Officials said on Wednesday that a 16-year-old unaccompanied migrant died in Texas while in the custody of the U.S. government. The boy died Tuesday after “several days of intensive care” at a children’s hospital, according to a Health and Human Services Spokesperson.
The boy, who was not identified, was transferred on April 20 from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the Department of Health and Human Services that houses migrant children. The statement read that “no health concerns were observed” by clinicians when the boy arrived at a shelter, and “the minor did not note any health concerns.”
The next morning, the teen “became noticeably ill including fever, chills and a headache,” according to the statement. Shelter personnel brought the child to a hospital emergency room that morning, where he was treated and released to the shelter. When the boy’s health did not improve, he was taken by ambulance to another hospital emergency room the next day and was treated for several days in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Following several days of intensive care, the minor passed away at the hospital on April 30, 2019.
The cause of death is currently under review and the incident was being investigated by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, according to the statement.
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