71 °F
The 10-year-old girl along with her siblings and parents, who are from Mexico and had been living in Texas without legal status for more than a decade, were detained in early February at an immigration checkpoint in South Texas, according to the Texas Civil Rights Project.
An American girl receiving brain cancer treatment was reportedly detained by federal immigration agents and deported to Mexico – along with her parents and most of her siblings – while attempting to travel to Houston.
The girl and her parents, who are from Mexico and had been living in Texas without legal status for more than a decade, were detained in early February at an immigration checkpoint in South Texas, according to the Texas Civil Rights Project. The nonprofit wrote in a Wednesday news release that the parents were given the option to leave their children in government custody in the U.S. or be deported together as a family.
Five of the six children in the Rio Grande Valley family are U.S. citizens, according to the Texas Civil Rights Project, which said most of them were deported along with their parents. In addition to the girl who was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2024, another one of the children has a “serious heart condition,” the nonprofit said.
The Texas Civil Rights Project did not name any of the family members, instead using pseudonyms in its news release, citing safety concerns.
“I want my children to be able to access the medical care they need, to attend their schools, and live their lives in the only country they know as home,” the mother said in a statement released by the nonprofit. “They are American citizens, it is their right. But it also their right to be raised by their parents in that home.”
A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday the agency was not involved in the case, deferring comment to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Spokespeople for the latter agency did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The family’s deportation was first reported by NBC News, which cited the girl receiving brain cancer treatment as being 10 years old. The news outlet reported that her siblings who also were detained and deported are ages 15, 13, 8 and 6.
The Texas Civil Rights Project said the family had previously made multiple trips past the same immigration checkpoint without issues, saying “letters from their doctors and lawyers sufficed.”
Rochelle Garza, the president of the Austin-based nonprofit, said the family’s plight is “not unique.” She also referenced the practice of separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border during President Donald Trump’s first stint in the White House from 2017-21.
Trump was re-elected last November and inaugurated in January. He immediately issued several executive orders aimed at slowing immigration to the U.S., including an attempt to end birthright citizenship for children who are born in the U.S. to parents who do not have legal status.
“We witnessed devastating family separations during Trump’s first administration, causing irreversible harm to the children forced to endure these policies,” Garza said. “Now, we are seeing these dangerous tactics resurface, and we must act before another generation suffers these injustices.”
Know more about Adam Zuvanich
More Articles by This Author
Houston Public Media is supported with your gifts to the Houston Public Media Foundation and is licensed to the University of Houston
© 2025 Houston Public Media
