A 9-year-old migrant who crossed into the United States in the scorching heat of Arizona and began having seizures has died after being placed on life support, authorities said Friday.
Border Patrol agents assisted the boy and traced his care after he was rescued in the high Sonoran desert near the community of Tubac on June 15, according to a statement from US Customs and Border Protection. .
The unidentified child was taken to the Northwest Medical Center in Sahuarita shortly before 11 p.m. that night, CBP said, and was under the surveillance of Border Patrol agents.
The next day, he was airlifted to Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, where he was diagnosed with total organ failure and placed on life support, CBP said. Agents kept watch, he said.
Nearly five hours later, CBP said in its statement, Border Patrol agents “completed administrative processing of the migrant woman and her children” and “informed medical center personnel that she and her children were no longer in the custody of USBP”.
The medical center informed CBP that the child died on the night of June 17, the agency said.
CBP said the boy’s mother believed he became ill due to the heat. She also told agents that she and her two children had not had fluids for about 90 minutes before calling for help, the agency said.
The woman said she and her children crossed the border into Arizona around 2:30 a.m. on June 15. The boy’s mother said her son had no prior medical problems, but she began having seizures and called for help around 9:40 p.m., she said, CBP said.
The crew of a National Guard helicopter spotted the three at 10:01 p.m., and the crew helped Tubac’s first responders reach the ground at 10:17 p.m., he said. A Border Patrol agent driving an all-terrain vehicle took the boy to a waiting ambulance less than 15 minutes later, the agency said.
Tubac is about 50 miles south of Tucson, where the high temperature that day was 99, National Weather Service meteorologist Marc Singer said.
Data compiled by Humane Borders, a Tucson-based nonprofit, shows that eight immigrants have died from exposure in Arizona counties along the US-Mexico border so far this year.
CBP did not immediately respond to a request for additional information about the timing of the migrants’ release.
CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the incident and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General has been notified, CBP said. The agency operates under Homeland Security and includes Border Patrol.
