Toronto Star

Disabled girl detained after emergency surgery in U.S.

10-year-old with special needs in custody after ambulance stopped by border patrol

- VIVIAN YEE AND CAITLIN DICKERSON THE NEW YORK TIMES

A10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy has been detained by U.S. federal immigratio­n authoritie­s in Texas after she passed through a Border Patrol checkpoint on her way to a hospital to undergo emergency gall bladder surgery.

The girl, Rosamaria Hernandez, who was brought over the border illegally to live in Laredo, Texas, when she was 3 months old, was being transferre­d from a medical centre in Laredo to a hospital in Corpus Christi around 2 a.m. Tuesday when Border Patrol agents stopped the ambulance she was riding in, her family said. The agents allowed her to continue to Driscoll Children’s Hospital, the family said, but followed the ambulance the rest of the way there, then waited outside her room until she was released from the hospital.

By Wednesday evening, according to family members and advocates involved in her case, immigratio­n agents had taken her to a facility in San Antonio where migrant children who arrive alone in the United States from Central America are usually held, even though her parents, who both lack legal status, live 240 kilometres away in Laredo.

Her placement there highlighte­d the unusual circumstan­ces of her case: The U.S. federal government maintains detention centres for adult immigrants it plans to deport, facilities for families who arrive at the border together and shelters for children who come by themselves, known as unaccompan­ied minors. But it is rare, if not unheard-of, for a child already living in the United States to be arrested — particular­ly one with a serious medical condition.

As a general matter, the Trump administra­tion has hardened immigratio­n enforcemen­t across the country, lifting guidelines establishe­d under President Barack Obama that made it unlikely that any undocument­ed immigrants other than recent arrivals to the country and those with serious criminal records would be deported.

Between Trump’s inaugurati­on and early September, the number of immigratio­n arrests rose more than 40 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to data released by Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t.

Rosamaria’s cousin, Aurora Cantu, a U.S. citizen who was riding with her in the ambulance and accompanie­d her to the hospital, told Rosamaria’s mother and others working on the case that the agents had at first tried to persuade the family to agree to have the girl transferre­d to a Mexican hospital, pressing the family to sign a voluntary departure form for her. They declined to do so. The entire time Rosamaria was in surgery and then in recovery, several armed Border Patrol agents stood outside her hospital room, the family said.

Her mother, Felipa de la Cruz, 39, said in an interview that her family had moved to Texas from Nuevo Laredo, the city in Mexico just across the border from Laredo, when her daughter was still an infant, hoping to get better treatment for her cerebral palsy.

They had not been able to afford her therapies in Mexico, she said, but in Texas, Medicaid paid for her daughter’s treatment, which included home visits from therapists.

“I’m a mother. All I wanted was for her to get the surgery that she needed,” de la Cruz said. “It never crossed my mind that any of what is happening right now could happen. When you’re a mother, all you care about is your child.”

Rosamaria’s doctors have recommende­d that she be released to a relative because of her illness, said Alma Ruiz, a lawyer who is part of a team representi­ng the family. But the immigratio­n agency has not yet consented to release her.

 ?? THE NEW YORK TIMES ?? Rosamaria Hernandez, a 10-year-old unauthoriz­ed immigrant, was detained after having emergency gall bladder surgery in a Texas children’s hospital.
THE NEW YORK TIMES Rosamaria Hernandez, a 10-year-old unauthoriz­ed immigrant, was detained after having emergency gall bladder surgery in a Texas children’s hospital.

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