A 33-year-old Mexican woman died over the weekend of dehydration and kidney failure following a long journey through the desert near Tuscon, Arizona.
The woman had spent nearly two weeks in a hospital. A Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy found the unnamed woman near Rio Rico, Arizona, on Oct. 13. The small town is approximately 15 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
A local resident told the Arizona Republic the woman was lying on the ground near an intersection and the passerby called 911 to report the concern, which prompted the local law enforcement response. The first deputy to show up found the woman sitting on an anthill.
A statement from Border Patrol’s parent agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, says the deputy deemed she was “in need of medical care” and had her taken via ambulance to a local hospital in Nogales, Arizona. Local law enforcement alerted Border Patrol of the pickup. She was later taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Tucson.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection is saddened to report that the individual succumbed to her injuries while still in the hospital, and was pronounced deceased by medical authorities on Saturday, Oct 26 at 11:44 a.m.,” CBP said in a statement.
Pima County Medical Examiner Gregory Hess said the woman died due to profound dehydration and kidney failure “probably due to an extended trek through the desert.”
“While they were treating her for that, she developed multiple subsequent complications and then she had this extended hospital course,” Hess said in a statement to the Arizona Republic.
She is the second person to have died while in the custody of Border Patrol within a week, both of which occurred within the agency’s Tucson region.
A 49-year-old Mexican man died in Border Patrol custody Oct. 21. The unidentified man had a preexisting heart condition, according to a CBP statement.
CBP reported 10 deaths among 851,000 detainees in the 2019 fiscal year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2018, through Sept. 30, 2019.
Border Patrol and the Trump administration have been criticized by Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates for substandard conditions at federal facilities and a lack of medical personnel on-site, especially earlier this year during a period of overcrowding due to a surge in crossings.
CBP did not share how long the woman may have been wandering or if she might have been trying to get around a Border Patrol-operated highway checkpoint on nearby Interstate 19. The Pima County Medical Examiner will work with the Mexican Consulate in Tucson to identify the body.
