Migrant child who died on Texas bus trip had fever before she boarded, coroner says

The 3-year-old Venezuelan girl who died last month after Texas authorities placed her family on a bus to Chicago already had a low-grade fever and other symptoms before she boarded, according to a new autopsy report released Thursday.

The revelation contradicts an earlier statement by Texas officials about the bus ride, which said "no passenger presented with a fever or medical concerns."

The death of the migrant youth raises questions about medical screenings for the state-sponsored bus trips, which have been controversial since Gov. Greg Abbott and other governors began touting them more than a year ago as a way to ship migrants to more liberal states.

"The child had reportedly begun experiencing mild symptoms and began feeling ill as the family boarded the bus in Brownsville," according to a statement by Marion County (Ill.) Coroner Troy Cannon. "At that point, she had a low-grade fever only, and was allowed to board the bus."

Jismary Alejandra Barboza Gonzalez was a few days shy of her 4th birthday when she and her family boarded a bus from Brownsville, Texas, to Chicago last month.

Her condition deteriorated on the way to Illinois, the coroner said. Cradled by her mother, Jismary experienced vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration, according to the statement. She later lost consciousness and was removed from the bus and rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Cannon’s report listed the cause of death as “bacterial Shigella Flexneri Colitis and Aspiration Pneumonia along with diarrhea and vomiting, which caused electrolyte abnormalities and swelling of the brain.” Jismary also tested positive for norovirus and rotavirus in the intestine and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, in the lungs.

A statement released by the Texas Department of Emergency Management in the wake of Jismary’s death said that after being released by U.S. Border Patrol in Brownsville, each bus passenger underwent a temperature check and was asked if they had any medical conditions. “Following this check, no passenger presented with a fever or medical concerns,” it said.

The department didn’t reply to a request for comment on the latest autopsy report.

Bus rides part of Operation Lone Star

Texas has bused more than 32,000 migrants away from the Texas-Mexico border to cities such as New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago since the effort began in April 2022. The buses are part of Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott’s nearly $10 billion effort to enforce the border in response to what he has said are President Biden’s lax border policies.

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“We will continue busing migrants to sanctuary cities until Biden does his job & secures the border,” Abbott recently said on X, the social media site formerly called Twitter.

Texas officials said the bus rides are voluntary and migrants sign releases before boarding. But advocates have questioned how much medical screening takes place before migrants board the buses and what oversight exists once they’re aboard, as well as how much migrants really understand about where they’re being sent.

“There’s a lot of concern about lack of transparency in general regarding these bus rides,” said

Priscilla Olivarez, a policy attorney and strategist at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. “There’s no oversight and no accountability.”

Jismary Alejandra Barboza Gonzalez's death

Jismary’s parents, Jimmy Barboza and Mariangel Gonzalez, fled Venezuela and lived several years in Colombia, where Jismary was born, according to a GoFundMe page started by a family friend to raise money for Jismary’s funeral. Earlier this year, they decided to emigrate to the United States, trekking through the Darien Gap, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and across Mexico.

They spent two months in Reynosa, Mexico, considered one of the deadliest cities along the U.S.-Mexico border, before being allowed to enter the U.S. at Brownsville, Texas, to seek asylum. After being released from Border Patrol, the family boarded the Texas-sponsored bus bound to Chicago on Aug. 9, along with other migrants.

As Jismary’s symptoms worsened, she was given electrolyte drinks aboard the bus, according to the Marion County coroner’s statement. Gonzalez borrowed a thermometer from another passenger and used it to take her daughter’s temperature, which registered at just over 100 degrees. As the bus rolled north, Jismary’s condition worsened and she began struggling to breathe.

On Interstate 57 near Kinmundy, Ill., Gonzalez noticed Jismary was unconscious and unresponsive, according to the coroner’s statement. The bus pulled over and a security guard on board called 911. Paramedics rushed her to Salem Township Hospital, where Jismary was pronounced dead at 6:36 a.m., Aug. 10.

A 2018 study published by the National Institutes of Health showed the bacteria responsible for the girl’s death sickens more than 500,000 people in the U.S. and leads to 6,000 hospitalizations annually but is tied to just 40 deaths a year.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Details emerge on child's death aboard bus of migrants from Texas