The family were on their way to a hospital check-up appointment
The mother of a young girl who is recovering from brain cancer surgery has spoken out after being deported by President Donald Trump’s administration.
Last month, a Texas family experienced a shocking turn of events when they were deported to Mexico while on their way to a crucial medical appointment for their 10-year-old daughter, who had recently undergone brain tumor surgery.
As they were traveling from Rio Grande to Houston for a follow-up with their daughter’s specialists, immigration authorities stopped their car. The family was detained by Customs and Border Protection, forcibly bundled into a van, and unexpectedly dropped off in Mexico, leaving them stranded far from their intended destination.
According to an attorney representing the family, this was the fifth time they had made the trip from Rio Grande to Houston without issue. However, this time, the undocumented parents were detained by immigration authorities.
Typically, letters from the family’s doctors and lawyers had allowed them to travel without trouble, but not on this occasion. At the time of their detention, the 10-year-old girl, who had recently undergone brain tumor surgery, and four other children were in the car. All but one of the children were born in the United States.
Rather than being separated, the entire family, including the 10-year-old girl recovering from brain surgery and a 15-year-old with heart problems, decided to travel to Mexico together.
The mother has since spoken out to NBC, describing how the deportation has severely impacted her family’s well-being and plans for their daughter’s medical care.
The mother recounted how authorities took her family to a detention center, where she and her daughters were separated from her husband and sons. Afterward, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents loaded the family into a van and transported them to Mexico, where they were dropped off at a shelter.
Currently, the family is staying in a house, but the mother revealed that her children are terrified for their safety, as the area they were dropped in has been known for incidents of U.S. citizens being kidnapped.
She shared with NBC News that the deportation has left her children without access to the crucial health care they desperately need. For her 15-year-old, who suffers from an irregular heartbeat, the lack of proper care could even be life-threatening.
Since President Donald Trump took office, the administration has ramped up immigration enforcement. Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, has previously praised the administration’s aggressive stance on immigration, stating: “After four years of the Biden administration’s outright incompetence and negligence, the Trump administration has re-established a no-nonsense enforcement of and respect for the immigration laws of the United States.”
Desai also emphasized: “Hundreds of violent, predatory, and gang-affiliated criminal illegal aliens have already been rounded up and deported by ICE since President Trump took office — and the Trump administration is aligned on securing our borders and ensuring that mass deportations are conducted quickly and effectively to put Americans and America First.”
However, despite the administration’s aggressive stance, President Trump has expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of deportations. A source revealed that Trump is “angry” with the current progress, according to NBC News.
This frustration led to a shift in leadership, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Caleb Vitello being reassigned to a different role, as confirmed by a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson in a statement to Politico.
