A woman being detained in Arizona by US border patrol for overstaying her visa has died by suicide, according to Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal.
The woman, a 52-year-old Chinese national, had first been picked up in California after it had been determined that she had overstayed her B1/B2 visitor visa, Jayapal said in a statement.
She was later sent to the Yuma station in Arizona where she stayed until her death on 29 March.
Yuma sector border patrol reported in a social media post that two people – a 38-year-old man and the woman, both Chinese nationals – had been arrested on 26 March during a vehicle stop near Needles, California.
Jayapal said “initial reports” suggest border patrol agents failed to perform required welfare checks prior to the woman’s death.
A border patrol spokesperson told the Tucson Sentinel that the woman was found “unresponsive in a cell” at the Yuma border patrol station on 29 March.
Border patrol staff provided medical assistance to the woman before emergency medical services transported her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead, the spokesperson told the Sentinel. »
