A 7-year-old Guatemalan girl died in Border Patrol custody last week after she was detained for illegally crossing into the U.S. with her father, federal officials said Thursday.
The tragedy will almost certainly ramp up criticism of the Trump administration's hawkish immigration agenda, which has resulted in overcrowded detention centers that are facing capacity limits with Central American families hoping to apply for asylum.
The young unidentified girl was taken into custody with her father around 10 p.m. on Dec. 6 near Lordsburg, N.M., the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said in a statement first reported by The Washington Post.
The two were part of a group of 163 migrants who approached the border hoping to turn themselves over to U.S. officials.
Over eight hours later, the child started suffering seizures, according to CBP. Medical responders measured the girl had a lethal 105.7 body temperature and she "reportedly had not eaten or consumed water for several days," CBP said.
The girl went into cardiac arrest after being taken to an El Paso, Texas, hospital, but doctors managed to revive her, according to the agency.
"However, the child did not recover and died at the hospital less than 24 hours after being transported," CBP said.
Andrew Meehan, a CBP spokesman, offered his "sincerest condolences" to the girl's family.
"Border Patrol agents took every possible step to save the child's life under the most trying of circumstances," Meehan said. "As fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, we empathize with the loss of any child."
Advocates and Trump critics were quick to point fingers at the president's hard-line policies and demonetization of immigrants.
"Horrifying," the official Women's March handle tweeted. "She should never have been put in a detention center. She never should have been neglected once taken into custody. Her death is on this administration's hands."
