An eight-year-old boy from Guatemala died in US government custody in New Mexico early on Christmas Day, according to US immigration authorities.

Iran PressAmerica: The death came during an ongoing dispute over border security and with a partial government shutdown underway over US President Donald Trump's request for border wall funding.

According to Reuters, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the boy- identified by the Guatemalan consul in Phoenix, Arizona as Felipe Gomez Alonzo - showed "signs of potential illness" on Monday and was taken with his father to a hospital in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where he was diagnosed with a cold and a fever.

The boy was prescribed amoxicillin and Ibuprofen and released on Monday afternoon after being held 90 minutes for observation, the agency said.

The boy was returned to the hospital on Monday evening with nausea and vomiting and died there just after midnight, CBP said.

CBP has not yet confirmed when or where the father and son entered the United States or how long they were detained, saying only in its statement the boy had been "previously apprehended" by its agents.

The agency said the cause of the boy's death has not been determined and that it has notified the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general and the Guatemalan government.

The incident is the second death of an immigrant child in detention this month.

A seven-year-old Guatemalan girl died earlier this month after being apprehended by border agents in New Mexico. The body of the girl, Jakelin Caal, was returned to her family's remote village Monday for burial on Tuesday (Christmas Day).

The White House referred questions about the latest case to the US Department of Homeland Security, CBP's parent agency. 

According to Guatemala's foreign ministry, the father and son entered the US at El Paso, Texas, on 18 December, then were taken to the Border Patrol's Alamogordo station on Sunday. Alamogordo is about 90 miles from El Paso. 101/211

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