Death of 8-year-old girl in Border Patrol custody highlights challenges providing medical care

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Jul 15, 2023 • 6 min read

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FILE – Migrants queue up in front of the border fence to enter El Paso, Texas on Wednesday, May 10 2023, under the supervision of the Texas National Guard. U.S. officials say that an 8-year old girl died in Border Patrol custody on Wednesday, May 17. This is a rare event, as the agency is struggling with overcrowding. Border Patrol held 28,717 people on May 10 - the day before the pandemic asylum restrictions ended - which is double what they had two weeks prior.

Andres Leighton/AP

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FILE – Migrants speak to officials on a road near Rio Grande, after crossing the Texas Mexico border, Thursday May 11, 2023 in Brownsville, Texas. A girl, 8 years old, from Panama, born with heart issues, died at a Border Patrol Station in the Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday. This is the second death in the United States of a Latin American child in government custody within the last two weeks. The U.S. has been struggling with the large number of migrants who have come to the border recently in anticipation of Title 42 being repealed, a regulation which had curbed immigration during the pandemic.

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FILE – Migrants cross the Rio Grande using a raft at the Texas-Mexico Border, Thursday, May 11 2023, Brownsville, Texas. A girl, 8 years old, from Panama, born with heart issues, died at a Border Patrol Station in the Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday. This is the second death in two weeks of a Latin American child in U.S. custody.

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FILE – Migrants in Brownsville, Texas, are processed on a field in the aftermath of crossing the Rio Grande, at the United States/Mexico border. Thursday, May 11, 2023. A girl, 8 years old, from Panama, born with heart issues, died at a Border Patrol Station in the Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday. This is the second death in two weeks of a Latin American child in U.S. custody.

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SAN DIEGO, Calif. (AP) - The deaths of a Panamanian girl aged 8 and a boy aged 17 from Honduras under the supervision of the U.S. Government have raised new questions about the preparedness authorities to deal with medical emergencies that migrants may experience upon arrival in the U.S.

Anadith Reyes Alvarez, who was a Border Patrol agent in Harlingen in Texas, became unresponsive after a third medical visit. She died in a hospital later, according to U.S. Customs and Protection. The girl complained of stomach pains and vomiting that day.

The maximum time that can be allowed by the agency is 72 hours.

CBP admitted that the family had told agents about the girl's heart condition and history of sickle cell disease.

Second statement

On the death. On the sixth day of her family's custody, she was diagnosed with influenza. This prompted their transfer to another station.

CBP published a detailed report on Sunday that confirmed key aspects of the mother's interview with The Associated Press two days prior. It originally published only a

Brief statement

Mabel Alvarez Benedicks, a mother of a medically fragile child, told the AP agents ignored her pleas for her daughter to be hospitalized as she was experiencing pain in her bones and struggling to breathe. She also said that her daughter could not walk. She claimed that the daughter was taken by ambulance after she fell limp, became unconscious and began bleeding from her mouth.

According to the mother, agents said that her daughter's influenza diagnosis did not require hospitalization.

The death of the girl came just a week after Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, 17, from Honduras, died while in custody at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He was travelling alone.

Why are there so many border patrol officers?

The rush to the border in order to meet Title 42's pandemic asylum limit brought about extraordinary pressure. In the second week in May, Border Patrol arrested an average of 10,100 individuals a day compared to 5,200 people on average per day in March.

According to reports, the Border Patrol held 28,717 people on May 10, a day before the pandemic asylum rules expired. This was more than double what it had been two weeks prior.

a court filing

On Sunday, the number of children in custody had dropped by 23%, to 22,259 - still a record high.

According to a document from the government last year, custody capacity is around 17,000 and the administration continues to add temporary giant tents, like one that opened in San Diego.

In January,

There is room for 500 people.

The immigration court processes those who are eligible to be released to seek asylum. This can take 90 minutes to 2 hours for an adult, and more time for families.

In 2021 and 2022, however, it only takes 20 minutes to release a person with instructions to return to an immigration office within 60 days. The same federal judge who stopped quick releases in Florida in March blocked the administration from resuming them last week, despite officials' claims that it was a necessary emergency response.

In the midst of this month's surge of migrants, hundreds of them slept on the floor, some for days, between two border wall in San Diego, while hundreds more huddled in remote mountains east of the city, in huts constructed from tree branches. The agency only provided water, chips, and granola bar. Pedro Rios is the director of the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S. Mexico border program. He said that the Border Patrol instructed him to call 911 if volunteers found an 8-month old between the walls, who was 'listless' and 'vomiting'.

What happens when someone is taken into custody?

Border Patrol facilities are temporary, and people sleep on floormats covered with foil blankets. Chain-link fences have been replaced with thick plastic curtains to prevent free movement.

Adults may be sent to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation, released with notices of their appearance in immigration court in the U.S. or detained indefinitely.

In April, ICE held nearly 26,000 people for long-term detention. The facilities are operated by local law enforcement agencies and prison companies such as CoreCivic or The Geo Group Inc. They look like prisons and can often be prisons.

A 2015 court order states that the government cannot keep families for more than 20 consecutive days. Joe Biden, president of the United States, broke from his predecessors Donald Trump & Barack Obama and refused to hold families beyond their first 72 hours at Border Patrol. His administration has recently implemented curfews and electronic monitoring of families released into four cities, until they pass the initial asylum screening.

After a short stay in holding facilities contracted by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department they are placed with their parents or relatives. In 2021 the Department was not prepared to accept children within 72 hours. This caused them to languish under Border Patrol's care. It contracted with convention centers in California and military bases in Texas to provide temporary housing.

Border Patrol sends migrants to Mexico who are not eligible for release by the U.S., such as Cubans.

ICE operates charter flights to deport non Mexicans and in rare instances, commercial flights. According to Witness at the Border (an advocacy group that uses flight data), ICE chartered 117 planes in April. Of these, 33 were to Guatemala, 21 Colombia, 20 Ecuador, and 17 Honduras. WHAT MEDICAL CARE CAN BE OBTAINED AT BORDER PATROL HELD FACILITIES?

Customs and Border Protection (the parent agency of Border Patrol) created a Chief Medical Officer position in 2020, but services are still limited. Officials said that they had 100 medications in stock and 23% of the detainees needed medical attention during a tour at a McAllen holding center this month. The center features a medical booth, as well as a private exam room that has two stethoscopes on the wall.

The medical personnel are responsible for screening for infectious diseases, a crucial job during COVID-19. The medical personnel also make sure detainees are provided with the necessary medications, deliver newborns and attend to any other need to avoid a hospital visit.

Troy Miller, CBP's acting commissioner, said that the CBP's medical facilities have added more than 1,000 "medical contractors" in the past two years.

Sunday is a day to remember

He pledged to 'immediately review and, where necessary, strengthen practices in order to ensure that immediate and appropriate treatment is provided to all individuals, particularly those who are medically vulnerable'

Are the current challenges new?

The U.S. authorities have a huge responsibility for the medical care of the families and children who are unaccompanied at the border.

In the roughly one-year period between 2018 and 2019, six children have died. They were either in Border Patrol custody or Health and Human Services. In March, a Honduran 4-year-old girl in the care Health and Human Services who died three days after a cardiac arrest in a Michigan Hospital.

The Homeland Security Department's Internal Watchdog in 2019 observed that 750 adults were crammed into a space meant for 125 people in El Paso in Texas. Some people stood on toilets to get some breathing room. In a 2019 report from Rio Grande Valley, men were kept in standing room only for one week. Some children under seven were overcrowded for more than two weeks.

Rebecca Santana, Associated Press reporter in Washington, contributed.