8-year-old who died in US Customs and Border Protection custody has been identified by Honduran State Department
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Migrants board Border Patrol vehicles along the border wall in El Paso, Texas, on May 11.
CNN
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The Honduran State Department has identified the 8-year-old girl who died in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody in Harlingen, Texas, as Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez.
Reyes died Wednesday at a Harlingen hospital, and her family is receiving consular services from the Honduran consulate in McAllen, Texas, according to a news release issued by the State Department.
“The Honduran Consulate in McAllen, Texas has requested the US Border Patrol for the respective report regarding the death of the minor,” the statement said.
A full autopsy has been ordered, according to Justice of the Peace Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family,” Garcia said.
On Wednesday, US Customs and Border Protection announced that the girl had “experienced a medical emergency” while at a border protection facility with her family. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital, according to the news release. The release added that the agency is conducting an investigation and has notified the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and the Harlingen Police Department.
The girl’s parents have been released from immigration custody and will be on their way to New York to meet with the family, the Honduran Foreign Ministry told CNN.
Once in New York, the family plans to attend their immigration hearings and apply for asylum, according to the department.
The Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working to assist the Reyes family with the transfer of their daughter’s body to New York, where she will likely be buried, the ministry said.
Reyes’ death came days after an unaccompanied 17-year-old from Honduras died in Florida while in the care of the U.S. Department of Health’s Office of Refugee Resettlement.