Parents deported to Mexico file DHS complaint seeking return to US with sick American daughter
By Polo Sandoval, CNN
(CNN) — The undocumented parents of a 10-year-old US citizen whose family was removed to Mexico filed a complaint against Customs and Border Protection and are seeking humanitarian parole to return to the US with the girl so she can continue brain cancer treatment.
The girl’s care was interrupted last month, when she, her parents and four of her siblings were detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Texas and were subsequently removed from the US to Mexico following the parents’ decision to take their children with them rather than separate, according to Texas Civil Rights Project, an immigration nonprofit representing the family.
In a March 17 complaint letter addressed to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, TCRP attorneys allege CBP officers “denied urgent medical care to a vulnerable and disabled U.S. citizen child” while the family was questioned by the agency.
In a statement to CNN Tuesday, CBP’s Assistant Commissioner of Public Affairs, Hilton Beckham, denied the claims, calling them “false and irresponsible,” and added, “CBP remains committed to enforcing immigration laws with professionalism, compassion, and accountability.”
The parents have “no criminal records,” according to Danny Woodward, an attorney with TCRP. All but one of the couple’s children are US citizens, TCRP said.
At the time they were detained, the parents – who asked to be identified only by the pseudonyms “Juan” and “Maria” due to safety concerns – had been taking their daughter, “Sara,” to a Houston medical center for ongoing care after she was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year and later underwent surgery.
Getting Sara care meant a five-hour drive from where they lived in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, which lies along the border with Mexico. It also meant clearing a Border Patrol checkpoint inside the state in order to reach the hospital.
Such longstanding federal checkpoints are designed to detect contraband and undocumented migrants moving into the country’s interior.
In a video statement given to CNN by TCRP, the mother said the trip to Houston – a 350-mile drive – was “routine” until February 3.
“This time we were detained and were confronted with the hardest decision to make, which was separate permanently from our children, or be deported together,” the mother said in the statement, as she struggled through tears.
Sara began experiencing headaches and dizziness the morning of February 3, prompting her parents to follow doctor’s orders and immediately return to the hospital, according to Woodward.
With a physician’s letter in hand explaining the girl’s dire condition, the family’s vehicle approached Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint in Sarita, Texas, roughly 90 miles into the journey.
“The family had passed through the checkpoint at Sarita a handful of times going to post-op medical appointments using this letter and for that reason they weren’t concerned,” Woodward told CNN.
But instead of the routine clearance, Maria, Juan and the five children were questioned for hours, then were transported south to a federal processing facility, where they spent the night. The next day, they were taken to a nearby port of entry and were walked across the US-Mexico border by immigration authorities, Woodward said.
CBP told CNN the agency does not deport US citizens who elect to accompany removed family members.
The couple’s oldest child, who is also a US citizen, was not traveling with the family at the time and remains in the US, according to TCRP.
The immigration attorney characterizes the couple’s status in Texas as “living clean, wholesome lives trying to raise their kids.” They “worked in the agricultural sector doing things like packing fruits and vegetables at produce-packing plants” and “had no criminal records or anything to speak of,” Woodward said.
Maria added she and her husband have concerns for another one of their US-citizen children as he suffers from a heart condition.
In response to a comment request from CNN regarding the account of events presented by TCRP, a spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection said, “The facts as reported are inaccurate. When someone is given expedited removal orders and chooses to disregard them, they will face the consequences as outlined by the expedited removal process for individuals with removal orders.”
The agency spokesperson added CBP could not comment on specifics of the case, citing privacy reasons.
In response to CBP’s statement, TCRP told CNN: “We believe there was a prior removal order from years back, but there was no expedited removal documented on their current deportation papers, and despite any order, the family has always been able to cross the checkpoint to access the care their (US citizen) daughter needed.”
Complaint alleges civil rights abuses, claims officers seized medications from sick child
In the complaint letter, TCRP alleges – among other claims – that despite presenting officers with a letter from Sara’s doctor and her US citizenship documents, CBP personnel refused to allow the family to proceed to the Houston medical facility and confiscated the child’s seizure medication.
“Maria told a medical staff member about Sara’s surgery and condition, hoping that they would allow Sara to take her medication,” read the allegations. “The staff member accused her of lying.”
TCRP states Sara was eventually administered a dose of her meds and that medical checks were conducted before the family spent the night in “hot, cramped cells.”
“CBP abides by strict legal and humanitarian standards, with processing facilities—including those in the Rio Grande Valley Sector—under continuous internal and external monitoring to ensure proper medical care, nutrition, welfare checks, and humane conditions,” wrote Asst. Commissioner Beckham, adding, “the health and well-being of those in custody remain a top priority, with access to necessary medical attention always ensured.”
Another CBP official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told CNN anyone entering their processing facilities in the Rio Grande Valley sector receives a medical screening and while medications can be administered in the presence of staff, they are not allowed to be taken by the detainee to their living area to self-administer. The official added the temperature at the processing facility that housed the family was monitored and “reported within normal limits.”
In addition to calling on DHS to launch an investigation into the allegations, TCRP is seeking humanitarian parole for the parents.
Maria emphasized their plea in her video statement: “Help us return so that our little girl can continue receiving the medical care she needs. She does not deserve to suffer this way. Cancer has brought her enough suffering.”
Millions of children at risk
Migrant advocates have long voiced concerns for so-called mixed-status migrant families – those with parents who have US citizen children but lack legal status to be in the country themselves. Such cases mean migrant parents may have to face some agonizing choices like Maria and Juan did: Do they separate from their children? Or leave the country together?
The Trump administration has repeatedly said they will deport all undocumented immigrants. That includes the undocumented parents of approximately 4.4 million children who are US citizens, according to the DC-based nonprofit the American Immigration Council.
Before officially filling the role of White House border czar, Tom Homan told CBS News in October that “families can be deported together,” when asked if there was a way to prevent family separation.
“There are theoretically on the books, some mechanisms where a family could apply for a waiver or some sort of humanitarian relief,” opined New York immigration attorney Raul Reyes after analyzing Juan and Maria’s case. “But that is extremely hard to get once individuals have already been deported. And certainly, with this administration that will certainly be a really steep challenge.”
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