A 7-year-old Guatemalan girl who was taken into United States Border Patrol custody has died of dehydration and shock.
The Washington Post quoted US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as saying that the girl was taken in custody last week for crossing into the US from Mexico with her father and a large group of migrants along a remote stretch of New Mexico desert.
CBP stated that the girl and her father were taken into custody on December 6 as a part of a group of 163 people who approached US agents to turn themselves in.
It was further divulged that eight hours after she was taken in custody, the girl began having seizures and it was found that she had not eaten or consumed water for several days.
Extending his condolences to the family of the deceased child, CBP spokesman Andrew Meehan said, "Border Patrol agents took every possible step to save the child's life under the most trying of circumstances. As fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, we empathize with the loss of any child."
The girl's death will now intensify scrutiny of detention conditions at Border Patrol stations and CBP facilities that are increasingly overwhelmed by large numbers of families seeking asylum in the US.
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