U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with several colleagues, has released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report highlighting systemic failures in medical care provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The report was commissioned following the death of Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez, an eight-year-old girl with serious health conditions who died while in CBP custody in Harlingen, Texas. The request for the report also came after a whistleblower disclosed longstanding issues regarding inadequate medical care and lack of oversight within CBP facilities.
The GAO report, titled “Southwest Border: CBP Should Improve Oversight of Medical Care for Individuals in Custody,” details how CBP has not ensured that medically vulnerable individuals receive necessary care despite existing policies. After reviewing CBP's actions following the May 2023 death of Reyes Álvarez, GAO found that new measures were not sufficiently monitored or enforced. Failures included insufficient medical assessments and monitoring for pregnant people, sick or injured adults, and other high-risk groups. The report concluded that CBP lacks effective oversight to enforce its own medical standards.
GAO also found inconsistencies in prioritizing vulnerable individuals for expedited processing, resulting in some being held beyond the recommended 72-hour period. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has yet to set clear criteria for expedited processing eligibility. Additionally, GAO reported that CBP’s management of its medical services contracts was inadequate, limiting its ability to ensure proper care or hold contractors accountable.
Durbin commented on the findings: “The situation has long been dire for those in immigration detention. But with the onset of President Trump’s unpopular, inhumane anti-immigrant agenda, the urgency to reform oversight of medical care in CBP facilities is even more pressing. When human beings are in the government’s custody, we are responsible for ensuring they receive proper care. I urge CBP to aggressively implement these reforms and for Republicans in Congress to join Democrats in ensuring robust oversight of immigration detention facilities.”
Other lawmakers involved in requesting the report included Representatives Bennie Thompson (D-MS-02), Robert Garcia (D-CA-42), Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08), Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY-14), and Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM-03).
Raskin stated: "CBP's persistent failure to provide basic care for the men, women, and children in its custody is unconscionable and incompatible with our nation’s laws and values. The findings detailed in this report are profoundly troubling. At a moment when the Trump Administration has dramatically intensified its extreme and deadly immigration enforcement tactics, Congress has an urgent and bipartisan obligation to exercise robust oversight of immigration detention facilities and ensure that fundamental standards of humanity and due process are being upheld.”
Fernández added: “The Democratic Women’s Caucus has sounded the alarmfor months on the egregious mistreatment of women in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. The murder of Renee Good by an ICE agent and the deportation of an eight-months-pregnant woman in medical distress this week are just a couple recent examples of their complete disregard for human life. CBP leaves pregnant women without critical medical exams, withholds prescriptions and medical records from individuals in their care, and neglects to follow its own procedures and care requirements. These offenses are inhumane, completely unacceptable, and should offend every American. We demand CBP immediately reform how they care for women in custody.”
The GAO made fourteen recommendations aimed at improving oversight mechanisms; ensuring contracted personnel understand differences between types of medical assessments; developing performance metrics; conducting cost-benefit analyses; updating contract administration practices; tracking corrective actions; certifying monitors; complying with federal evaluation requirements; among others.
CBP agreed with thirteen recommendations but did not accept one recommendation related to documenting policy factors used to determine which individuals should receive expedited processing due to serious physical or mental health conditions.
A copy of the full GAO report can be accessed through this link.
