A four-year-old girl undergoing medical treatment in the U.S. may die “within days” if she is deported, her family’s legal team warns.
The child, identified in this article as “Sofia” to protect her privacy, suffers from short bowel syndrome, a disorder that impairs the body’s ability to absorb nutrients and fluids from food, her lawyers said at a recent press conference.
In 2023, she and her family came to the U.S from Mexico on humanitarian parole. She subsequently began to receive life-saving treatment at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Her lawyers stated that her medical care involves specialized IV treatments that she has to receive for up to 14 hours a day. They emphasized that this type of treatment cannot be provided outside the United States.
Despite this, the girl’s family has received multiple letters from the Department of Homeland Security notifying them that their humanitarian parole is being terminated.
One of the letters stated that “it was time for [them] to leave the United States” and warned they could “be subject to potential law enforcement actions” if they did not leave immediately.
Sofia’s mother, Deysi Vargas, explained that ending their humanitarian parole would also result in the loss of her work permits.
At a press conference, Gina Amato, a directing attorney representing the family, said that deporting them under these circumstances is “not only unlawful,” but also “violates basic principles of humanity and decency.”
A senior official from the Department of Homeland Security, however, told media outlets that reports of Sofia and her family being deported are “false,” adding that their application for humanitarian parole has not been terminated.
Sofia’s mother said the care her daughter has received in the U.S. has allowed her to “live her life.” If they were forced to return to Mexico, however, Sofia would spend most of her time in the hospital.
While the treatments have greatly improved Sofia’s quality of life, they stressed that the care is not curative, and she cannot survive without it.
The family’s lawyers said they submitted a detailed letter to the Trump administration outlining their circumstances, along with new applications for humanitarian parole, but have yet to receive a response.
They stressed that addressing humanitarian needs “isn’t political,” but rather “the right thing to do” from a human standpoint. They remain hopeful that the government will recognize the medical necessity and grant the family humanitarian parole.
