Global Courant 2023-05-18 11:58:25
An 8-year-old girl died in Border Patrol custody on Wednesday, Fox News has learned. This is a rare occurrence, as her death appears to be the first death of a migrant child in border police custody since 2019.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed that the 8-year-old migrant girl died of medical problems while being held at a Border Patrol station in Harlingen, a South Texas town.
Migrant women and children in a shared room at Rescue Mission of El Paso. (Fox News Digital / Jon Michael Raasch)
“Emergency medical services were called to the station and took her to the local hospital where she was pronounced dead,” the statement said. The statement gave no further details about the nature of the child’s medical emergency.
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This is the second minor death of a migrant in federal custody in a week, the CBP said. Last Friday, May 12, a 17-year-old Honduran boy, who had arrived in the US as an unaccompanied child, died of a seizure while staying at a Florida children’s shelter run by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Migrants cross a barbed wire fence into the United States from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The U.S. prepares for the end of the Title 42 policy on Thursday, May 11, coupled with the coronavirus pandemic that is rapidly evicting many migrants seeking asylum to search. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
A U.S. Border Patrol agent checks identification of immigrants as they await processing by U.S. Border Patrol after they cross the border from Mexico in Yuma, Arizona on Dec. 30, 2022. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
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In 2019, former President Donald Trump faced backlash over his immigration policies after a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy died after falling ill at a government shelter in Texas.
The agency said it is investigating the girl’s death. Her name and country of origin were not released.
The death comes after Title 42 was lifted on May 11, allowing US officials to deny migrants coming to the US-Mexico border because of health concerns. This was instituted during the pandemic and was put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The border saw an increase to more than 10,000 a day in the days leading up to that order’s expiration, but officials say the number has declined by more than 50% since then.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a writer on Fox News Digital’s breaking news team. You can reach her on Twitter at @s_rumpfwhiteten.
