A teen mother who is allegedly living in the United States illegally has been accused of dumping her newborn baby into a dumpster and abandoning him.
According to the New York Post, Everilda Cux-Ajtzalam, 18, was arrested in Houston, Texas, on Thursday. Reportedly, investigators claimed that she gave birth to a son “on the ground behind the food truck where she works” on July 21 and then placed the baby in “a tied garbage bag” before throwing the child into an apartment building’s dumpster (via NYP):
“(Defendant) put the child, placenta, & umbilical cord into a trash bag, took the trash bag to a dumpster, & left the child in the dumpster tied inside the trash bag,” a magistrate judge for the District Court for Harris County wrote in a bond order for Cux-Ajtzalam.
A passerby found the child later that day after they heard the baby crying. Houston police and medical personnel saved the child from the dumpster and transferred him to Texas Children’s Hospital to be evaluated.
Investigators discovered that the baby boy was connected to the food truck, the Post noted.
The mother told investigators that she “had no choice” but to put her baby in the dumpster because “she didn’t want her boyfriend to break up with her.”
The incident was caught on camera.
An 18 y/o illegal was arrested in TX for throwing her newborn baby into a dumpster after she gave birth in a Taco truck.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 31, 2024
Her bond was set at $200,000 pic.twitter.com/YF8PcRxhzT
The Post noted that the baby has been placed in the care of Child Protective Services.
Cux-Ajtzalam, a Guatemalan national, was reportedly charged with one count of felony abandoning a child without the intent to return.
At her first court appearance on Friday, Harris County District Judge Veronica M. Nelson said, “It was pure luck that the child was found and received 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.”
Cux-Ajtzalam’s bond was raised to $200,000 on Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed a hold on her release and labeled her a flight risk.