By Julia Ordaz
Eight-year-old Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, a migrant from Panama, was in the US Customs and Border Protection in Brownsville, Texas custody for eight days before her passing. She was diagnosed with and treated for influenza before her passing, a condition that the agents argued did not require hospitalization.
During Alvarez’s first medical assessment on May 10, she claimed to be healthy, but her family did report that she had a history of chronic heart problems and sickle cell anemia.
On May 14, Alvarez’s mother brought her to the Harlingen medical unit three separate times for symptoms including bone pain, struggling to breathe, the inability to walk, vomiting, and more. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Harlingen medical unit is “designated for cases requiring medical isolation for individuals diagnosed with or closely exposed to communicable diseases.” During the first visit Alvarez was diagnosed with influenza and prescribed Tamiflu and Zofran, and was sent home. The second visit was for complaints of abdominal pain, but Alvarez was declared stable and sent home again with instruction to return if she did not improve. She returned a third time for seizing, but during the visit she became unresponsive. Medical personnel performed CPR and rushed her to the Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen where she died less than an hour later.
Alvarez’s mom said, “They killed my daughter, because she was nearly a day and a half without being able to breathe. She cried and begged for her life and they ignored her. They didn’t do anything for her.” Troy Miller, acting commissioner of the CBP said in a statement, “We are deeply saddened by the tragic death,” and that they would work to “reinforce existing policies and continue to ensure appropriate care for all medically fragile individuals.”
Migrant advocates are questioning why the family was held in the facility for so long. Under agency policy, people are not supposed to be held for longer than 72 hours. The Office of Professional Responsibility is leading an investigation into the death.
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