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Authorities Investigate Child Suicide At Juárez Migrant Shelter
Mexican authorities are working to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of a 12-year-old girl in a migrant shelter in the border city of Juárez.
The girl was found hanging from a shower curtain rod last Tuesday. An autopsy determined the cause of death was suicide.
Days earlier she had been picked up by the state police with a man who claimed to be the smuggler hired to take her to the United States.
This week a couple in New York City who immigrated illegally from Ecuador claimed to be the girl's parents. They are working with Ecuadorian embassies in New York and Mexico to confirm her identity with DNA testing. They initially identified her via photographs.
Mexico's National Human Rights Commission is also investigating the case. The consul general of Ecuador in northern Mexican city of Monterrey said he knows of many cases where Ecuadorians in the United States hire smugglers to reunite them with family members they left back home. He said Ecuador is launching a public service campaign to warn its citizens about the dangers of such a journey.