An unprecedented number of migrant children have died after being taken into federal immigration custody, and officials are apparently responding by …. taking away children’s medicine at the border? A volunteer physician at the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas said he’s seen a number of newly-released migrants, including children, who have had their medications taken from them by border officials.
Dr. Eric Russell said “the patient who stood out the most during that visit was a boy of 8 or 9 with a history of seizures. According to his mother, the child had been on a long-term seizure medicine in their home country, but the medication had been taken from him upon entering the Border Patrol custody in McAllen and never returned.”
“The mom came to the clinic because she was concerned that he was going to have a seizure,” he said. The boy was fine at the time, but he expressed concern that this would not be the case once the boy and his mother continue on into the U.S. “My concern is, what’s going to happen if you put a 9-year-old child who has a history of seizures, without any seizure medicine on a bus for 3 days ... is that he’s going to have a seizure.”
“Claims that Border Patrol agents confiscate medications arbitrarily and deny access to necessary treatment are ‘clearly not true,’” said an unnamed border official, claiming that “no one pays more attention and interest and is more dedicated to the health and well-being and the safety and security of the migrants in our custody than Border Patrol.”
Yet just days ago, 16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Hernández Vásquez became yet another child to die while in Border Patrol custody. Carlos began complaining of not feeling well on May 19, the same day he was moved to a second facility. He would be dead by the next day. “How did Carlos go from a flu diagnosis to being found dead only one hour after a welfare check?” asked California Rep. Raul Ruiz.