A 10-year-old girl in Texas was deported back to Mexico while undergoing life-saving brain cancer treatment, despite being an American citizen.
The girl and four of her siblings, along with their undocumented parents, were removed from Houston last month.
The family had traveled from their home in the Rio Grande valley to Houston for an emergency appointment with the girl’s cancer specialists.
The family’s attorney said they had passed through the immigration checkpoint at least five times prior since their daughter’s brain cancer diagnosis without issues, showing letters from their doctors and lawyers to officers at the border.
But on February 4, the parents were arrested after failing to show legal immigration documentation, despite the mother trying to explain their unique circumstances.
She said border officials ‘weren’t interested in hearing that.’
Since being deported, the family has been unable to get adequate medical care in Mexico not only for their daughter but their 15-year-old son, who has Long QT syndrome, a potentially fatal heart condition that causes irregular heartbeats.
A 10-year-old girl in Texas, pictured here with her face blurred to protect her privacy, was deported to Mexico while undergoing life-saving brain cancer treatment. She is a US citizen
The girl is pictured with several of her siblings, most of whom are US citizens. She and her brother, who has Long QT syndrome, have been unable to access proper medical care since being deported
The mother told NBC News: ‘The authorities have my children’s lives in their hands.’
It’s unclear what form of brain tumor the girl has, but brain cancer kills one in four children in the US every year, according to the American Cancer Society.
The girl was diagnosed with brain cancer last year and underwent surgery to remove the tumor.
Her mother said that at the time doctors ‘practically gave me no hope of life for her, but thank God she’s a miracle.’
Despite a successful surgery, the child is still suffering complications like swelling, which has caused speech and mobility difficulties on the right side of her body and put her at risk for seizures.
The girl’s mother said: ‘It’s a very difficult thing. I don’t wish anyone to go through this situation.’
Before their arrest, the family regularly traveled to Houston for follow-up appointments and rehabilitation services.
According to the mother, the family was taken to a detention center, where the sick 10-year-old was forced to lie on a cold floor.
A few hours later, the family was dropped off on the Mexico side of a Texas bridge. They stayed in a nearby shelter for a week before moving into a house.
However, safety concerns have kept the family up at night and prevented them from sending the children to school, as they were sent to an area known for kidnapping US citizens.
Their teenage son has also been unable to get treatment for his Long QT syndrome, which affects 1 in 2,000 Americans, though many don’t know they have it since it doesn’t always cause symptoms.
Left untreated, Long QT syndrome can lead to dangerously long and fast heartbeats called torsades de pointes, which cause heart damage and it to pump out less blood to the brain, causing sudden cardiac death.
The family also had to leave their 17-year-old son behind in Texas.
President Donald Trump has previously said criminals would be targeted first in the administration’s mass deportation efforts, but the girl’s parents have no criminal record.
Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, an advocacy firm representing the family, said: ‘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.
‘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 siblings were born in America and are also US citizens.
