Homeland Security rushed to beef up its medical screenings of illegal immigrants at the border after the death last week of an 8-year-old girl who repeatedly complained about health issues while in Border Patrol custody and then succumbed after suffering a seizure.
The girl died even as the border crisis subsided, underscoring the ongoing dangers of making the trip illegally and the tricky situation for Border Patrol as it tries to enforce immigration law while delivering unprecedented care to the migrants they catch.
The girl arrived at the southwestern border as part of a family of five on May 9, at the height of the border chaos.
Medical personnel diagnosed the girl’s illness as flu on May 14. The girl was sent to another holding cell with her family and given flu medication. Her health worsened on May 17, and she visited the medical unit for vomiting and a stomachache. On a third visit, she appeared to be having a seizure, was administered CPR and was taken to a hospital, where she was declared dead.
Troy A. Miller, Customs and Border Protection’s acting commissioner, did some soul-searching on Sunday. He called the death tragic and said he was “deeply saddened.” He ordered a review of every “known medically fragile” case in custody and directed agents to limit their time in custody to protect their health.
“The health and safety of individuals in our custody, our workforce, and communities we serve is paramount,” he said. “To that end, we must ensure that medically fragile individuals receive the best possible care and spend the minimum amount of time possible in CBP custody.”
SEE ALSO: Border arrests drop below 3,000 a day; rate rises for migrants evading capture
The 8-year-old girl, whose name was not released by authorities but was identified by The Associated Press as Anadith Tanay Reyes Alvarez, was in custody for more than a week, along with her mother, her father and two siblings, ages 13 and 14. All of them are Honduran except for the girl, who held Panamanian citizenship.
CBP said agents nabbed the family as part of a group of 47 people who crossed the Rio Grande in Brownsville, Texas, at about 9:30 p.m. on May 9.
That was two days before the end of the Title 42 pandemic emergency expulsion authority and just as the wave of illegal immigrants was cresting. Border Patrol agents recorded apprehending 10,640 illegal immigrants that day, marking one of the worst days ever on the border.
Agents ended that day with nearly 27,000 migrants in custody borderwide.
Even so, it’s unclear why the family was still in custody five days later, when the girl first complained of problems and received the flu diagnosis.
In the Rio Grande Valley Sector, time in custody averaged less than 2½ days, according to CBP data reviewed by The Washington Times. It would grow to nearly 3½ days by the weekend.
SEE ALSO: N.Y. leaders plead for help in authorizing work permits for migrants
CBP says it tries to limit time in custody to 72 hours.
The girl’s mother, Mabel Alvarez Benedicks, told AP that Border Patrol agents repeatedly ignored her requests for help, including hospital treatment for her daughter.
The girl died a week after a 17-year-old Honduran boy died in the custody of the Health and Human Services Department. As an unaccompanied alien child, or UAC, he was caught and quickly released to HHS for placement in a shelter in Florida.
Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza’s mother told AP that her son had epilepsy but wasn’t seriously ill when he set out for the U.S. in late April. He was traveling to meet up with his father, who left Honduras for the U.S. years ago and who helped bankroll Angel’s attempt to immigrate illegally.
“Since he was 10 years old, he wanted to live the American dream to see his father and have a better life,” Norma Sarai Espinoza Maradiaga said. “His idea was to help me. He told me that when he was in the United States, he was going to change my life.”
More than seven months after the end of fiscal year 2022, the Biden administration still hasn’t publicly released a final death tally for the border. News reports say last year shattered the record with nearly 900 bodies recovered.
Weather extremes, falls and car crashes take major tolls on migrants, though some already suffer from severe illness or the effects of their trip north.
In Anadith’s case, it’s unclear what role the journey had, though CBP repeatedly cited her preexisting conditions.
She had heart surgery at age 5 and a history of sickle cell anemia.
CBP said both were mentioned in the initial findings of her autopsy but full test results were pending.
Immigrant rights advocates said the death rests heavily with CBP and wondered why the family was still in custody.
“It is atrocious that yet another family has to mourn their child because of our collective inability to fix our broken immigration system,” said Vanessa Cardenas, executive director at America’s Voice.
She said CBP “needs to learn from this tragedy” and Republicans cannot complain about the mistreatment of migrant children on the one hand while supporting stiff enforcement policies on the other.
Anadith’s death could also reverberate through court challenges of the Biden administration’s handling of the border chaos.
In one case, a judge has blocked the Border Patrol’s speedy catch-and-release policy, known as “parole,” as illegal. CBP had begged for permission to keep using catch-and-release. Without it, CPB says, Border Patrol holding cells would grow even more overcrowded and prone to spread diseases.
Even as the Border Patrol warned of overcrowding, the number of migrants in custody was cut dramatically.
That Anadith was screened in the first place and had medical care available is the result of a December 2018 round of migrant children’s deaths.
Two Guatemalan children, ages 7 and 8, died separately while their fathers smuggled them into the U.S.
Homeland Security’s inspector general found no malfeasance by the Border Patrol in either case. Officials were so horrified by the deaths that CBP created a medical corps, employing hundreds of contract medical personnel to perform screenings and deliver better care to the illegal immigrants surging into the country.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.