17-year-old Honduran migrant dies in US custody

A 17-year-old migrant who arrived unaccompanied in the US from Honduras has died in government custody.

The boy, who died at a shelter facility in Florida, was identified by the Honduran foreign affairs office as Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acknowledged the death in a statement that did not name him or say how he died.

US officials have braced in recent days for an influx of border crossings.

It is not yet known when the boy arrived in the country or how long he had been held in custody.

On Friday, Enrique Reina, the secretary of foreign affairs in Honduras, said on Twitter the death had occurred at a shelter in Safety Harbor, a city on the Tampa Bay coastline in western Florida.

The shelter is managed by the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is in charge of housing and caring for unaccompanied migrant children.

Mr Reina said his government was in contact with the teenager's family and called for "an exhaustive investigation" into the circumstances of his death.

Border officials are required by law to place unaccompanied minors in ORR care within 72 hours of apprehension. The ORR then houses these children in shelters and other facilities nationwide until they turn 18 or are claimed by a US-based sponsor.

The teenager was reportedly found unconscious on Wednesday morning and taken to a local hospital, but was pronounced dead an hour later after failed attempts to resuscitate him, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Aura Bogado, a senior reporter at the Center for Investigative Reporting, wrote on Twitter that deaths in ORR custody are exceedingly rare, with one previous known death under the Trump administration.

But according to a congressional notice seen by CNN, a four-year-old child from Honduras described as "medically fragile" died from a cardiac arrest event in March while in HHS custody.

In 2019, CBS News, the BBC's US partner, reported that six migrant children - some with health issues - were known to have died in 2018 and 2019 either after being detained by border patrol or after being released by HHS to a hospital.

In its statement on Friday, the HHS said it was in touch with the child's family and was "reviewing all clinical details of this case, including all inpatient health care records" per standard practice.

A medical examiner's investigation is also currently underway, the department added. It cited "privacy and safety reasons" for its inability to share further information on the child's death.

News of the death follows the overnight expiry of Title 42, a pandemic-era border policy used to swiftly expel migrants who cross illegally.

Officials had expressed concern about a possible influx of migrants in the coming weeks, possibly leading to overcrowded detention and shelter facilities.

But HHS officials said there has been no substantial increase in migrants processed into custody on Friday, and it is not clear if the minor's death is related to the lifting of Title 42.

The White House is "certainly aware of the tragic loss, and our hearts go out to the family", press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday.

She declined to comment further until the medical investigation concludes, adding she did not know if President Biden had yet been briefed on the death.

Government figures show that more than 8,000 unaccompanied migrant minors are currently under HHS care, with an average custody period of 29 days.

Over the last fiscal year, three in 10 migrant minors in US custody came from Honduras.