The mother who was in Border Patrol custody when her eight-year-old daughter died last week claims that agents ignored repeated requests for her daughter to go to the hospital, even though agents said her daughter’s condition did not warrant hospitalization.
Mabel Alvarez Benedicks said in a tearful telephone interview with the Associated Press: “They murdered my child because she was unable to breathe for almost a day and a half.” “She cried out for her life and they ignored it.” “They did nothing for her. ”
According to her mother, eight-year-old Anadith Tanay Alvarez was born in Panama with congenital heart disease. She had surgery three years ago. It was reported that the agents knew about the girl’s past history of heart disease, as well as sickle cell anemia.
According to the mother, Anadith, along with her husband, Alvarez Benedicks, and their three children, including Anadith, crossed the border from Mexico into Texas on May 9.
On May 14, after Anadith was diagnosed with influenza by her doctor, the family went to Harlingen Station.
The eight-year-old girl woke up with a fever and headache on her first day at Harlingen. According to the mother, the station was awash in dust and urine.
She approached an agent to report her daughter’s bone pain. The agent replied, “Oh, I see your child’s growing up.” The agent replied, “Her bones hurt because she’s growing up, give her water.”
He looked at me. What could he say, if he’s not a doctor? Alvarez Bendicks spoke.
The doctor informed the mother that Anadith suffered from influenza. When Anadith began to have trouble breathing, the mother requested an ambulance to transport her daughter to the hospital. Reports indicate she was denied.
She said to Associated Press she didn’t feel they trusted her.
Alvarez Benedicks said that in order to reduce her daughter’s temperature, she had given her “saline fluids, a bath, and fever medication”. Anadith’s breathing problems persisted, and she also suffered from a sore throat, which made it difficult for her to eat, and ultimately caused her not to be able to walk.
The mother stated that the doctor asked her parents to return if Anadith fainted. Anadith’s blood pressure was checked on Wednesday, and Alvarez Benedick again was denied an ambulance.
Her mom reported that an ambulance had been dispatched when Anadith began to become limp, unresponsive, and vomit blood. Alvarez Benedicks claims her daughter’s vitals were not taken before she was transferred to the hospital.
Alvarez Benedicks and her husband are both Hondurans.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a statement shortly after Anadith’s death, stating that the “Office of Professional Responsibility” was investigating the incident.
Roderick KISE is a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of Border Patrol. He told the Associated Press he could not comment because the investigation into the death was still ongoing.
Anadith passed away a week after Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza (a 17-year-old Honduran boy) who was in the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He was traveling alone when he suffered a seizure on May 12 at a Florida Child Welfare Shelter.
