Migrant girl, 8, has died in border patrol custody following a medical emergency

An 8-year-old girl died in border patrol custody on Wednesday, authorities said, a rare event that comes as the service struggles with overcrowding.

The child and her family were detained at a station in Harlingen, Texas, in Rio Grande Valley, one of the busiest corridors for illegal crossing, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent company of the Border Patrol, said in a statement.

The girl had “a medical emergency” and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died, according to the statement, which did not reveal her nationality or provide additional information about the incident.

The Home Office of Customs and Border Protection will conduct an investigation, and the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security and the Harlingen Police Department have been notified, Miller said. Sergeant Larry Moore, a spokesman for the Harlingen police, said he had no information about the death.

The Border Patrol had 28,717 people in custody as of May 10, the day before pandemic-related asylum restrictions expired, which was double from two weeks earlier, according to a court indictment. By Sunday, the number was down 23% to 22,259, still unusually high.

The average time in custody on Sunday was 77 hours, five hours more than the maximum allowed under the agencies’ policies.

Last week, the Border Patrol began releasing migrants in the US without notice to appear in immigration court, instead requiring them to report to an immigration office within 60 days. The move saves Border Patrol agents time-consuming processing tasks, freeing up space in detention facilities. A federal judge in Florida ordered an end to the quick releases.

Also, a 17-year-old Honduran boy traveling alone died last week in the custody of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.