A 17-year-old Honduran unaccompanied migrant teen died after being found unconscious in a Florida shelter on May 10, according to a notification to U.S. lawmakers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) refugee office.
The teen, Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, had been placed by HHS on May 5 with Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services in Safety Harbor, Florida, the notification said.
He was taken to a hospital and, after one hour of life-saving resuscitation attempts, was pronounced dead, it said.
HHS, which is responsible for the facility where Maradiaga was held, said that a review of health care records was underway as was an investigation by a medical examiner.
HHS “is deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our heart goes out to the family, with whom we are in touch,” the department's statement said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the news “devastating” and referred questions about the investigation to HHS.
The department said a medical examiner investigation is underway.
Eduardo Enrique Reina, the foreign minister of Honduras, expressed his condolences in a tweet on Thursday.
"The Government of Honduras, through the Embassy in Washington, is in contact with the family and has asked the ORR and HHS to carry out an exhaustive investigation of the case to clarify this and get full accountability if anybody is responsible," he said.
Migrants gathered on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday hours before immigration restrictions known as Title 42 expire, with some rushing to cross ahead of tough new asylum rules that will replace a COVID-era order.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has in recent days been holding up to 28,000 migrants at its facilities, far beyond its stated capacity and in what appeared to be a record, two federal officials requesting anonymity and the Border Patrol's union said.
The busiest border detention facilities are in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso in Texas and two areas in Arizona, according to union President Brandon Judd.
This week, the number of people caught crossing illegally topped 10,000 per day.
Due to the high volume of arrivals, agents on Wednesday began releasing some migrants without a notice to appear in immigration court where they can make an asylum claim, telling them to report to an immigration office later, Judd said.
On average, people are spending nearly three days in custody, Judd said.
In Yuma, Arizona, hundreds of migrants lined up in the chilly hours before dawn at a gap in the towering border fence, waiting to turn themselves in to U.S. agents.
Under Title 42, in place since March 2020 and set to expire at midnight, hundreds of thousands of migrants have been quickly expelled to Mexico.
This article contains reporting from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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