Gerrard Kaonga
An 11-year-old US citizen is now living in Mexico, despite being born in the country, due to the fact her family came to the US illegally.
Sara Hernández García is a US citizen, however, her parents came to the US illegally.
The legal representatives have raised the point that they had no issue traveling the state of Texas, where Sara was born, while she was being treated after a brain tumor was discovered.
They say that this all changed not long when Donald Trump took office, as he began to crack down hard on illegal immigration, fulfiling a campaign promise he made prior to being elected.
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Danny Woodward, the family’s attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project explained how things have changed.
He said: “Each time they presented a letter from the hospital describing [Sara’s] condition and asking the parents be allowed through to support her medical treatment... [Customs and Border Protection] allowed them through.”
Woodword has said the Garcias family (who requested to be identified by pseudonyms over safety concerns, according to a PEOPLE report) were ‘stopped at an immigration checkpoint in South Texas while on their way to Houston for an emergency medical checkup’.
Woodword continued: “Even after explaining the situation to immigration officials, they were only given two options: for the government to take their children, or for the family to be deported together.
“The parents and five of their children were detained and deported the following day.”
Their sixth child, a citizen, is now 18 and remains in the U.S.
Despite the family’s claims, a Homeland Security official has disputed the family’s accounts of events.
However, they have also said that they can’t devolve more information due to privacy concerns.
The official said: “When someone is given expedited removal orders and chooses to disregard them, they will face the consequences as outlined by the expedited removal process for individuals with removal orders.”
The Garcias have been staying with relatives in their native Mexico, hoping to be granted humanitarian parole, though they do not know when — or if — such a request may be fulfilled.
For her other children, the family remain worried. According to Woodward, they're worried that they could be targeted by kidnappers who assume that because they are American they have money.