In this file photograph, migrants, including a child, cross the border over the Rio Grande, connecting Reynosa in Mexico with McAllen in Texas, the United States. UNICEF/Adriana Zehbrauskas
GENEVA, Switzerland — A United Nations rights expert has called for a thorough investigation into the death of a Guatemalan migrant child, while she was in the custody of United States immigration authorities.
According to the UN human rights office (OHCHR), although there have been different versions on the sequence of events which led to her death, and the overall health status of seven-year-old Jakelin Ameí Caal, it is not disputed that she died while in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection, after crossing from Mexico, with her father and a larger group of migrants.
“The US authorities must ensure that an in-depth, independent investigation of the death of Jakelin is conducted,” said Felipe González Morales, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, stressing that her relatives should be granted access to justice, including legal representation.
