Eight-year-old Guatemalan dies after being detained by U.S. border agents

Reuters- An eight-year-old Guatemalan migrant boy died shortly after midnight on Tuesday (December 25)after being detained by U.S. border agents, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a statement, the second migrant child this month to die in U.S. detention. The boy and his father were in CBP custody on Dec. 24 when a Border Patrol agent noticed the child showing signs of illness, CBP said. The father and son were taken to the Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where the boy was diagnosed with a common cold and fever, and eventually released by hospital staff. But later that evening, the boy began vomiting and was transferred back to the hospital. He died at the hospital shortly after midnight, CBP said, adding that the official cause of death is not known. The father and son were not identified, and the agency said it will release more details "as available and appropriate." Guatemalan officials have been notified of the death, CBP said. The Guatemalan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is the second instance this month of a migrant child dying after being detained by U.S. border agents. Earlier in December, seven-year-old Jakelin Caal, also from Guatemala, died after being detained along with her father by U.S. border agents in a remote part of New Mexico. The Trump administration has tried to deter people from crossing the border between ports of entry illegally to seek asylum, while at the same time restricting legal access to official ports of entry. That has created a months-long wait for asylum applicants, including those who came as part of a large 'caravan' of Central Americans this year.