A 16-year-old boy has died at a Border Patrol station in Texas, becoming the fifth child from Guatemala to die since December after being apprehended by United States border patrol agents.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the teen, who was detained in south Texas’s Rio Grande Valley on May 13 after crossing the border, was found unresponsive at the agency’s Weslaco Station during a welfare check.
The boy is the fifth child to have died in recent months after making the long journey from Guatemala to the US and being detained by border agents. Authorities said the cause of death was unknown but local news reports said the boy had reported Sunday that he was not feeling well and he was seen by a nurse who determined he had the flu.
He was prescribed the medicine Tamiflu and moved to the Weslaco facility to avoid other detainees getting sick. #Agents last check on him about an hour before he was found dead.
“The men and women of US Customs and Border Protection are saddened by the tragic loss of this young man and our condolences are with his family,” CBP acting commissioner John Sanders said in a statement.