The body of an 8-year-old migrant boy who died in U.S. custody at a New Mexico hospital on Christmas Eve has been returned to the small village where he lived in Guatemala, not far from the border with Mexico.
Catarina Alonzo Perez, the mother of Felipe Gomez Alonzo, held a candle at a vigil Saturday with others from the community in a brief ceremony to pay their final respects.
Gomez Alonzo was taken into custody with his father by U.S. Border Patrol after crossing into the country. After several days in detention, he developed a cough, vomiting and fever before dying in hospital. He was the second Guatemalan immigrant child to die while in U.S. custody in December, sparking concerns of inadequate conditions at migrant detention facilities.
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