An infant girl died after being apprehended by Border Patrol, along with her 16-year-old mother, soon after crossing the border into Nogales, Ariz., according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A border agent encountered the mother and baby, both Mexican citizens, in the early morning hours of Sept. 23 and took them to the Nogales Border Patrol Station, where CBP-contracted medics and local EMS personnel tried to resuscitate the baby.
The 1-month-old infant was later transferred to Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, about 70 minutes after the initial apprehension, according to a CBP statement on the incident.
When interviewed by CBP special agents, the mother said she had noticed her daughter was having difficulty breathing and was in pain as she approached the U.S.-Mexico border. She left the group she was traveling with to cross into the U.S. in order to get her daughter to a hospital, she said.
A border agent arrived at her location near the Mariposa Port of Entry at 2:51 a.m., about 17 minutes after officers on CBPβs remote video surveillance system observed the mother and a second person crossing the border. The person accompanying the woman returned to Mexico before the agent arrived.
The responding agent later said, βThe mother was softly crying and sniffling when he first encountered her. The agent reported he observed the mother holding an infant who was covered in a blanket,β CBP said.
The mother reported her daughter was still crying and breathing when she boarded the Border Patrol transport van but on the way to the Nogales station, about 2.5 miles away, the woman attempted to tell the agent that her daughter was βalmost deadβ and needed to go to a hospital.
The agent stopped the van for about 15 seconds in an attempt to understand the woman, who was speaking through the security partition. Unable to understand her, he decided to continue to the Nogales station to find an agent fluent in Spanish. He later told special agents in CBPβs Office of Professional Responsibility that he didnβt know the infant was in distress until they reached the station.
Arriving at the Nogales station at 3:01 a.m., the mother spoke to a second agent fluent in Spanish, who quickly noticed the infant had labored breathing. The second agent immediately took the baby to contracted medical personnel consisting of two nurse practitioners and three emergency medical technicians. They began attempts to resuscitate the child, including the use of an automated external defibrillator, CBP said.
About 3:20 a.m., Nogales Fire Department EMS personnel arrived, 14 minutes after they were contacted, and they took over life-saving efforts. Twenty minutes later, they transported the infant to Holy Cross Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 4 a.m.
The Pima County Medical Examinerβs Office conducted an autopsy on Sept. 25. Details on the cause and manner of death are still pending, Chief Medical Examiner Gregory Hess told the Star on Monday.
The incident is under review by CBPβs Office of Professional Responsibility, CBP said. The Department of Homeland Securityβs Office of Inspector General and the Nogales Police Department were notified of the incident.
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