An 8-year-old girl died after suffering a «medical emergency» while in US Border Patrol custody in Texas on Wednesday, authorities said.
The girl and her family were being held at a facility in the city of Harlingen, along the border with Mexico, Customs and Border Protection said in a statement. No further details about the girl’s identity have been released.
«Emergency Medical Services were called to the station and transported her to the local hospital where she was pronounced dead,» the statement said, adding that the Office of Professional Responsibility would conduct an investigation as is standard protocol in the event of a fatality. .
The agency said it had contacted the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and the Harlingen Police Department about the incident.
Sergeant Larry Moore, a spokesman for the Harlingen Police Department, told the Associated Press that he had no information about the death.
The death comes days after a 17-year-old unaccompanied migrant from Honduras died at a facility run by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement in Florida.
The Honduran government named him Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza and called for a full investigation and criminal investigation if any wrongdoing is found.
On May 12, Title 42, a restriction related to the Covid-19 pandemic that places limits on immigration, was lifted. Amid fears of a large influx of immigrants, and after an initial increase, the numbers returned to normal.
Blas Nuñez-Neto, undersecretary for border policy and immigration at the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday that the daily average of «encounters» with migrants seeking to cross the border since May 12 had fallen. from more than 10,000 to just over 4,400, including fewer than 4,000 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“This represents a 56% decrease, or less than half the average found in the four days prior to Title 42 lifting, when Border Patrol found an average of 10,100 people each day,” he said.
In the four days after Title 42 was lifted, Border Patrol processed and released more than 6,000 migrants into the US without cutoff dates or the ability to track them.
Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala are currently the most popular countries of origin for migrants trying to cross the border, he said.