They were among a group of 163 migrants detained by Border Patrol agents the night of December 6 in a remote area of the New Mexico desert, according to a US Customs and Border Protection official.
Two days later, 7-year-old Jakelin was dead after becoming violently ill, officials said Friday.
"Without the lifesaving measures undertaken by Border Patrol, this child would have likely died in the desert alone without any medical care whatsoever," the Department of Homeland Security official said. "The entire department is heartbroken by this loss of life."
Department officials spoke on a conference call with reporters and insisted they not be identified by name.
The Customs and Border Protection's Office of Professional Responsibility has launched an investigation to "ensure all appropriate policies were followed."
Jakelin and her father, Nery Gilberto Caal Cuz, 29, hailed from the Mayan Q'eqchi' community of Raxruhá, said Tekandi Paniagua, Guatemalan general consul in Del Río, Texas.
The child and her father were part of a group of undocumented immigrants who were loaded onto a bus at 4:30 a.m. December 7 at a Customs and Border Protection operating base at the Antelope Wells port of entry in New Mexico, a CBP official said.
Official: 'No faster way to get her to treatment'
Shortly before the bus departed at 5 a.m. for a Border Patrol station about 95 miles away in Lordsburg, New Mexico, the father told agents his daughter was vomiting, the official said. An agent notified the station that the child would need emergency medical care.
When the bus arrived at the Lordsburg station about 6:30 a.m., the father told agents the child was not breathing, the official said. A Border Patrol EMT "revived the child twice," and she was later transported by air ambulance to a Texas trauma center.
"The reality of that part of the border is there's no faster way to get her to treatment than the one she was on," the CBP official said.
At 11 a.m. December 7, officials at the Lordsburg station were notified the girl had again been revived after going into cardiac arrest, the official told reporters. A CT scan revealed brain swelling. The girl was breathing by machine and diagnosed with liver failure.
She died early Saturday, the official said. Her father was on the scene.
On Monday, Paniagua met with Jakelin's father, who he said was devastated and was allowed by US authorities to see his daughter one last time. She had turned 7 on December 3.
The Washington Post first reported Thursday that the girl died of dehydration and septic shock last week in El Paso after Border Patrol took her into custody when she crossed illegally with her father into the United States.
The El Paso County medical examiner has not determined the cause or manner of death, and the case is pending further studies, according to a spokeswoman.
A Department of Homeland Security representative said an autopsy would be performed but the results could take weeks.
"Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and the best efforts of the medical team treating the child, we were unable to stop this tragedy from occurring,' the representative told CNN. "Once again, we are begging parents to not put themselves or their children at risk attempting to enter illegally. Please present yourselves at a port of entry and seek to enter legally and safely."
US Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said late Thursday in a statement he was "devastated by reports that a seven-year-old girl who was taken into Customs and Border Patrol custody died of dehydration and exhaustion. I'll be asking for a full investigation by the Inspector General and Congress into the conditions and circumstances that led to her death."
"We can do better as a nation," said Castro, a member of the House Foreign Affairs and House Intelligence committees.
"This is a humanitarian crisis and we have a moral obligation to ensure these vulnerable families can safely seek asylum, which is legal under immigration and international law at our borders."
'Worst possible outcome'
In a statement, Cynthia Pompa, advocacy manager for the ACLU Border Rights Center, called for "a rigorous investigation into how this tragedy happened and serious reforms to prevent future deaths."
"This tragedy represents the worst possible outcome when people, including children, are held in inhumane conditions," the statement said. "Lack of accountability, and a culture of cruelty within CBP have exacerbated policies that lead to migrant deaths. In 2017, migrant deaths increased even as the number of border crossings dramatically decreased."
US Rep. Beto O'Rourke, another Texas Democrat, called for transparency in the investigation of the child's death.
"I am deeply saddened by this girl's death. There must be a complete investigation and the results shared with Congress and the public," he said Thursday on Twitter.
The girl's death comes months after a toddler died six weeks after being released from an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility in Dilley, Texas. The toddler's mother and her attorneys alleged she contracted a respiratory infection after they arrived at the detention center and that ICE provided substandard medical care for the 19-month-old.
The child and her mother came from Guatemala and were detained after crossing into the United States via the Rio Grande.
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