A 3-year-old Venezuelan girl who was being transferred by bus from Texas to Chicago with other migrants died on Friday at a local Illinois hospital after showing signs of distress, according to the Texas Department of Emergency Management.
According to the agency, the 3-year-old displayed “health concerns” on board the bus that left Brownsville, Texas, and the driver pulled over and dialed 911. The toddler was treated by paramedics before passing away in a hospital. Before boarding, all passengers reportedly had their temperatures taken and were questioned about any existing medical issues.
Rep. Joaquin Castro told The New York Times that the girl who died started exhibiting fever and diarrhea on the bus before passing out. In a statement released by his official website on Friday, the Texas Democrat, upon being informed of the child’s death, blasted Abbott’s treatment of migrants.
“We are saddened and horrified, but not surprised, by the death of a 3-year-old child on a state-sponsored bus from Texas to Chicago,” the statement says. “For months, Operation Lone Star has trafficked asylum-seekers across the country in squalid conditions. Governor Abbott’s barbaric practices are killing people.”
The death of the chuld is the first reported since Operation Lone Star, started last year by Gov. Greg Abbott, began transporting more than 30,000 migrants to communities around the nation with Democratic mayors, including Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Denver, and Los Angeles.
Abbott recently added new measures, such as enormous buoys positioned in the Rio Grande, which serves as the border between Texas and Mexico. An unidentified corpse was discovered clinging to the buoys on August 3.
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