A woman accused of throwing her newborn in a dumpster in Houston is in the U.S. illegally, authorities confirmed to Fox News Digital.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said that on July 26, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston lodged an immigration detainer with the Harris County Jail on Everilda Cux Ajtalam, 18.
ICE confirmed she is a Guatemalan national who illegally entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor, following her arrest for allegedly abandoning a child without intent to return.
According to prosecutors, Ajtalam gave birth in a parking lot, placed the baby in a tied garbage bag and left it in a dumpster. The act was also caught on surveillance video, according to KPRC.
Houston Police Department officers were alerted to the abandoned infant around 1:15 p.m. on Friday, July 26, after residents reported hearing cries from the dumpster area, KRIV reported.
Ajtalam told police that she gave birth earlier that day outside the food truck where she works, according to an affidavit obtained by KPRC.
She then told police that she put the “child, placenta, and umbilical cord into a trash bag, took the trash bag to a dumpster, and left the child in the dumpster tied inside the trash bag,” according to the affidavit.
Ajtalam then told investigators that she had “no other choice” because she feared her boyfriend might break up with her, according to the report.
The newborn was immediately taken to Texas Children’s Hospital and has since been placed in the care of Child Protective Services and is reported to be in good health.
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Ajtalam made her first court appearance on Friday. Harris County District Court Judge Veronica M. Nelson scolded her for leaving her son to die in a heap of garbage, according to a report from the Houston Chronicle.
“It was pure luck that the child was found and received care,” Nelson reportedly said. “Given the fact that it’s the middle of summer in Houston, Texas, and the temperature at the time noting the danger to the child; under those circumstances, I’m going to set the bail in this case at $90,000.”
Nelson then raised her bond to $200,000.
Ajtalam is currently behind bars at the Harris County Jail on an immigration hold.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Houston Police Department for comment.
