5th Migrant Child Dies in Custody of Border Patrol

Cause of Guatemalan teenager's death is unnkown
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 20, 2019 12:43 PM CDT
5th Migrant Child Dies in Custody of Border Patrol
In this 2017 file photo, a US Customs and Border Patrol vehicle passes along a section of border levee wall in Hidalgo, Texas.   (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

The US government says a 16-year-old Guatemalan died Monday at a Border Patrol station in South Texas, the fifth death of a migrant child apprehended by border agents since December. US Customs and Border Protection said Border Patrol apprehended the teenager in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley on May 13, per the AP. The federal agency says the teenager was found unresponsive Monday morning during a welfare check at the agency's Weslaco, Texas, station. The teenager's cause of death is unknown. The agency did not say why the teenager had been detained for a week, but said he was "due for placement" in a facility for youth operated by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Federal law requires the Department of Homeland Security to send minors unaccompanied by a parent or legal guardian to HHS within 72 hours of determining that the child is unaccompanied. A 2-year-old child died last week after he and his mother were detained by the Border Patrol. The agency says it took the child to the hospital the same day the mother reported he was sick, and he was hospitalized for several weeks. On April 30, a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy died after officials at an HHS detention facility noticed that he was sick. He was hospitalized in intensive care for several days before his death. After the deaths of two children ages 7 and 8 in December, the Department of Homeland Security ordered medical checks of all children in its custody and expanded medical screenings.

(More immigrants stories.)

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