Guatemalan Toddler Dies After Being In Custody At U.S. Border: Report

A Guatemalan toddler lost his life this week after being detained at the U.S. border by Border Patrol agents. The information came via Guatemalan Consul Tekandi Paniagua and was first reported by The Washington Post.

The 2½-year-old boy originally came across the border with his Guatemalan parents at El Paso, Texas, in early April. Not long after crossing, Border Patrol agents took the family into custody.

While authorities had the family detained, the young boy was having problems breathing and had developed a high fever. Authorities then rushed the child to a nearby children’s hospital after he appeared "to have developed a form of pneumonia," according to the Post. After several weeks of hospital care, he died Tuesday night.

This makes the toddler the fourth migrant child to die after being detained by the Border Patrol since December.

The first was 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin, who died of sepsis in an El Paso hospital in December. Not long after, 8-year-old Felipe Alonzo-Gómez died from a combination of the flu and a bacterial infection.

The most recent was 16-year-old Juan de León Gutiérrez, who died late April at a Texas children’s hospital after arriving at the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The teen reportedly suffered from a rare condition known as Pott’s puffy tumor.

Several media outlets reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment, but the agency has yet to respond.