an 8 year old girl died on wednesday in the custody of Border Patrol, officials said, a rare occurrence when the agency battles overcrowding.
The girl and her family were being held at a station in Harlingen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, one of the busiest corridors for illegal crossings, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the agency, said in a statement. Border Patrol.
The girl experienced “a medical emergency” and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died, according to the statement, which did not disclose her nationality or provide additional information about the incident.
Customs and Border Protection’s internal affairs office will investigate, and the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general and Harlingen police have been notified, Miller said. Sergeant Larry Moore, a spokesman for the Harlingen Police Department, said he had no information about the death.
The Border Patrol it had 28,717 people in custody on May 10, the day before pandemic-related asylum restrictions expired, double the number two weeks earlier, according to a court filing. By Sunday, the number had fallen 23% to 22,259, still unusually high.
The average time in custody Sunday was 77 hours, five hours more than the maximum allowed by agency policy.
Last week, the Border Patrol began releasing immigrants into the US without notices to appear in immigration court, instead directing them to appear at an immigration office within 60 days. The move saves Border Patrol agents time-consuming processing tasks, allowing them to open up space at detention facilities. A federal judge in Florida has ordered an end to quick releases.
Also last week, a 17-year-old Honduran boy who was traveling alone died in the custody of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
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