Hahahaha headline is clearly misleading. It’s clickbait for the moron brigade.
A CBP official with knowledge of the agency’s medical operations on the border explained this policy is for the safety of the detainees themselves.
“You can imagine a migrant or an alien comes across and maybe they have a bag or just a pocket full of pills and they say 'Oh, this is for my high blood pressure,'” the CBP official told Yahoo News. “There's no way of knowing what that is. It could be an illicit substance. It could be something that some unlicensed provider gave them on the other side of the border. It could be dangerous, it could be harmful.”
“So unless it is very clear that it is from a legitimate provider and that it's a legitimate medication,” he continued, “generally speaking, Border Patrol will confiscate that, but only in the context of making sure that alien or migrant is evaluated onsite or at a local hospital to identify what medication they need.” Once the migrant receives a diagnosis and a U.S. prescription, the official said, Border Patrol agents will then fill the prescription and dispense medication accordingly. “We do not have the migrants self-medicating while they're in holding.”
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.”
Asked whether this process is always followed for every migrant who enters custody with medication, the CBP official said, “Yes, that is the standard practice.
