American girl, 10, getting life saving cancer treatment is DEPORTED
A 10-year-old American citizen girl was sent back to Mexico while receiving critical brain cancer treatment. The child and four of her brothers and sisters, together with their undocumented parents, were removed from Houston in February.
The family had journeyed from their Rio Grande valley residence to Houston for an urgent visit with the girl's cancer doctors. Their lawyer stated they had crossed the immigration checkpoint at least five times before since their daughter's brain cancer diagnosis without problems, presenting letters from their medical team and legal representatives to border officials.
On February 4, officials arrested the parents after they could not provide legal immigration papers, even though the mother tried to explain their special situation. She reported that border agents "weren't interested in hearing that."
After deportation, the family has struggled to find proper health care in Mexico for their daughter and their 15-year-old son, who suffers from Long QT syndrome, a heart condition that can be deadly and causes abnormal heartbeats.
The mother told NBC News: "The authorities have my children's lives in their hands." The specific type of brain tumor affecting the girl remains unknown, but brain cancer kills 25 percent of children in the US yearly, according to the American Cancer Society.
Doctors diagnosed the girl with brain cancer last year, and she underwent surgery to remove the tumor. Her mother recalled that doctors "practically gave me no hope of life for her, but thank God she's a miracle."
Despite successful surgery, the child continues to experience complications including swelling, which has caused speech and movement difficulties on her right side and increased her risk for seizures.
"It's a very difficult thing. I don't wish anyone to go through this situation," the girl's mother said.
Before their arrest, the family regularly traveled to Houston for check-ups and rehabilitation services.
The mother said officials took the family to a detention facility, where her sick 10-year-old had to lie on a cold floor. Hours later, authorities dropped the family on the Mexico side of a Texas bridge. They stayed in a nearby shelter for a week before moving to a house.
Safety concerns have kept the family awake at night and prevented them from enrolling their children in school, as they were sent to an area known for kidnapping US citizens.
Their teenage son has been unable to receive care for his Long QT syndrome, a condition affecting 1 in 2,000 Americans. Many people don't realize they have this condition because it sometimes produces no symptoms. Without treatment, Long QT syndrome can trigger dangerously extended and rapid heartbeats called torsades de pointes. This condition damages the heart and reduces blood flow to the brain, which can cause sudden cardiac death.
The family was forced to leave their 17-year-old son in Texas. President Donald Trump has stated that criminals would be the main focus in the administration's mass deportation initiatives, yet the girl's parents have clean criminal histories.
Rochelle Garza, who leads the Texas Civil Rights Project, the advocacy organization representing the family, stated: "What is happening to this family is an absolute tragedy and it is something that is not isolated to just them."
"This is part of a pattern in practice that we've seen in the Trump administration," she added.
"We are calling on the government to parole the family in, to correct the harm that they've made and to not do this to anyone else."
Three of the girl's brothers and sisters were born in America and hold US citizenship.
