HARLINGEN, Texas (NewsNation) — A young girl from Panama died at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection station in South Texas on Wednesday, the second reported death in two weeks of a child from Latin American in U.S. government custody.
The girl, 8, and her family were being held in Harlingen in the Rio Grande Valley when she experienced “a medical emergency” and died at a hospital, CBP said.
The girl’s name was Anadith Tanay Reyes Alvarez, Honduran Consul José Leonardo Navas told The Associated Press. She was born with heart problems and was operated on three years ago in Panama, according to her father, who spoke with the consul.
CBP’s Internal Affairs Office said it is investigating the girls’ death, and the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general and Harlingen police have been notified.
The girl’s death comes a week after a 17-year-old Honduran boy, Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, who was traveling alone, died in U.S. Health and Human Services Department custody.
In recent weeks, the U.S. has struggled with large numbers of migrants coming to the border in anticipation of the expiration of Title 42, a regulation that had curbed migration during the pandemic.