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Mother of 10-year-old who died in US custody says daughter was born with a heart murmur

"I cried and cried," Sara said.
Sara is not her real name. She asked CNN not to reveal her identity.
Sara says her daughter was born with a heart murmur. Doctors told Sara her daughter would need a surgery later.
"Her heart would palpitate really hard," Sara explained.
Darlyn died in September of last year, but her death was not announced until Thursday. Hers is one of six recent deaths of migrant children while in custody of federal authorities after journeying to the US.

A journey to reunite with her mother

Surrounded by poverty and little opportunity, Sara says she decided to migrate to the United States to work and provide for her three daughters, including little Darlyn.
Darlyn, who was only one, stayed with an aunt in El Salvador.
Nine years later, Darlyn like so many Central American children who are currently flocking to the US southern border, made the journey to reunite with her mother in the United States.
Sara says her daughter traveled with acquaintances by car for four days from El Salvador to the border.

Complaints of chest pains

According to a CBP official, Darlyn was encountered by Border Patrol on March 1, 2018, about nine miles west of Hidalgo, Texas. The next morning, Darlyn received a welfare check and a meal. When she complained about chest pains she was sent to the hospital. She was transferred to HHS custody on March 4.
CBP identifies 10-year-old girl who died in US custody in September
According to HHS spokesperson Mark Weber, Darlyn was in a medically fragile state and was transported to various facilities for treatment, including San Antonio, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona.
He said the child had surgery complications that had left her in a comatose state. She was transported to a nursing facility in Phoenix and later transported to Children's Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, where she died due to fever and respiratory distress on September 29, according to Weber.
Darlyn had been transferred to Omaha "to be closer to her family" three days before her death, according to HHS.
Darlyn's mother says she had asked authorities to release her daughter to her.
"Only God knows how many tears I cried," Sara told CNN by phone.

'I hoped with all my heart to hug her and kiss her'

Sara says authorities asked her to file a pile of paperwork, which she did. But she says authorities would not give her custody of her daughter. During the fall of 2018, HHS reported increased levels of children in HHS custody with numbers reaching a record 14,000 by November.
Sara says she visited her daughter twice at the hospital in San Antonio. She also talked to her through video call. But her ultimate wish to reunite with her daughter, to regain custody, did not happen.
"I wish [authorities] would have released her to me," Sara said.
"I hoped with all my heart to hug her and kiss her and tell her how much I loved her," Sara said.

Five other children died in custody

Since December, five children are known to have died after arriving at the US border from Guatemala. Two children died weeks apart in December in government custody, spurring congressional hearings on the matter.
Seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin died of sepsis, a bacterial infection, in an El Paso, Texas, hospital in December and weeks later, 8-year-old Felipe Gómez Alonzo died of the flu complicated by sepsis while in CBP custody.
Homeland Security and CBP officials announced a series of new procedures following the deaths of the two children, including secondary medical checks on all children with a focus those under age 10.
Earlier this week, a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy died in government custody, according to CBP.

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