Two children have died in US border custody this month
On Christmas Eve, an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy who suffered a cough, vomiting and fever died in U.S. custody at a New Mexico hospital. The boy, identified by Guatemalan officials as Felipe Gomez Alonzo, was the second child in three weeks to die while being detained near the U.S.-Mexico border by U.S. authorities.
Jakelin Caal, 7, also Guatemalan, died Dec. 8. at an El Paso children's hospital after being detained with her father and while preparing to travel by bus to a Border Patrol station in New Mexico.
The back-to-back deaths prompted an outcry from immigration activists, politicians and human rights groups and raised questions about the Trump administration policies that have separated children and parents and filled detention centers.
How did they die?
Felipe, along with his father, had been detained for a week after trying to cross the border illegally near El Paso on Dec. 18. Because of "capacity levels" in El Paso, they were moved to the Border Patrol station at Alamogordo, New Mexico, two days later, the CBP said. The next day, Felipe was sent to a hospital after a border agent noticed Felipe was coughing and had “glossy eyes,” the CBP said.
After being diagnosed with a cold and a fever, Felipe was prescribed amoxicillin and Ibuprofen. The CBP said he was held 90 minutes for observation and released Monday afternoon. That evening, he was sent back to the hospital with nausea and vomiting and died hours later.
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