An eight-year-old girl became the third migrant child to die under President Joe Biden’s administration and the first minor to die in U.S. custody following the repeal of the pandemic-era Title 42 policy last week.
Anadith Reyes, a native of Panama, passed away Wednesday after falling ill at a US Border Patrol station in Harlingen, Texas.
Her parents, both Honduran nationals, have come forward and accused immigration officers of failing to provide immediate care after the child complained that she could not breathe properly.
“They killed my daughter,” a distraught Rossel Reyes told Univisión on Thursday. “(It was) medical negligence. They wouldn’t take care of her until she passed out and they said they could call an ambulance.’
Anadith Reyes, an eight-year-old Panamanian national, passed away Wednesday after falling ill at a US Border Patrol facility in Harlingen, Texas. She is the third child to die in U.S. custody since President Joe Biden took office. By comparison, six children died in U.S. custody during the tenure of former President Donald Trump
Honduran citizens Mabel Álvarez (left) and Rossel Reyes (right) blame U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents for the death of their eight-year-old child, who they said they never received medical attention at the shelter facility after complaining that they could not. breathe well
Her parents claimed their child complained of breathing difficulties for days and that the officers did nothing to prevent her sudden death.
Lorna Santos told Telemundo that her niece, Anadith Reyez, had come down with the flu after border agents took the family into custody on May 9.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a statement that the young girl was pronounced dead in the ambulance that rushed her to a local hospital and that the internal affairs department will lead the investigation.
However, Mabel Álvarez rejected the federal agency’s version of events, claiming she was carrying her daughter when she died.
“I told her, ‘Baby, your daddy’s there.’ She turned to see and she died in my arms,” the tearful mother told the network.
Rossel Reyes recalled watching his daughter struggle to breathe while his wife held her.
“She had pain in her arms,” he said.
The Santos family planned to start a new life in New York with Anadith Reyes and their sons, ages 12 and 14.
The parents were also looking for better care for the girl, who suffered from congenital heart and sickle cell disease.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said eight-year-old Anadith Reyes of Panamá died in an ambulance that rushed her from the Border Patrol station in Harlingen, Texas, to a local hospital
Anadith Reyes is the first child to die in U.S. government custody following the removal of Title 42
Ángel Maradiaga died on May 10 at a Florida migrant shelter after suffering an epileptic seizure, according to authorities
Anadith Reyes was born with a heart condition and underwent surgery in Panama three years ago.
She is the second minor in a week to die in US custody after 17-year-old Honduran Ángel Maradiaga was found dead at a migrant shelter in Safety Harbor, Florida.
The 17-year-old, who crossed the United States-Mexico border without his parents and was in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, reportedly suffered a seizure in his sleep at the Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Service migrant shelter on May 10.
On March 17, a four-year-old girl, who also came to the United States unaccompanied, died in a Michigan hospital three days after going into cardiac arrest.
Six migrant minors died in US custody during former President Donald Trump’s term in the White House.
The Biden administration struggled with the large influx of migrants crossing the southern border prior to the end of Title 42, although arrivals have declined significantly from 10,000 to 4,000 a day following the end of the controversial policy.
Immigration advocates have visited the Mexican side of the border, where thousands of migrants remain hoping to enter the United States, warning of the growing health crisis they face.
Amy Fischer, who oversees refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA, said that “almost everyone” they saw on the Mexican side of the border had “some sort of health issue they were dealing with.” She said it was “almost universal” for migrants to “lift up their shirt and show a rash or say my child had X type of illness.”
US Border Patrol began releasing migrants into the US without notice to appear in immigration court, instead directing them to report to an immigration office within 60 days. The move saves Border Patrol agents time-consuming processing tasks, freeing up space in detention facilities. A federal judge in Florida ordered an end to the quick releases.
The Border Patrol had 28,717 people in custody as of May 10, the day before pandemic-related asylum restrictions expired, which was double from two weeks earlier, according to a court indictment. By Sunday, the number was down 23 percent to 22,259, still unusually high.