An eight-year-old boy from Guatemala died shortly after midnight on Christmas Day after being apprehended over an illegal entry attempt within the past month.
In a statement, US Customs and Border Protection said the eight year old had displayed “signs of potential illness” on Monday and was taken to a hospital in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where the boy was diagnosed with a cold and a fever. He was released with medical prescriptions yet returned to the hospital on Monday evening after he began vomiting, where he died just hours later, the statement added.
The agency said that the cause of death had not been determined, and that the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector-general and the Guatemalan government had been notified.
