A seven-year-old girl from Guatemala who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with her father last week died after being taken into the custody, the U.S. federal immigration authorities said on Thursday.
The girl died of dehydration and shock more than eight hours after she was arrested, according to local media.
Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that the girl had not eaten or consumed water in several days.
It's unknown what happened to the girl during the eight hours before she started having seizures and was flown to an El Paso hospital.
The girl was traveling with a group of 163 people who approached agents to turn themselves in on December 6. She was arrested by agents near Lordsburg, New Mexico.
Central American migrants are taken in custody by U.S. border patrol officers after crossing the Mexico-U.S. border fence to San Diego County, as seen from Baja California state, Mexico, December 13, 2018. /VCG Photo
When someone was arrested by a Border Patrol agent, he or she gets processed at a facility but usually spends no more than 72 hours in custody before they are either transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement or quickly deported home if they are in Mexico.
The girl's death raises questions about whether border agents knew she was ill and whether she was fed anything or given anything to drink during the eight-plus hours she was in custody.
The Border Patrol has seen an increasing trend of large groups of immigrants, many with young children, walking up to agents and turning themselves in.
Agents in Arizona see groups of over 100 people on a regular basis, sometimes including infants and toddlers.
Arresting such groups poses logistical problems for agents who have to wait on transport vans that are equipped with baby seats to take them to processing facilities, some of which are at least a half-hour drive north of the border.
Tension on the U.S.-Mexican border has been running high since the arrival of almost 7,500 migrants in recent weeks. Last month, U.S. border agents used tear gas on a crowd of migrants, including children, trying to cross the border.
(Cover Photo: Migrants, part of a caravan of thousands from Central America trying to reach the United States, walk close to the border wall as they attempt to cross from Mexico to the U.S. in Tijuana, Mexico, December 13, 2018. /VCG Photo)