8-year-old boy from Guatemala died early Christmas morning, while in custody of US immigration authorities. This is the second death of a child, who was in the detention center for illegal immigrants, less than a month.
Monday, December 24, officers of customs and border protection noticed that the boy looks sick. Shortly thereafter, he and his father were taken to Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center, located in Alamogordo (new Mexico). The doctors decided that it was cold and, after observing patients for 1.5 hours, sent back to the center, issuing antipyretic and antibiotic.
However, by evening, the child began vomiting. According to employees of CBP, the father refused medical aid, saying that the boy is better — but then his condition deteriorated and the patient was decided to be back in the hospital. During transport he lost consciousness.
According to the initial statement, the boy died shortly after midnight, December 25, but according to the report released later, he died on 24 Dec at 23:48.
The official cause of death is still unknown. U. S. Customs and Border Protection announced that it will assess the health status of all children in custody of CBP, in light of the incident.
The situation is similar for the case of 7-year-old Jaclyn Kaal, who died 7 Dec. Just 8 hours after detention the girl died. The girl and her father were among the 163 immigrants detained by border guards while attempting to illegally cross the border. The cause of death was the temperature, septic shock and dehydration.
Her body was returned to Guatemala on Sunday.
Human rights activists increasingly are sounding the alarm because of the conditions of detention of refugees with both American and Mexican sides of the border.
