An 8-year-old Guatemalan child dies in U.S. custody on Christmas Day after being treated for a cold - Los Angeles Times

An 8-year-old Guatemalan child dies in U.S. custody on Christmas Day after being treated for a cold - Los Angeles Times

An 8-year-old Guatemalan boy died early Christmas Day in the custody of U.S. immigration authorities, the second death in less than three weeks of a child in detention and a searing new emblem of Trump administration border policies that critics are lambasting as cruel and inhumane.

The boy’s death at a New Mexico hospital marked yet another grim inflection point in the wider immigration struggle that has roiled U.S. politics this year, stirring partisan passions and fueling outrage over the ongoing separation of hundreds of children from their parents at the border.

Tuesday’s death, announced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, comes against the backdrop of a separate migration-related battle: the partial government shutdown over President Trump’s demand of $5 billion for a border wall. There is no indication that the shutdown had anything to do with the child’s death, however. Customs and Border Protection agents are considered essential employees and remain on the job.

The 8-year-old, who had been detained earlier, along with his father, died shortly after midnight Tuesday, CBP said in a statement. After the boy showed “signs of potential illness” Monday, he was taken with his father to Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo but released after being given medication for a cold and fever, the agency said.