Trump has ordered a critically ill four-year-old Mexican girl to leave the country. She could die within days, experts say
A critically ill Mexican girl who could die within days if her treatment is paused has been ordered by the Trump administration to leave the U.S., according to her family and doctor.
Deysi Vargas's 4-year-old daughter, named only as Sofia in a GoFundMe page, urgently required better medical care for a life-threatening condition and was granted temporary humanitarian permission to enter the U.S. from her home country of Mexico in 2023, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Sofia has short bowel syndrome, a rare condition that stops her from absorbing nutrients in food. When she was born in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, she had to be attached to feeding tubes 24 hours a day. Since moving to the U.S., her condition has significantly improved, but she still requires treatment every day.
Now the Trump administration has ordered Sofia's deportation, leaving her at risk of death, an attorney representing the family said.
'This is a textbook example of medical need,' Rebecca Brown of the pro bono firm Public Counsel told the paper. 'This child will die and there's no sense for that to happen. It would just be a cruel sacrifice.'
The family is currently living in Bakersfield, California, just over 100 miles north of Los Angeles.
The threat to Sofia's life was confirmed by Dr. John Arsenault of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, where she receives regular treatment every six weeks.
Arsenault said in a letter seen by The Los Angeles Times that if there is an interruption to administering nutrition to her system, 'it could be fatal within a matter of days.'
The doctor added that patients who receive the treatment, called Total Parenteral Nutrition, at home 'are not allowed to leave the country.'
'The infrastructure to provide TPN or provide immediate intervention if there is a problem with IV access depends on our program's utilization of U.S.-based healthcare resources and does not transfer across borders,' Arsenault explained in the letter.
The Independent has contacted the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for comment.
Sofia was reportedly born one month premature and had to undergo six surgeries due to an intestinal blockage, as medics struggled to get the condition under control in Mexico.
During one surgery, Vargas, 28, told the newspaper that doctors cut out too much, leaving Sofia with short bowels. One blood infection she suffered as a result nearly killed her.
While she was being kept alive in Mexico, her condition was no better by the age of two and Vargas knew the family would have to move to get her better care.
Vargas signed up to the Biden administration's CBP One app to book an appointment with border agents in Tijuana to receive two-year protection from deportation. The app is now used by the Trump administration to notify migrants to self-deport or face the consequences.
At the appointment on July 31, 2023, agents could tell that Sofia was seriously unwell just by taking one look at her. 'God knew she needed better treatment,' Vargas told The Los Angeles Times. 'When we got to the entrance, they saw her and asked us if we needed medical help.'
That same day, the family was taken to Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and her condition improved quickly. A year later, Sofia was referred to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, which has one of the highest-ranked programs for gastroenterology in the U.S.
Under their care, by September 2024, Sofia was discharged and could receive treatment in the comfort of her home. Meanwhile, her parents were working hard to hold down odd jobs in Bakersfield.
'It was incredible,' Vargas, who found a steady job as a cleaner at a restaurant, told the outlet. 'I had waited so long for doctors to tell me, 'Ma'am, your daughter is OK now. She can go home.''
Sofia's care is still gruelling. She must still spend 14 hours a night hooked up to the intravenous feeding system and Vargas also has to administer different medication that goes into her stomach through a gastric tube four times a day. At preschool, a school nurse has to administer nutrition daily.
As things were beginning to look up, the notice from immigration arrived, swiftly followed by a notice terminating her employment authorization.
Their attorney believes the family's legal status was terminated by mistake and has submitted a petition for a continuation of temporary humanitarian legal status because of Sofia's medical condition.
'This is the intended purpose — to help the most vulnerable who need attention here,' Brown said. 'We can avoid having harmed the child and the family.'
Vargas added that they only intend to stay for as long as Sofia requires treatment, which is unclear.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Photos: Funeral held in Fort Worth for Ava Moore, killed in jet ski hit-and-run
The United States Air Force performed full military honors Saturday at the funeral of the 18-year-old woman killed in a jet ski hit-and-run crash last weekend at Grapevine Lake. Ava Moore graduated from Keller's Timber Creek High School in 2024 and played basketball at the U.S. Air Force Preparatory Academy, her family said. Moore was set to attend the U.S Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs as a member of the class of 2029. Moore was kayaking at Grapevine Lake on May 25 when police say 21-year-old Daikerlyn Alejandra Gonzalez Gonzalez struck her with a jet ski before fleeing the scene. Gonzalez was arrested two days later and faces charges including second-degree felony manslaughter. While driving the jet ski, Gonzalez 'recklessly made several passes along the shoreline with wanton disregard to the safety of others and at a speed and manner that endangered others in the area, before eventually colliding with one of two kayakers paddling near the shoreline,' according to an arrest warrant affidavit. While Gonzalez' bond has been set at $500,000, she will not be released due to an immigration detainer, officials said at a news conference last week. Gonzalez is an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela. A GoFundMe for Moore's family has raised over $50,000.
6 hours ago
Mexico's first judicial elections stir controversy and confusion among voters
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico is holding its first ever judicial elections on Sunday, stirring controversy and sowing confusion among voters still struggling to understand a process set to transform the country's court system. Mexico's ruling party, Morena, overhauled the court system late last year, fueling protests and criticism that the reform is an attempt by those in power to seize on their political popularity to gain control of the branch of government until now out of their reach. 'It's an effort to control the court system, which has been a sort of thorn in the side" of those in power, said Laurence Patin, director of the legal organization Juicio Justo in Mexico. 'But it's a counter-balance, which exists in every healthy democracy.' Now, instead of judges being appointed on a system of merit and experience, Mexican voters will choose between some 7,700 candidates vying for more than 2,600 judicial positions. Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum and party allies have said the elections are a way to purge the court system of corruption in a country that has long faced high levels of impunity. Critics say the vote could damage democracy and open the judicial system up further to organized crime and other corrupt actors hoping to get a grip on power. That process has only grown more chaotic in the run-up to the vote. Civil society organizations like Defensorxs have raised red flags about a range of candidates running for election, including lawyers who represented some of Mexico's most feared cartel leaders and local officials who were forced to resign from their positions due to corruption scandals. Also among those putting themselves forward are ex-convicts imprisoned for years for drug-trafficking to the United States and a slate of candidates with ties to a religious group whose spiritual leader is behind bars in California after pleading guilty to sexually abusing minors. At the same time, voters have been plagued by confusion over a voting process that Patin warned has been hastily thrown together. Voters often have to choose from sometimes more than a hundred candidates who are not permitted to clearly voice their party affiliation or carry out widespread campaigning. As a result, many Mexicans say they're going into the vote blind. Mexico's electoral authority has investigated voter guides being handed out across the country, in what critics say is a blatant move by political parties to stack the vote in their favor. 'Political parties weren't just going to sit with their arms crossed,' Patin said. Miguel Garcia, a 78-year-old former construction worker, stood in front of the country's Supreme Court on Friday peering at a set of posters, voter guides with the faces and numbers of candidates. He was fiercely scribbling down their names on a small scrap of paper and said that he had traveled across Mexico City to try to inform himself ahead of the vote, but he couldn't find any information other than outside the courthouse. 'In the neighborhood where I live, there's no information for us," he said. 'I'm confused, because they're telling us to go out and vote but we don't know who to vote for.'
Hamilton Spectator
8 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Mexico's first judicial elections stir controversy and confusion among voters
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico is holding its first ever judicial elections on Sunday, stirring controversy and sowing confusion among voters still struggling to understand a process set to transform the country's court system. Mexico's ruling party, Morena, overhauled the court system late last year, fueling protests and criticism that the reform is an attempt by those in power to seize on their political popularity to gain control of the branch of government until now out of their reach. 'It's an effort to control the court system, which has been a sort of thorn in the side' of those in power, said Laurence Patin, director of the legal organization Juicio Justo in Mexico. 'But it's a counter-balance, which exists in every healthy democracy.' Now, instead of judges being appointed on a system of merit and experience, Mexican voters will choose between some 7,700 candidates vying for more than 2,600 judicial positions . Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum and party allies have said the elections are a way to purge the court system of corruption in a country that has long faced high levels of impunity. Critics say the vote could damage democracy and open the judicial system up further to organized crime and other corrupt actors hoping to get a grip on power. That process has only grown more chaotic in the run-up to the vote. Civil society organizations like Defensorxs have raised red flags about a range of candidates running for election, including lawyers who represented some of Mexico's most feared cartel leaders and local officials who were forced to resign from their positions due to corruption scandals. Also among those putting themselves forward are ex-convicts imprisoned for years for drug-trafficking to the United States and a slate of candidates with ties to a religious group whose spiritual leader is behind bars in California after pleading guilty to sexually abusing minors. At the same time, voters have been plagued by confusion over a voting process that Patin warned has been hastily thrown together. Voters often have to choose from sometimes more than a hundred candidates who are not permitted to clearly voice their party affiliation or carry out widespread campaigning. As a result, many Mexicans say they're going into the vote blind. Mexico's electoral authority has investigated voter guides being handed out across the country, in what critics say is a blatant move by political parties to stack the vote in their favor. 'Political parties weren't just going to sit with their arms crossed,' Patin said. Miguel Garcia, a 78-year-old former construction worker, stood in front of the country's Supreme Court on Friday peering at a set of posters, voter guides with the faces and numbers of candidates. He was fiercely scribbling down their names on a small scrap of paper and said that he had traveled across Mexico City to try to inform himself ahead of the vote, but he couldn't find any information other than outside the courthouse. 'In the neighborhood where I live, there's no information for us,' he said. 'I'm confused, because they're telling us to go out and vote but we don't know who to vote for.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
