More than a year ago, an 11-year-old U.S. citizen recovering from a rare brain tumor was deported along with her family while they were traveling to Houston, Texas, for an emergency medical checkup. The girl, her parents and four siblings were detained, taken into custody and deported last February to a dangerous part of Mexico known for kidnapping U.S. citizens.
More than a year later, the family said her treatment has stalled and they fear the brain tumor could return if they cannot get her the appropriate medical care she has been lacking for over 12 months.
"It's been a really difficult year," the girl's mother told NBC News. "It's hard not to break down."
The mother said conversations with doctors, along with the results of an MRI scan last year, revealed that her daughter's brain is not regenerating, preventing her from recovering lost neurological functions such as motor skills and speech.
"There is a high risk that the tumor can come back," the mother said, adding that it is urgent her daughter return to the U.S. so doctors can keep her under close observation.
Having undergone multiple brain surgeries, the 11-year-old ideally needs an MRI scan every three months, but since arriving in Mexico in February 2025, she has received only one.
Since being stuck in Mexico without proper care, the family has been waiting for a response to their humanitarian parole request filed in June last year. The request would allow the undocumented parents and one noncitizen sibling to enter and live in the U.S. temporarily.
As noted by NBC News, Danny Woodward of the Texas Civil Rights Project, the legal advocacy and litigation organization representing them, said humanitarian parole can be granted "to anybody regardless of their immigration history."
"It's at the discretion of the government, and this case really merits it," Woodward said.
The mother said she is "still waiting for a miracle" and hopes to be granted humanitarian parole. She said health care options available to her daughter in Mexico are extremely limited.
"It feels awful," the mother said, recalling the limitations she experienced firsthand when her daughter began convulsing. As she recounted to the outlet, she called for an ambulance, but dispatchers told her they would not send one because her daughter is "technically not from Mexico." The mother borrowed a car and drove two-and-a-half hours to get her daughter to a hospital.
There, medical staff said they did not understand her daughter's condition well enough to treat her effectively and recommended she return to the U.S. for care, she remembers.
"The entire time we were in the United States, we always respected the country, respected the people, maintained good moral character with everyone and helped in any way we could," the mother said. "Not having access to anything now, it feels like the world is falling apart."
The mother said her daughter deals with a lot of pain every day, caused by headaches. She also said her daughter has been experiencing seizures more frequently, a concern that often keeps her up at night.
Speaking to the outlet over the phone, the 11-year-old girl described experiencing worsening headaches and persistent body pain, particularly in a foot and a hand.
"My head hurts so much, my foot, my hand," she said in Spanish. "I want to heal."
© 2025 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
