The family of a 4-year-old Mexican girl being treated for a life-threatening illness was granted a reprieve from possible deportation on Tuesday, with the federal government granting the family “humanitarian parole” allowing them to remain in the country for another year.
The girl, who was identified only as Sofia to protect her identity, suffers from a condition known as short bowel syndrome, requiring her to receive nutrition intravenously because she is unable to ingest it on her own. Attorneys for the family say any interruption in her medical care, even for a brief period of time, will be fatal.
“The doctors at (Children’s Hospital Los Angeles) have said that if the child’s treatment is interrupted, she will die within days,” attorney Gina Amato Lough said last week as the family pleaded for assistance to remain in the country. “It’s not speculative. Their language is not that she could die within days. It’s that she will die within days.”
In Mexico, the girl was largely confined to a hospital because of her medical condition, her mother Deysi Vargas told reporters.
According to attorneys at Public Counsel, the girl’s family was given permission to enter the United States under the Biden administration in 2023 on humanitarian grounds, so that Sofia could receive critical medical care.
Once the family arrived at the border, U.S. officials had the child taken to a hospital in San Diego, where she stayed until she was well enough to join a program through Children’s Hospital Los Angeles that allows her to receive treatment at home in Bakersfield.
But the Trump administration revoked the family’s humanitarian admission to the country without warning and ordered them to “self-deport” in April.
On Tuesday, the family received a letter from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services advising them that they had been granted humanitarian parole “for a period of one year.”
“We are profoundly grateful that USCIS acted swiftly to grant Sofia and her mother one year of humanitarian parole,” Lough and fellow attorney Rebecca Brown of Public Counsel said in a joint statement.
“By moving quickly, the agency has ensured that a 4-year-old girl can continue receiving her life- saving medical treatment. We commend USCIS for its responsiveness and for recognizing the urgency of this situation.
“While we celebrate this victory, we cannot ignore the systemic challenges that brought Sofia to the brink. Her parole was terminated without warning, and for weeks there was no functional avenue to alert USCIS that a child’s life was in danger. It took an international outcry and pressure from elected officials to get a response — something that used to take a single phone call.”
According to attorneys, Sofia was born one month premature and underwent multiple surgeries as an infant, but she was left with short bowels and plagued by repeated infections. When the family was able to enter the United States, Sofia was initially treated in San Diego before being moved to CHLA.
With Sofia’s condition vastly improved, the family settled in Bakersfield, with Vargas working at a restaurant, but her work authorization in the United States was also revoked.
The family told the Los Angeles Times the girl spends 14 hours a night hooked up to an intravenous feeding system, which she also carries with her in a backpack. She also requires additional IV feedings throughout the day, and receives treatment at CHLA every six weeks.
A GoFundMe page created to raise money for Sofia’s treatment had raised more than $42,000 as of Wednesday morning.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Little girl with life-threatening illness granted year-long reprieve from deportation )
Also on site :
- Amazon Is Selling a 'Lovely' $70 Patio Umbrella for Only $30, and Shoppers Love That It’s 'Weather-Resistant'
- Israel ‘Activated Clans’ to Fight Hamas in Gaza, Netanyahu Says
- Dakota Johnson Says ‘Madame Web’ Flop ‘Wasn’t My Fault’: Decisions Are Made in Hollywood by ‘People Who Don’t Have a Creative Bone in Their Body’