A Family’s Desperate Plea: A Mother’s Fight for Her Daughter’s Life
In a heart-wrenching video message, a mother of four U.S.-born children, including a 10-year-old girl battling brain cancer, is calling on U.S. elected officials to help her family return to the United States. The family was deportation to Mexico last month after immigration authorities detained and removed the undocumented parents. The mother, speaking in Spanish, expressed her anguish and desperation, urging leaders to intervene so that her critically ill daughter can continue receiving the medical care she so desperately needs.
The family’s plight began in early February when they were traveling from their home in Rio Grande City, Texas, to Houston for an emergency medical checkup for their daughter. The 10-year-old girl has been fighting brain cancer, undergoing surgery to remove a tumor, and requires ongoing medical attention to manage her recovery. Despite having letters from their doctors and lawyers to facilitate their journey, the family was stopped at an immigration checkpoint they had crossed many times before without issue. This time, however, the documents were not enough. The parents were detained, and the family faced an agonizing decision: risk permanent separation from their children or be deported together.
The mother, who has chosen to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, recounted the harrowing experience in her video message. She explained that her family had made the trip to Houston numerous times before to ensure her daughter received the medical care that kept her safe and well. However, this time, they were detained and held for 24 hours before being deported to Mexico. Now, the family is stranded in a region of Mexico notorious for its dangers, particularly for U.S. citizens, who are often targeted for kidnappings.
The family’s deportation has left them without access to the critical medical care the 10-year-old girl requires. Her mother described how the swelling in her daughter’s brain has not fully subsided, leaving her with difficulty speaking and limited mobility on one side of her body. Before their removal from the United States, the girl was undergoing regular check-ups, rehabilitation therapy, and taking medication to prevent seizures. Her mother emphasized that her daughter does not deserve to suffer further, especially when her health is already fragile due to cancer.
The Texas Civil Rights Project, a legal advocacy organization representing the family, has shared the mother’s video message with NBC News. The organization is working to highlight the urgency of the family’s situation and to seek a resolution that allows them to return to the United States. The case underscores the broader challenges faced by undocumented parents of U.S.-born children, who often live in fear of deportation and the potential loss of custody of their children. Without legal documentation or arrangements for guardianship, parents who are detained or deported risk seeing their children placed in the U.S. foster care system, making it far more difficult to reunite with them in the future.
The mother’s plea is not only a personal cry for help but also a reminder of the human cost of immigration policies that fail to account for the complexities and vulnerabilities of families like hers. As the family waits in Mexico, the 10-year-old girl’s health hangs in the balance, and her mother’s hope for her daughter’s recovery grows dimmer by the day. The family’s story is a powerful reminder of the need for compassion and urgency in addressing the challenges faced by mixed-status families and ensuring that no child is forced to endure unnecessary suffering.
