Whistleblower Says Border Patrol Didn’t Properly Vet Medical Contractor Before 8-Year-Old’s Death
This article features Government Accountability Project’s whistleblower client, Troy Hendrickson, and was originally published here.
A senior Customs and Border Protection official wrote a letter to Congress Thursday where he alleged that CBP failed to adequately monitor its medical service contractor before an 8-year-old died in U.S. custody in May—the latest in a string of criticisms over the the agency’s treatment of migrants as border crossings spike to record levels.
In the letter, an attorney for Troy Hendrickson, a 15-year veteran at the CBP, said he had raised concerns about the agency’s medical contractor, Loyal Source Government Services, which was responsible for providing medical services and received a $25 million-per-month contract from the CBP, according to the Washington Post.
Hendrickson alleged the company was understaffed by 40%, employees lacked proper licenses and clearances and the company made billing errors that he said led to millions of dollars in overpayments and other problems.
The letter said Hendrickson had been trying to get CBP to issue a warning notice to Loyal Source Government Services asking them to improve their services since January 2022, but his efforts were thwarted, and after bringing his concerns to his supervisors he was then reassigned.
Meanwhile in May, 8-year-old Anadith Reyes Alvarez died in a CBP facility after being detained by border officials—a death that Hendrickson’s lawyer said might not have happened “Had Mr. Hendrickson’s and his OCMO colleagues’ concerns about Loyal Source been addressed in 2021 or 2022.”
Investigators and a court-appointed physician found that Loyal Source Government Services staff had denied requests from Anadith’s family requesting more urgent medical care and that the staff had mishandled records, saying the girl had a heart condition and sickle cell anemia, the Post reported.
The CBP told Forbes in an email that the agency “takes its obligations to investigate whistleblower allegations seriously,” and “remains committed to ensuring that contract oversight – and the procurement process writ large – are conducted correctly” and called the health and safety of those in its custody “a top priority.”
CBP also said it’s taken “significant steps” to improve care and minimize time people spend in CBP custody, notably by bringing “new leadership into the Office of the Chief Medical Officer.” (Loyal Source Government Services told Forbes it was prohibited from responding to media inquiries on the matter, according to the terms of its contract.)
Hendrickson is a 15-year veteran at CBP, where he worked as a contract officer representative responsible for working with contractors like Loyal Source Government Services, according to the letter. Loyal Source Government Services is currently a finalist for a new five-year, $1.5 billion contract with the CBP, one of the largest contracts in CBP’s history, according to the Washington Post. The company faced scrutiny after the death and was the subject of a CBP probe, an investigation from the Post found. The company has received roughly $700 million through CBP contracts since 2015.
CBP has long struggled with accusations that it doesn’t adequately care for the migrants in its care and that it is too harsh on those trying to cross the border. The American Civil Liberties Union said recent militarization of CBP has led to “rampant abuses ranging from racial profiling to excessive force,” and said the agency’s practices “pose a variety of threats to civil liberties.” In 2022, Human Rights Watch wrote that U.S. border policy is “in dire need of reform” and “broken.” President Joe Biden has faced repeated criticism over his administration’s border policies from both sides of the aisle, as unauthorized crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border surge. Republicans in Congress and elsewhere have frequently attacked him for being too lax on undocumented immigration through the southern border. Additionally, many Democratic mayors and governors have urged Biden to provide more assistance dealing with the influx of migrants into large cities. In January, a group of 80 Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter calling Biden’s new policy of turning away many of the asylum seekers who arrive at the southern border “unconscionable.” Democrats have also criticized him for continuing work on his predecessor, Donald Trump’s, border wall.