SAN JUAN, Texas (Border Report) — A Catholic nun who tended to the family of a Panamanian girl who died in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody last month told Border Report they were “devastated” by her loss.
“It was so devastating for the whole family,” said Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, where the family of 8-year-old Anadith Reyes Alvarez briefly stayed after her death.
Her comments came as The Washington Post reports that CBP has shut down medical isolation care at the facility where the girl died in Harlingen, Texas. The Department of Homeland Security also wants a complete overhaul of the agency’s medical care system for asylum-seekers, according to the Post.
A medical team investigating the May 17 death has found the Harlingen CBP facility “lacked sufficient medical engagement and accountability to ensure safe, effective, humane and well-documented medical care,” according to a memo obtained by the Post.
The memo cited poor medical record keeping and poor communication among staff and with local physicians in the Rio Grande Valley who were contracted to help in medical emergencies. The facility had a list of on-call doctors and pediatricians that was out of date, the June 8 memo from DHS Acting Chief Medical Officer Herbert Wolfe to CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said.
Anadith and her family crossed the border into Brownsville, Texas, from Matamoros, Mexico, on May 9, in the days just before the Biden administration lifted Title 42.
She was among thousands of asylum-seekers who surrendered to Border Patrol agents in an abandoned golf course on the outskirts of a college campus.
But she was unwell and suffered from sickle cell anemia and a heart condition. She developed the flu and died at the processing facility in a medical isolation ward after experiencing a high fever for several days, CBP officials have said.
Her death prompted an investigation by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility. It also elicited harsh words from Miller, who has called this an “unacceptable tragedy.”
After her death, her family stayed for several days at the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, which is run by Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.
Pimentel said the family grieved and suffered greatly at the loss of their child. And she said staff at the center worked to comfort them and to give them privacy.
“When you lose a daughter, a child, I think that’s the worst thing a parent goes through. They did everything on their part to try to save their child. They traveled for so long through the countries and took so long because they were so careful in making sure she was OK, that she could handle the trip. And then did come to a point where she died. It was so devastating for the whole family,” Pimentel said.
She says many community members in the Rio Grande Valley stepped up to send donations and gifts to the family.
The Texas Civil Rights Project is even providing legal services for them.
“The community, not just us, but so many others have reached out to find out how to help them. I think that’s something so beautiful about the RGV is how so many move in to try to assist and help and be present to them,” she said.
Although the family has relocated to New York, she says “they continue to let us know how they’re doing.”
A funeral was held June 16 in New York City for Anadith.
Pimentel says her organization is working with New York officials to try to find a larger apartment for all of them.
“It’s not an easy time in their life. It will be a while before they can adjust to the fact that they lost a little girl,” she said.
Border Report has asked CBP for information on the closure of the Harlingen facility, and where medical isolation cases are now being held in South Texas. This story will be updated if information is received.