EL PASO — The father of Jakelin Caal Maquin, the 7-year-old Guatemalan girl who died in United States custody this month, disputed on Saturday the assertion by authorities that his daughter had not eaten or consumed water for several days before being detained by the Border Patrol.

Jakelin’s father, Nery Gilberto Caal Cruz, “made sure she was fed and had sufficient water,” Mr. Caal Cruz’s lawyers said in a statement read by Ruben Garcia, the director of a shelter in El Paso that serves recent border crossers. The shelter, Annunciation House, is caring for Mr. Caal Cruz.

The girl’s family said it was seeking an investigation of her death. The family’s lawyers also pointed out that the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office, which is conducting Jakelin’s autopsy, had not yet released a cause of death.

The dispute reflects a ratcheting tension over the girl’s death. Immigration activists say the expansion of the Border Patrol under President Trump is pushing immigrants into more remote territory, making crossing far more perilous. At least 412 migrants were found dead along the Southwest border in 2017, up from 398 the previous year.