EL PASO – A migrant woman under the Migrant Protection Protocol in El Paso drowned trying to enter the United States for a second time.

Vilma Mendoza, 20, initially entered the United States on July 4, according to the Guatemalan Consulate in Del Rio.

She was placed in the MPP program and returned to Mexico to wait for her immigration court hearing in the U.S.

About 21 days prior to the hearing, Mendoza attempted to gain entrance into the country through an irrigation canal where she drowned.

Her body was discovered Monday, July 29; her court hearing was scheduled for August 18.

Mendoza is from an indigenous region from Guatemala known as Baja Verapaz.

Her death follows seven others reported in June near that area; all drowned in irrigation canals swollen from heavy downpours.

Two of the victims were a Guatemalan mother, Maria Juan, 34, and her 5-year-old daughter, Ashly Francisco.

They hailed from Huehuetenango, Guatemala.

The Guatemalan Consulate expressed their sympathy to their families and informed them they would cover the expenses associated with repatriating their co-nationals.