Border Agency Medical Chief Reassigned After Migrant Child Dies In Custody: REPORT

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reassigned its medical chief after a migrant child died in the agency’s custody recently, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The agency reassigned its chief medical officer, David Tarantino, to begin a temporary assignment next week amid an investigation the agency began into the death of an eight-year old girl in Border Patrol custody, according to the Post. The tragedy occurred along the southern border in Harlingen, Texas, after the child experienced a medical emergency during her nine days in detention, CBP said in May, adding that it had opened an investigation into the matter.

Border Patrol can only hold migrants for a period of up to 72 hours, according to federal law.

“As CBP works to implement required improvements to our medical care policies and processes, including from the ongoing investigation into the tragic in-custody death of a child in Harlingen, we are bringing in additional senior leadership to drive action across the agency,” CBP told the Post.

The mother of the deceased child believes federal authorities are to blame for her daughter’s death, which occurred shortly after an influenza diagnosis, she told the Associated Press after the tragic incident.

“They killed my daughter, because she was nearly a day and a half without being able to breathe,” the mother said. “She cried and begged for her life and they ignored her. They didn’t do anything for her.”

Neither CBP nor the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded to requests for comment.

Republished with permission from the Daily Caller News Foundation.