An American Woman is Accused of Illegally Throwing Away a Baby in a Dumpster in Houston, Texas. She Says She Had No Choice
Police told Fox News Digital that the woman who is accused of putting her baby in a dumpster in Houston is in the country illegally.
Officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said that on July 26, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston put Everilda Cux Ajtalam, 18, in immigration detention at the Harris County Jail.
ICE stated that she is from Guatemala and came to the U.S. illegally as a child traveling alone after being arrested for allegedly leaving a child without planning to return.
Police say Ajtalam gave birth in a parking lot, wrapped the baby in a trash bag, and then dumped the bag in a dumpster. KPRC says that the act was also caught on surveillance tape.
At 1:15 p.m. on Friday, July 26, neighbors told the Houston Police Department that they heard cries coming from the dumpster area, which led them to the abandoned baby.
Ajtalam told cops that she had given birth earlier that day outside of the food truck where she works, KPRC learned from an affidavit.
Then, according to the statement, she 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.”
The report says that Ajtalam then told police that she had “no other choice” because she was afraid her boyfriend would break up with her.
The baby was taken right away to Texas Children’s Hospital. He or she is now in the care of Child Protective Services and is said to be healthy.
Ajtalam went to court for the first time on Friday. A story from the Houston Chronicle says that Harris County District Court Judge Veronica M. Nelson scolded her for leaving her son to die in a pile of trash.
Nelson is said to have said, “It was pure luck that the child was found and got care.” “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.”
Her bond was then raised to $200,000.
Ajtalam is being held at the Harris County Jail right now because of an immigration hold.