexico.
This tragic death of a seven-year-old girl is not likely to help matters in the ongoing debate in Congress.