MEXICO CITY — The deaths of two Guatemalan children in Border Patrol custody raised a furor in the United States, but drew a far more muted response in their own country, where a government focused on its survival is afraid that antagonizing the Trump administration could end American support.

The children, Felipe Gómez Alonso, 8, and Jakelin Caal Maquín, 7, fell ill and died this month after they crossed the southwestern border into the United States with their fathers, in separate events, and were detained by the Border Patrol.

Their deaths prompted outrage in the United States over the conditions that migrants, especially children, endure in Border Patrol custody, putting the Trump administration on the defensive as the president insists that Congress approve $5 billion toward building a wall he says will thwart illegal immigration.

But the Guatemalan government’s response has been cautious. Aside from sending diplomatic notes to the State Department requesting an investigation into each child’s death and offering to pay for the bodies’ return home, the government has sidestepped the issue. There has been no formal protest against the American crackdown on migrants or condemnation of the hardships that even children are facing in detention centers.