Girl dies in US custody

A 7-year-old girl from Guatemala died of dehydration and shock after she was taken into Border Patrol custody last week for crossing from Mexico into the United States illegally with her father and a large group of migrants along a remote span of New Mexico desert, US Customs and Border Protection said yesterday. According to CBP records, the girl and her father were taken into custody about 10pm December 6. More than eight hours later, the child began having seizures. Emergency responders, who arrived soon after, measured her body temperature at 40.9C, and according to a statement from CBP, she “reportedly had not eaten or consumed water for several days”. After a helicopter flight to Providence Hospital in El Paso, Texas, the child went into cardiac arrest and “was revived”, according to the agency. “However, the child did not recover and died at the hospital less than 24 hours after being transported,” CBP said.