The Border Patrol station at Antelope Wells, where Jakelin Caal was held after crossing into the United States.

EL PASO, TEXAS — Attorneys for the family of a 7-year-old asylum seeker who died in Customs and Border Protection custody raised fresh questions Wednesday about the agency’s handling of the case, accusing CBP of failing to provide water to the Guatemalan girl for eight hours and potentially violating its own rule that requires agents to contact medical professionals in the event of a “medical emergency.”

“They should have contacted some qualified medical person to start an evaluation,” said Enrique Moreno, a civil rights attorney who is representing the family of Jakelin Caal, who died Dec. 8. The cause of death remains unknown, and an autopsy report is not expected for several weeks.

According to Moreno, CBP determined that Caal was sick at approximately 5 a.m. on Dec. 7, listing a “medical emergency” in its reports. That designation, he said, normally would trigger either a medical examination by a trained responder or contact with a medical professional if one was not onsite.

But CBP agents at the remote Antelope Wells Port of Entry where Caal was being held did neither. Instead, they placed her on a bus with other immigrants and asylum seekers and dispatched her to CBP’s Lordsburg facility, an hour and half northwest of Antelope Wells. During the ride, Caal’s condition worsened, and with no medical personnel on the bus, it was only then that CBP agents contacted Lordsburg, Moreno said.

“Her life may have been saved very early on in the detention with a face-to-face screening,” said attorney Lynn Coyle.