Ocasio-Cortez in tears as a migrant mother describes her daughter's death

Yazmin Juarezm, a Guatemalan woman, said she took refuge in the United States last year with her 19-month-old husband, "because I feared for Our Lives in Guatemala."

Washington:

An American MP was moved to tears on Wednesday as a migrant mother told the story of her daughter's death after being detained by US immigration authorities last year.

Yazmin Juarez, a Guatemalan asylum seeker, spoke at a congressional hearing amid a series of scandals about the poor detention conditions of detained migrants that shook Washington. She added that her 19-month-old daughter had a fatal lung infection during a 20-day detention near the U.S. border with Mexico.

The story of the migrant mother has left some members of a US House group, including New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, visibly shaken. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and several others hugged the woman after her speech.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, is the youngest woman to serve in the U.S. Congress.

Yazmin Juarez said she fled to the United States last year with her 19-month-old husband, "because I feared for Our Lives in Guatemala."

She crossed the border and sought asylum, but she and Mariee were "locked in a cold cage for a few days" and then transferred to an ICE detention centre when her daughter became ill.

"I begged the doctors and medical staff to give her the care I knew she needed, but they didn't," the mother said. "When ICE finally let us go, I took Mariee ... a doctor then to the emergency room. But it was too late. Married has never left the hospital."

"The world should know," she said. "It can't be that hard for a country like the United States to protect children who are locked up."The mother testified before the House Committee on control and reform that examined the treatment of refugees in the United States.

Monday, the head of the United Nations Human Rights Organization said that she was "deeply shocked" by the conditions in which migrants and refugees are detained in U.S. detention centers.

The DHS watchdog released a report last week in which he was warned of "dangerous overcrowding" in several centers housing thousands of migrants seeking to stay in the United States.

Most are fleeing violence and poverty in central America.