TRAGIC

Report: Fourth Migrant Child Dies After Being Apprehended at Southern Border

The 2-year-old boy from Guatemala had reportedly developed some form of pneumonia.

A 2-year-old Guatemalan boy who was apprehended at the U.S. border with Mexico died Tuesday night in Texas after spending several weeks in the hospital, The Washington Post reports. The boy, the fourth migrant child to die after being apprehended and taken to a hospital since December, had reportedly spent three days in federal custody. A Customs and Border Protection official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the newspaper the boy and his mother were apprehended on April 3 near the Paso Del Norte Bridge, and the mother alerted authorities that her child was sick on April 6. The child was taken to two separate hospitals before he and his family were formally released from federal custody on April 8, with a “notice to appear” in immigration court. Guatemala’s Consul Tekandi Paniagua confirmed the boy’s death to the Post, though CBP has yet to official confirm it. Paniagua said the boy had apparently developed a form of pneumonia, though his death is still under investigation. The El Paso Medical Examiner’s Office and a representative from one of the hospitals declined to comment to the Post.