Civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of an 8-year-old girl who died in Border Patrol custody in 2023 despite her mother’s repeated pleas for medical care. The girl died nine days after the family had surrendered to border agents after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico.
Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, who had chronic heart problems and sickle cell anemia, died after medical personnel in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention facility refused to summon an ambulance, according to U.S. officials, lawyers and her family.
Her death came amid a flood of illegal crossings into the U.S. and criticism of U.S. authorities for overcrowded detention facilities. It led to investigations into what went wrong during Anadith’s custody, which far exceeded the agency’s own limit of 72 hours, and into medical care for detained immigrants.
The Texas Civil Rights Project and Haitian Bridge Alliance are seeking $15 million in damages in the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday and comes amid renewed scrutiny on treatment of immigrants during the Trump administration’s crackdown.
“CBP’s refusal to provide Anadith the medical care she needed was cruel and inhumane,” Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said in a statement. “CBP must act now to prevent another tragedy like this.”
An internal investigation found that medical personnel were informed about Anadith’s medical history but declined to review her file before she had a seizure and died May 17 in Harlingen, Texas.
“Despite the girl’s condition, her mother’s concerns, and the series of treatments required to manage her condition, contracted medical personnel did not transfer her to a hospital for higher-level care,” the CBP report said.
The Border Patrol’s chief medical officer was reassigned in the wake of the death.
Anadith, whose parents are Honduran and who was born in Panama, was diagnosed with the flu May 14 at a temporary holding facility in Donna, Texas, then moved with her family to Harlingen. Staff met repeatedly with Anadith and her mother over the next four days over concerns including a high fever, flu symptoms, nausea and breathing difficulties, a CBP report said.
A congressional investigation in January found that her death “was not aberrant but consistent with other examples of poor care in CBP custody.” It said children were held too long in detention, and that chronic understaffing and sometimes unreliable medical care were widespread in detention facilities.