Family Deported Amid Daughter's Cancer Treatment Struggles to Return for Medical Care

A family recently deported from Texas to Mexico is desperately trying to find a legal means to return to the United States to ensure critical medical treatment for their 10-year-old daughter. The girl was born in the U.S. and was diagnosed last year with brain cancer; while surgery successfully removed her tumor, lingering complications have made continuous care and monitoring imperative.

On February 4, U.S. immigration authorities deported the girl's undocumented parents along with their five American-born children, after stopping them at a Texas immigration checkpoint en route from Rio Grande to Houston for emergency medical care for their daughter. Though the family regularly traveled this exact route for medical visits and always presented letters from doctors and attorneys, they were arrested this time when such documentation proved insufficient, and their lack of legal immigration status became the focus.

The girl's mother stated that she attempted to explain their daughter's critical health issues to the checkpoint officials, but officers were uninterested in her explanation. The family's attorney, Danny Woodward of the Texas Civil Rights Project, stressed that aside from their immigration status, the parents have no criminal records.

Following their arrest, the family was taken to a detention center, where the mother and daughters experienced separation from the father and sons. Eventually, authorities transported them across the border, leaving them at a Mexican location near Texas. After briefly living at a shelter, the family managed to find a house; however, fears about safety and kidnapping in the area have prevented their children from attending school.

The deportation disrupted crucial medical care for not only the 10-year-old daughter but also her 15-year-old brother, who suffers from a serious heart condition known as Long QT syndrome, requiring constant monitoring. The children's mother expressed enormous fear and helplessness, stating that authorities now effectively "have my children's lives in their hands."

Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, described the event as tragic and symptomatic of wider policies and practices implemented during the Trump administration. Although the government has often argued that undocumented families can be deported together regardless of citizenship status, this raises significant custody issues and potentially puts children into foster care without clear guardianship arrangements.

Advocates are urging the U.S. government to address this humanitarian crisis immediately. They have called upon federal authorities to grant parole to permit the family's return, mitigate the harm inflicted, and prevent similar occurrences in the future.