Investigation of 8-year-old's death finds poor medical care at border facilities

BROWNSVILLE, TX - JUNE 25: A sign welcomes people to the U.S. from Mexico on June 25, 2018 in Brownsville, Texas. Immigration has once again been put in the spotlight as Democrats and Republicans spar over the detention of children and families seeki
WASHINGTON - The medical care of an 8-year-old girl preceding her death at a Customs and Border Patrol facility in 2023 was consistent with the poor quality of care in those facilities and represents systemic problems inside those facilities, according to a Senate report released Friday.
What we know:
The report released Friday was the result of a Senate investigation sparked by the death of 8-year-old Anadith Reyes Alvarez in May 2023.
Alvarez, who had sickle cell disease and congenital heart failure, died on May 17, 2023, in CBP custody at a facility in Harlingen, Texas.
The report states that many of the concerns about the inability of CBP to provide adequate medical care were not "sufficiently addressed" and led to Alvarez's death.
The committee found that the care Alvarez received while in the facility was "not aberrant but consistent" with other instances of poor in-custody care.
The committee warned in the report that adequate care would be an urgent issue or else more people may die in custody.
"Under the current administration, the provision of adequate medical care in CBP facilities will be an urgent issue," the report states. "President Donald Trump already has begun enacting sweeping policies restricting immigration that aim to shut down the border, even to those lawfully seeking asylum. If medical care in CBP custody worsens, more individuals and children may die."
Key Findings
The committee laid out five key findings from their investigation.
The report states that children are being held in custody for much longer than guidelines state.
CBP guidelines state that persons should not be detained for more than 72 hours. Alvarez had been in custody for nine days at the time of her death.
The committee said that in October 2024, 832 children were held for more than seven days and 56 were held for more than 14 days.
The report found what Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called systemic problems with understaffing, failure to document medical records, inadequate guidance on treating vulnerable individuals and children and a failure to maintain oversight of CBP's medical contractor.
Durbin was the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee when the report was ordered.
What they're saying:
"Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez likely would still be alive if she received adequate emergency medical care in CBP custody," Durbin said. "She was eight years old when she died. Her mom couldn’t call her an ambulance while in custody and begged medical staff to help her—to no avail. We should always care about the health and safety of children, especially when they’re in the government’s care."
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Recommendations
The committee report put out a list of recommendations and urged CBP to implement them.
Among the recommendations were a shorter time in custody and stronger protection for the medically vulnerable.
The committee recommended increased oversight and transparency along with empowering medical staff to seek higher levels of care when needed.
"While some steps were taken under the Biden Administration, more needs to be done," Durbin said. "That’s especially true as formal monitoring of CBP medical care may soon end without court intervention. As the Trump Administration begins its aggressive and undisciplined anti-immigrant agenda, I urge CBP to adopt these recommendations. We must have increased monitoring, stricter oversight, and adequate care for vulnerable people, especially children, in government custody."
The Death of Anadith Reyes Alvarez
The backstory:
Customs and Border Protection officials said Alvarez was taken into custody near Brownsville, Texas with her parents and two siblings on May 9, 2023.
The family was moved from the Camp Monument Staging Area to the Donna, Texas processing facility in the early morning hours of May 10.
CBP officials said the family was medically evaluated in Donna and medical staff were told of Alvarez's condition.
Alvarez was taken by her mother to the medical area in Donna on May 14 after complaining of abdominal pain, nasal congestion and a cough, a report from CBP states.
Alvarez was diagnosed with influenza and she and her family were moved to the facility in Harlingen, which is a medical isolation facility, the release states.
CBP officials said Alvarez was receiving treatment for the flu for several days when she was brought to the Harlingen medical unit on May 17 because she was vomiting.
Alvarez and her mother went back to the unit a second time when she complained of a stomachache. Medical staff noted she was stable and told her mother to follow up if needed, the release states.
When Alvarez returned to the medical unit just before 2 p.m. on May 17, her third trip of the day, CBP said she appeared to be having a seizure before becoming unresponsive.
Medical staff started CPR on the girl until an ambulance arrived, and she was taken to a hospital where she died just before 3 p.m.
What we don't know:
It is unclear if CBP will consider the recommendations of the committee. The investigation was opened during the Biden administration.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has taken a harder stance on immigration through a string of executive orders and mass deportation plans.
The president on Wednesday said he wanted to open a detention center at Guantánamo Bay that would hold 30,000 migrants.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the Senate Judiciary Committee, Customs and Border Protection and Sen. Dick Durbin.