19-Year-Old Pregnant Woman Dies After Falling from U.S. Border Wall

19-year-old Mirian Stephany Girón Luna, a pregnant woman from Guatemala, died from suffering injuries when she fell more than 19 feet trying to climb the U.S. border wall near El Paso, Texas.

According to both governments, medical personnel tried to deliver her baby but were unsuccessful. Guatemalan authorities said she was seven months pregnant, while the U.S. said she was eight months pregnant.

Fox News reported that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) blamed Girón’s death on human smugglers who encouraged her to try to climb the wall. The chief for the Border Patrol’s El Paso sector, Gloria Chavez, said the authorities would work with Mexico “to find those responsible for placing these lives in danger.”

According to CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan, Girón and her partner were taken to the border by smugglers and left there in the darkness. They were trying to climb when she fell. Her partner who is believed to be the baby’s father found Border Patrol agents, who called for an ambulance.

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Girón suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, a pelvis fracture, and liver and kidney lacerations. Fox News reported that Guatemala says “surgical interventions” could not save her life and she died Tuesday afternoon.

According to media reports, Girón Luna was a social worker and beauty pageant winner who wanted to reach the U.S. to help her family with finances.

Tekandi Paniagua Flores, the Guatemalan consul in Del Rio, Texas, said that the number of Guatemalans trying to climb the U.S.-Mexico border wall rose recently because they no longer surrender to U.S. border patrol.

“That is because changes implemented by the U.S. government, including the Remain in Mexico policy that forces asylum seekers from Central America to wait in Mexico until a decision on their cases is reached, have made it more difficult for many people to remain in the U.S. once they are caught,” reported BBC.

The man who was traveling with Girón Luna is under U.S. custody.