According to a publication from Yahoo News, five doctors interviewed by the media organization have reported meeting with a number of migrants detained by United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP). They say migrants’ medications are being irresponsibly confiscated by Border Patrol agents, putting dozens or hundreds at increased health risk.
Congresswoman Kim Schrier of Washington state is calling for the Office of the Inspector General to investigate the matter.
Medications Are to Be Promptly Verified
According to Customs and Border Protection guidelines, Border Patrol agents should not confiscate medications that require regular administration due to a patient’s need.
An unnamed CBP official told Yahoo News that “unless it is very clear that [a migrant’s medication] is from a legitimate provider… generally speaking, Border Patrol will confiscate that…” However, the agent also added that it would be “only in the context of making sure that alien or migrant is evaluated onsite or at a local hospital” to assess the individual’s needs.
Physicians are concerned CBP agents aren’t following enforcement guidelines. For migrants with severe, medication-dependent conditions like epilepsy or diabetes, the difference of a few days can be devastating. Normally, detainees are held for a few days, “but with seizure medicines, that’s enough,” said Dr. Eric Russell, a pediatric emergency medicine physician from Dallas.
Russel met with one child, recently released a detention center, who had a history of seizures. The boy’s mother said that CBP agents confiscated the long-term seizure medication she brought across the border for her child. When the mother arrived at Russel’s clinic, “…she was concerned that [her son] was going to have a seizure.” The confiscated medication had never been returned.
Although Russel commented that he understood the need to control the use of “outside medications,” he believes that ultimately the decision to confiscate medications is antithetical to the Hippocratic Oath. “Somebody’s going to get hurt, if they haven’t already. Or frankly, someone could die.”
The Importance of Time and America’s Failings at the Border
The situation at the border is extremely precarious. The top-down immigration policy of the current administration, combined with the growing number of migrants crossing the Mexican-American border, has created an organizational disaster that has unambiguously led to overcrowding, poor sanitation, and concerns about food safety in CBP and ICE detention centers on United States soil.
However, the poor conditions in detention centers are the result of bungled administration and enforcement, not an insurmountable challenge. The decision to revoke medications against CBP guidelines, without the ability to effectively replace them, is another easily prevented lapse in judgement that seems to characterize the United States’ handling of the larger issue.
Representative Kim Schrier of Washington state is calling for an investigation of the matter. Herself a pediatrician, Schrier calls the policy of confiscation “horrifying and totally unnecessary and irresponsible.”
Do you think it’s the responsibility of Customs and Border Patrol to deny life-saving medication to detainees in their custody? Why do you think confiscated medications aren’t being returned? Share your thoughts with Patient Worthy!
