An independent report released on Tuesday exposed the lack of protocols within the Border Patrol for evaluating the medical needs of children with preexisting conditions. The report focused on the tragic death of an 8-year-old girl from Panama who had been in federal custody.
The investigation revealed that the girl’s passing was an avoidable tragedy caused by failures in both the medical and custodial systems for children within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which includes the Border Patrol.
The young girl, Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, had a chronic heart condition and sickle cell anemia. However, when she was in custody with her family in Harlingen, Texas, her medical file was not reviewed by Border Patrol medical staff.
The report, conducted by an independent monitor, was part of the efforts to enforce compliance with the Flores settlement agreement, a measure designed to protect the welfare of children in immigration custody. It raised serious concerns about CBP’s ability to care for children with elevated medical risks.
Despite her mother, Mabel Alvarez Benedicks, informing officials about her daughter’s condition during processing at the border, they failed to notify relevant staff when the family was taken to a second designated facility for families. This issue had been previously highlighted in another report to the court.
Six days later, Anadith tested positive for influenza and had a high temperature. Despite seeking medical attention and reporting vomiting and stomachaches, the health provider did not consult an on-call physician, as there was no clear protocol indicating when such contact should be made.
When Alvarez pleaded for an ambulance to hospitalize her daughter due to severe pain, difficulty breathing, and inability to walk, the health provider neglected to consider transferring her to a hospital.
The situation escalated when the girl experienced a seizure and became unresponsive, prompting her mother to carry her to the medical unit. Anadith was subsequently taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The report attributed Anadith’s death to the “poor clinical decision-making by the health providers” and emphasized the systemic failures that led to this tragedy.
This heartbreaking incident is not an isolated case, as three other children have died in Border Patrol custody this year. Among them was a 15-year-old girl from Guatemala who had a preexisting illness and was referred from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Additionally, a 17-year-old boy from Honduras with epilepsy died in U.S. custody, along with a 4-year-old “medically fragile unaccompanied child from Honduras” who passed away at a hospital in Michigan.
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These cases shed light on the urgent need for improved protocols and comprehensive care for children in immigration custody to prevent such tragedies in the future.