Little girl with life-threatening illness granted year-long reprieve from deportation

Sofia a -year-old Mexican girl who was slated for deportation attends a news conference in Los Angeles Wednesday May AP Photo Jae C Hong The family of a -year-old Mexican girl being treated for a life-threatening illness was granted a reprieve from practicable deportation on Tuesday with the federal executive granting the family humanitarian parole allowing them to remain in the country for another year The girl who was identified only as Sofia to protect her identity suffers from a condition known as short bowel syndrome requiring her to receive nutrition intravenously because she is unable to ingest it on her own Attorneys for the family say any interruption in her health care even for a brief period of time will be fatal The doctors at Children s Hospital Los Angeles have explained that if the child s cure is interrupted she will die within days attorney Gina Amato Lough disclosed last week as the family pleaded for assistance to remain in the country It s not speculative Their language is not that she could die within days It s that she will die within days In Mexico the girl was largely confined to a hospital because of her biological condition her mother Deysi Vargas narrated reporters According to attorneys at Population Counsel the girl s family was given permission to enter the United States under the Biden administration in on humanitarian grounds so that Sofia could receive critical anatomical care Once the family arrived at the perimeter U S officers had the child taken to a hospital in San Diego where she stayed until she was well enough to join a plan through Children s Hospital Los Angeles that allows her to receive rehabilitation at home in Bakersfield But the Trump administration revoked the family s humanitarian admission to the country without warning and ordered them to self-deport in April On Tuesday the family received a letter from U S Citizenship and Immigration Services advising them that they had been granted humanitarian parole for a period of one year We are profoundly grateful that USCIS acted swiftly to grant Sofia and her mother one year of humanitarian parole Lough and fellow attorney Rebecca Brown of Inhabitants Counsel revealed in a joint declaration By moving hastily the agency has ensured that a -year-old girl can continue receiving her life- saving health therapy We commend USCIS for its responsiveness and for recognizing the urgency of this situation While we celebrate this mastery we cannot ignore the systemic challenges that brought Sofia to the brink Her parole was terminated without warning and for weeks there was no functional avenue to alert USCIS that a child s life was in danger It took an international outcry and pressure from elected leaders to get a response something that used to take a single phone call According to attorneys Sofia was born one month premature and underwent multiple surgeries as an infant but she was left with short bowels and plagued by repeated infections When the family was able to enter the United States Sofia was initially treated in San Diego before being moved to CHLA With Sofia s condition vastly improved the family settled in Bakersfield with Vargas working at a restaurant but her work authorization in the United States was also revoked The family informed the Los Angeles Times the girl spends hours a night hooked up to an intravenous feeding system which she also carries with her in a backpack She also requires additional IV feedings throughout the day and receives healing at CHLA every six weeks A GoFundMe page created to raise money for Sofia s medication had raised more than as of Wednesday morning