Trump Administration Deports 10-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Recovering from Brain Cancer

A Texas family traveling for their 10-year-old daughter’s medical check-up was detained by immigration authorities and deported to Mexico last month. The girl, a U.S. citizen, is recovering from brain cancer.

In early February, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stopped the family at a checkpoint while they were driving from Rio Grande, Texas, to Houston, where the girl’s doctors are located. Despite previously being allowed through with letters from attorneys and medical professionals, this time, authorities arrested the undocumented parents, saying their documents were insufficient.

The parents, who have no criminal history, had four other children in the car—three of whom were also U.S. citizens. Faced with the choice of leaving their children behind or staying together, the family chose to remain united and were quickly deported.

After being separated in a detention center, CBP agents loaded the family into a van and dropped them in Mexico within hours. Now living in a shelter, they fear for their safety, as the area is known for U.S. citizen kidnappings.

Beyond the 10-year-old’s cancer battle, the family’s 15-year-old son has a life-threatening heart condition that also requires specialized care—care they can no longer access in Mexico.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus condemned the deportation, calling it "a new low" and accusing the Trump administration of "losing all humanity."

Before Trump took office, immigrant advocates warned that his mass deportation policies could tear apart mixed-status families, which include both U.S. citizens and undocumented members. An estimated 4 million families are at risk.

When asked about the impact of these policies, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, blamed the parents, stating: “You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child. So you put your family in that position.”