Unaccompanied migrant boy of 16 dies in United States custody

An unaccompanied migrant aged 16 died in Texas while he was in the custody of the US government, officials said Wednesday.

The boy died Tuesday after "several days of intensive care" in a children's hospital, said Health and Social Services spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer in a statement to NBC News.

BuzzFeed News first reported the death of the boy.

The boy, who was not identified, was transferred on April 20 from the Refugee Resettlement Directorate of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, which is harboring children of migrants, the statement said.

"No health problems were observed" by clinicians when the boy arrived at a shelter, and "the minor did not notice any health problem," Stauffer said.

The next morning, the teenager "became clearly sick, including fever, chills and a headache," the statement said.

The shelter staff took the child to a hospital emergency room that morning, where he was treated and released the same day, the same day, the statement said.

But the boy's health did not improve and he was taken by ambulance to another hospital emergency room the next day, Stauffer said in a statement.

"Later in the day, the minor was transferred to a Texas children's hospital and treated for several days in the hospital's intensive care unit," she said. "After several days of intensive care, the minor died at the hospital on April 30, 2019."

Stauffer said that arrangements had been made for the boy's brother and the Guatemalan consular authorities to visit him during his stay at the hospital and that his family would have received news from the hospital staff.

The cause of death is currently under review and the Office of Refugee Resettlement has opened an investigation, the statement said.

The death of the boy comes after the death of two prominent children, Felipe Alonzo Gomez (8 years old) and Jakelin Caal (7 years old), placed in custody by the US Border Patrol in December and a stillborn child by ICE in February.