Border Patrol is confiscating migrant kids' medicine, U.S. doctors say by CEDickson
For the past year and a half, Dr. Eric Russell has been traveling from Houston to McAllen, Texas, every three months or so to volunteer at the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center, a first stop for many asylum-seeking migrants who’ve been released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the Rio Grande Valley.
“The mom came to the clinic because she was concerned that he was going to have a seizure,” said Russell. He wasn’t sure exactly how long they’d been in custody — “usually it's a matter of days,” he said, “but with seizure medicines, that’s enough.” Griffin, who also serves as co-chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Immigrant Health Special Interest Group, said that Russell’s experience reflected what she and other volunteer physicians had also been hearing from parents and children seeking medical care at the respite center in recent months.
A U.S. Border Patrol official told Yahoo News that, “detainees are not typically allowed to keep medications on their persons while in our care and custody.” Claims that Border Patrol agents confiscate medications arbitrarily and deny access to necessary treatment are “clearly not true,” he insisted. “It's actually going above and beyond in terms of ensuring the safety and the security and also the medical appropriateness of the prescriptions and the dosing of the medicine. 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.
“You can ask providers who care for them day in and day out,” he continued. “We know that the medicines are taken away.” “That could've been a potentially deadly situation, taking away stuff like that from a child,” he said. “They can get by OK,” as long as they’re healthy. “But any infection or cold, it’ll kill them.”
“It’s just so commonplace that people arrive at the shelter saying, ‘I took X drug and it was taken away,” said Levy, noting that high blood pressure and diabetes are the most common conditions mentioned by adult migrants. “To be fair, I haven't been in a CBP station and seen them take [medication] away,” said Dr. Bert Johansson, another El Paso-based pediatrician who provides volunteer medical care at shelters run by Annunciation House. “This is being reported to me by the migrants.”
He recalled the case of a 15-year-old Guatemalan girl who arrived at one of the shelters in mild diabetic ketoacidosis, which can be fatal. “If left on its own, it would have gotten worse,” he said.
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