Dad: Jakelin Caal, Migrant Girl Who Died In U.S. Custody, Did Eat and Drink Water During Journey
Immigration authorities said the girl died after being unable to eat or drink.

Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters
Jakelin Caal, a seven-year-old migrant girl who died after being held at a U.S. Border Patrol base, was given drinking water during her journey, a spokesman for the girl's father told The Daily Beast. Officials, citing her father, had said Caal of Guatemala “had not been able to consume food or water for days,” but a spokesperson for the father said Saturday that the account was inaccurate, stating that the young girl had been fine until reaching the base. “He is saying that, ‘My daughter is fine, she was eating, she was receiving liquids,’” said Ruben Garcia, the director of El Paso’s Annunciation House, where Caal’s father, Nery is staying. Garcia said Caal’s father told him that “she was fine as she was traveling through Mexico.” The details were part of a story that found the border patrol base where Caal was taken had previously been cited for contaminated water.

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