Girl, 8, dies in US Border Patrol custody, officials say
The agency reports that an eight-year-old girl died while in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection after a medical crisis.
The girl and her family were detained at a border patrol site in Harlingen, Texas when she fell ill, the CBP said.
The agency reported that she was taken to a hospital in the area where she was declared dead on Wednesday.
It stated that it would be investigating the incident, and the Department of Homeland Security was notified.
This child’s death is the first reported in US Border Patrol custody in several years.
The government did not provide any information on the medical emergency the girl experienced or other circumstances surrounding her death. It said it would share more details as they become available.
It comes a week after a 17-year-old Honduran migrant who arrived unaccompanied in the US died at a government shelter facility in Florida.
It comes shortly after the expiration of Title 42, a Covid-19-era border policy that allowed the US to quickly expel migrants who crossed into the country illegally.
Border officials had been bracing for a sharp rise in migrant crossings in the wake of its expiration, though initial data shows US officials saw a much smaller surge than expected.
