Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Releases Revealing Investigative Report On Inadequate Care In Customs And Border Protection Facilities

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released an interim staff report and the findings of a months-long investigation into the chronic failure to provide adequate medical care to vulnerable individuals in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody, including a first-of-its-kind map of CBP medical processes, analyses of deficient medical care in CBP facilities, powerful testimony from impacted whistleblowers, and seven recommendations to hold CBP and its medical contractor accountable.
Entitled “The Failure to Provide Adequate Care to Vulnerable Individuals in CBP Custody,” the Democratic staff report provides an overview of the Committee’s oversight efforts and key findings regarding CBP medical care, including systemic problems such as understaffing, lengthy detention of children, the failure to document and assess medical records, unclear and inadequate guidance for treating children and other vulnerable individuals, and CBP’s failure to conduct meaningful oversight of its medical contractor.
This oversight work was prompted by thedeathof Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez, an eight-year-old Panamanian girl, at a CBP detention facility in Harlingen, Texas, on May 17, 2023.
On the report’s release, Durbin released the following statement:
“Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez likely would still be alive if she received adequate emergency medical care in CBP custody. She was eight years old when she died. Her mom couldn’t call her an ambulance while in custody and begged medical staff to help her—to no avail. We should always care about the health and safety of children, especially when they’re in the government’s care.
“For too long, CBP has failed to meet basic medical needs and wasted taxpayer dollars. Whistleblowers have been key to our investigation, and I thank those who bravely came forward to speak truth to power.
“While some steps were taken under the Biden Administration, more needs to be done. That’s especially true as formal monitoring of CBP medical care may soon end without court intervention. As the Trump Administration begins its aggressive and undisciplined anti-immigrant agenda, I urge CBP to adopt these recommendations. We must have increased monitoring, stricter oversight, and adequate care for vulnerable people, especially children, in government custody.”
Key findings and takeaways from the investigation include:
The report includes the following seven recommendations:
For a PDF copy of the full report with appendices, clickhere.
For a PDF copy of the report only, clickhere.
For a PDF copy of the appendices only, clickhere.
The report is the latest step in Durbin’s ongoing inquiry into medical and mental health care in the Department of Homeland Security’s facilities. Durbinpressedforfurther investigationinto deficient medical care in CBP detention facilities after whistleblower reportsallegedsystemic failures by DHS to ensure proper oversight of its medical care contractor.
Durbin continues to actively investigate care in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities, which he initiated with letters to ICE and the Government Accountability Office.A June 2024 reportfrom the American Civil Liberties Union, Physicians for Human Rights, and American Oversight found that 95 percent of documented deaths in ICE custody between 2017-2021 were likely preventable.
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