3 weeks ago
14
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez, 8, died in 2023 after she spent a week in a border agency detention center without adequate care for her health conditions.
May 1, 2025, 6:41 p.m. ET
The death of an 8-year-old migrant girl in 2023 while she was in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection prompted investigations and the removal of the agency’s chief medical officer. Now, two immigrant rights groups are seeking $15 million in damages on behalf of the girl’s family.
In a wrongful death claim filed with the federal government on Thursday, lawyers for the family offer the most detailed public account yet of the life and death of the child, Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez, and her family’s efforts to obtain answers about her care in federal custody.
Her death came during a record increase in migration, as the Biden administration struggled to curb illegal crossings and faced criticism about overcrowded detention facilities and the treatment of minors. Illegal crossings plunged in the final months of the Biden administration after a change in asylum policy, and have remained very low under President Trump. But the Trump administration has made families with children targets for detention and removal as President Trump seeks to fulfill a campaign pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, one of the groups that filed the claim, said Anadith’s family wanted to ensure there was accountability and transparency in Customs and Border Protection facilities, which she described as “one of the most obscure and opaque types of detention in our American immigration system.”
“They do not want their daughter to have died in vain,” Ms. Garza said.
Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment on the wrongful death claim. After Anadith’s death, Troy Miller, then acting head of the border agency, requested a review of CBP facilities and made recommendations to address the medical care issues.
Anadith, a Panamanian national, was diagnosed with sickle cell disease and a heart condition at a young age. When she was 5, she traveled with her father to Spain for open-heart surgery and returned to Panama. The family made their way up through Mexico and sought to cross into the United States in May 2023 in hopes of providing safety and a better life for their daughter, according to the complaint.
