Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of an eight -year -old girl who died while she was in custody of the border patrol in 2023, despite her mother’s repeated supplications to be provided with medical care. The girl died nine days after the family was delivered to the border agents after crossing the Rio Bravo from Mexico, which the United States calls Rio Grande.
Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez, who had chronic heart problems and anemia of falciform cells, died after the medical staff of a detention installation of the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of the United States refused to call an ambulance, according to US officials, lawyers and her family.
His death occurred in the middle of a wave of illegal crosses to the United States and criticism of US authorities for overpopulated detention facilities. This led to investigating what went wrong during the custody of Anadith, which far exceeded the 72 -hour limit of the agency, and about medical care for detained immigrants.
The Texas civil rights project and the Haitian bridge alliance seek to obtain compensation of 15 million dollars in the demand, which was presented on Thursday and occurs in the middle of a renewed scrutiny about the treatment of immigrants after the imposition of measures by the Trump government.
Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said in a statement: “CBP’s refusal to provide Anadith with the medical care she needed was cruel and inhuman. The CBP must now act now to prevent another tragedy like this.”
In an internal investigation it was found that the medical staff was informed about Anadith’s medical history, but refused to review his file before he had a seizure and died on May 17 in Harlingen, Texas.
-“Despite the girl’s condition, her mother’s concerns and the series of treatments required to handle her condition, the contracted medical staff did not transfer it to a hospital to receive higher level care,” reads the CBP report.
The medical officer in chief of the border patrol was reallocated after the death.
Anadith, whose parents are Hondurans and born in Panama, was diagnosed with flu on May 14 in a temporary detention installation by Donna, Texas, before being transferred with her family to Harlingen. The staff repeatedly met with the girl and her mother for the next four days because she presented symptoms such as high fever, flu signs, nausea and breathing difficulties, according to a CBP report.
In an investigation carried out by Congress in January, it was found that his death “was not an isolated case, but coincides with other examples of poor attention in CBP custody.” It is also indicated that the children spent too much time in detention, and that the chronic lack of personnel and, sometimes, the unreliable medical care were generalized problems in the detention facilities.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
