Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images/FILE
Migrants board Border Patrol vehicles along the border wall in El Paso, Texas, on May 11.
CNN
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An 8-year-old girl died while in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection in Harlingen, Texas, the agency said Wednesday.
The girl and her family were in custody at a CBP facility when she “experienced a medical emergency,” the agency said in a news release Wednesday evening, without providing details.
– The medical service was called to the station and transported her to the local hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the announcement states.
The Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating her death, which is consistent with protocol, CBP officials said.
The child’s death comes days after an unaccompanied Honduran 17-year-old who was housed in a Florida shelter died while in the care of the U.S. Department of Health’s Office of Refugee Resettlement, according to a congressional announcement obtained by CNN last week .
Last week, immigration officials said in a lawsuit that increasing migration combined with the end of Title 42 “is overwhelming US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities that risk widespread health and safety risks for migrants, government employees and the public.”
Detention facilities along the US-Mexico border overflowed capacity following a surge in migrant passengers ahead of the expiry of Section 42, a Covid-era border restriction that was lifted last week.
