According to an independent report made public on Tuesday, Border Patrol lacks protocols for evaluating the medical needs of children with preexisting conditions. This report focuses on the death of an 8-year-old girl from Panama who was in federal custody. The report found that the girl’s death was a “preventable tragedy” resulting from failures in the medical and custodial systems for children within U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
This is the latest concerning finding in the case of Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, who passed away on May 17. She had been in custody with her family in Harlingen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley for nine days. The region is known for high migrant crossings. Anadith had a chronic heart condition and sickle cell anemia.
An internal investigation revealed that Border Patrol medical staff refused to review the girl’s file. The independent monitor’s report released on Tuesday was conducted to enforce compliance with the terms of the Flores settlement agreement, a measure aimed at safeguarding the welfare of children in immigration custody.
The report expressed concerns about the CBP medical system’s ability to appropriately care for children at elevated medical risk. It specifically highlighted the failure to consult a physician or local health facility for more extensive testing. CBP did not provide a response when asked for comment.
Anadith’s mother, Mabel Alvarez Benedicks, reported her daughter’s condition to officials when they were being processed at the border. However, officials did not inform the staff at the second facility designated for families. This issue was previously mentioned in a report to the court by the independent monitor.
According to the report, six days later, Anadith tested positive for influenza and had a temperature of 101.8 F (38.78 C). She received medication and was placed in isolation with her family. However, the girl and her mother visited the medical unit multiple times within the following three days.
The report revealed that Anadith reported vomiting and a stomachache to the health provider, who failed to contact an on-call physician. There is no specific protocol for when an on-call physician should be contacted.
Alvarez pleaded with officials to call an ambulance to hospitalize Anadith as her daughter experienced pain in her bones, difficulty breathing, and inability to walk. However, the health provider did not consider transferring the girl to a hospital, as stated in the report.
After Alvarez carried her daughter to the medical unit while she was having a seizure and became unresponsive, the girl was taken to a hospital. Unfortunately, she was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to the report.
The report holds the “poor clinical decision-making by the health providers” responsible for Anadith’s death. Melissa Adamson, an attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, stated, “These inexcusable systemic failures were exacerbated by just a sheer disregard for her life.”
This year, three other children have died while in Border Patrol custody. On July 10, an unaccompanied 15-year-old girl from Guatemala passed away due to an underlying disease. In May, a 17-year-old boy from Honduras died in U.S. custody, and in March, a 4-year-old “medically fragile unaccompanied child from Honduras” died at a hospital in Michigan, according to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services.