Groups sue to get info on child who died in CBP custody in South Texas

HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) -- Two nonprofits on Friday filed a federal lawsuit for more information on an 8-year-old migrant girl who died exactly a year ago in custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in this Rio Grande Valley border town.

The Texas Civil Rights Project and Haitian Bridge Alliance filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit Friday to obtain medical records and other information on Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez.

A court report submitted in July found the death of the Panamanian girl was preventable.

Reyes died May 17, 2023, after suffering cardiac arrest while at the CBP processing facility in Harlingen, where she was being isolated for a high fever and the flu. She had been held for eight days after crossing the border in Brownsville with her family.

The medical isolation unit at the facility was shut down.

The lawsuit follows Freedom of Information Act requests by TCRP in October 2023, to which the organization says were not responded.

"CBP has failed to respond to plaintiff’s request for expedited processing and has explicitly denied plaintiff’s request to produce records," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, in Austin, also requests that the venue for this case be moved to this court. It also asks the court to oversee the case and prevent the government from withholding evidence in the future.

"For the past year, we have called on CBP to be transparent, to give us and the family the answers needed to determine what exactly happened to Anadith. Request after request for documentation was denied, shrouding what actually happened behind layers of bureaucratic red tape. Today, we call on CBP to be transparent and release the requested information so that those responsible for this tragedy can be held accountable," TCRP lawyer Karla Vargas said in a statement.

Reyes' family says this past year has been an agony.

“Today, precisely on May 17, the one-year anniversary of Anadith’s passing is being observed. This year has not been easy for us -- we have suffered, cried and missed our baby,” Mother Mabel Álvarez said in a statement. “The most painful thing is that the government has not wanted to provide us with any documents regarding Anadith, which has not been easy for us. We have fought a lot and we are still fighting. I ask the government to please help us access Anadith’s documents so that we can turn the page because it is very painful. The most painful thing is that they don't want to help us. What I want most is for justice to be done for the death of my daughter and for this to not go unpunished, that justice be done for the memory of Anadith Reyes.”

The most painful thing is that they don't want to help us. What I want most is for justice to be done for the death of my daughter."

Mabel Álvarez

According to the lawsuit, Reyes and her family were members of the Afro-indigenous Garifuna community in Honduras "who have suffered an ongoing history of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous discrimination." The family fled to Panama for refuge and that is where the girl was born.

"The people we serve, encounter this discrimination daily at the border and in detention centers. Justice for Anadith and her family requires transparency. But the government has denied the family even that. We are now forced to go into federal court to compel the Government to produce the information as required by law," Erik Crew, a lawyer with the Haitian Bridge Alliance said.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.