LOS ANGELES — Attorneys for a Mexican family say the Trump administration has revoked the permission that allowed a 4-year-old girl to stay in the U.S. for lifesaving medical treatment.
Lawyer Gina Amato said the girl’s mother received notices in April and May informing her that the family’s humanitarian parole had been withdrawn. The U.S. government granted the parole in 2023 when the mother brought her sick daughter to the U.S.-Mexico border seeking emergency care. Now, the family faces the risk of deportation.
The child suffers from short bowel syndrome, a serious condition that prevents her body from absorbing nutrients. Her survival depends on a medical backpack that delivers intravenous nutrition. The treatment is not available in Mexico, and her doctors have warned that without it, she could die within days.
“Deporting this family under these conditions is not only unlawful — it’s a moral failure that violates the basic tenets of humanity and decency,” Amato said at a press conference in Los Angeles.
The girl’s real name was not shared to protect her privacy.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, a senior Department of Homeland Security official said in an email that the family is not currently being deported. A new application for humanitarian parole, submitted two weeks ago, is still under review.
Under President Biden’s administration, humanitarian parole was expanded to allow certain migrants to stay legally in the U.S. for up to two years. While parole does not lead to citizenship, it has been used to ease pressure at the southern border and to assist people fleeing crises around the world. Previously, parole was granted only in rare, urgent cases.
According to the girl’s mother, Deysi Vargas, the child spent most of her early life confined to a hospital in Mexico. When they reached the U.S. border, officials immediately brought the child to a hospital in San Diego. She later joined a home care program through Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and now lives in Bakersfield, California.
Thanks to the treatment, the child can now go outside, play in the park, and visit the supermarket — experiences she never had in Mexico.
“With the help she has received in the United States, my daughter has the opportunity to leave the hospital, see the world, and live like a girl her age,” Vargas said in Spanish.
The girl sat nearby during the press conference, smiling and playing with stickers while wearing her black medical backpack.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles declined to comment.
Amato, who leads Public Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said her team has contacted U.S. officials to ask whether the revocation was a mistake. They also submitted a new parole request and have reached out to elected officials for help. So far, they have not received a response.
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