Another child dies in US custody

Another Guatemalan child died on Christmas morning in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The 8-year-old boy has been identified as Felipe Alonzo-Gomez in a statement by Rep. Joaquin Castro, chairman-elect of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, identified the child in a statement, reported CNN.

Felipe is the second child to have died in CBP custody. The 8-year-old was detained along with his father.

He died shortly after midnight at Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo in New Mexico. The boy was taken to the hospital Monday after a border agent noticed signs of illness, and the medical staff first diagnosed him with a common cold and later with a fever.

In a press release, CBP said, "The child was held for an additional 90 minutes for observation and then released from the hospital mid-afternoon on December 24 with prescriptions for amoxicillin and Ibuprofen."

On Monday morning, the boy fell ill again and was taken hospital where he passed away. The cause of death is yet to be ascertained.

Earlier this month, a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl who was taken into United States Border Patrol custody had died of dehydration and shock.

The death of the children in the custody is expected to intensify scrutiny of detention conditions at Border Patrol stations and CBP facilities that are increasingly overwhelmed by large numbers of families seeking asylum in the US.