SAN ANTONIO SECORTEZ, Guatemala (AP) — Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin received her first pair of shoes several weeks ago, when her father said they would set out together for the United States, thousands of miles from the small indigenous community in Guatemala where she spent her days plodding through mud and surrounded by coconut trees.
Relative say the 7-year-old was excited about the possibility of a new life in another country.
Instead she died in a Texas hospital two days after being taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents in a remote stretch of New Mexico desert.
The tiny wooden house she left behind has a straw roof, dirt floors and a fire pit for cooking. Her brothers are barefoot, their clothes in tatters. A heart constructed out of wood announces Jakelin's death.
