Houston Dec 26 (IANS): An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in government's custody in the US state of New Mexico on early Tuesday, according to US immigration authorities.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a news release on Tuesday that the boy showed "signs of potential illness" on Monday and was taken with his father to a hospital in Alamogordo, New Mexico, about 350 km south of Santa Fe, the capital city of New Mexico, reports Xinhua.

The boy was diagnosed with a cold and a fever and given prescriptions and released on Monday afternoon. He was returned to the hospital in the evening with nausea and vomiting and died there hours later, marking the second death of an immigrant child in detention this month.

A 7-year-old Guatemalan girl died earlier this month after being apprehended by border agents.

Temporary shelters in El Paso area in the state of Texas, about 140 km southwest of Alamogordo, are currently used as facilities to house migrant children.