Migrant mother requested aid three times the day her 8-year-old daughter died in U.S. border custody
CBSN
Washington — The mother of a young migrant girl who died in U.S. Border Patrol custody last week requested medical aid at least three times the day her sick daughter was pronounced dead at a Texas hospital, government officials said Sunday.
Eight-year-old Anadith Tanay Reyes Alvarez, who was born with a heart condition, died on May 17 after experiencing a medical emergency inside a Border Patrol station in Harlingen, Texas. A local medical examiner is still probing the death, but an initial autopsy referenced Reyes Alvarez's heart disease and sickle cell anemia, officials said.
Reyes Alvarez was detained in Border Patrol facilities with her parents and siblings for over a week, despite internal rules that instruct agents to hold migrants for no longer than three days. Border Patrol agents can release migrants pending a court hearing or an asylum interview, deport them or transfer them to another agency, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
