ICE may kill me
Tumor-patient mom: Deportation means I’ll lose care
WITH A tumor growing in her skull and gang threats awaiting her back in El Salvador, Sara Beltran Hernandez is deathly worried about what will happen to her at an upcoming meeting with immigration authorities.
She’s due to report to the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in Foley Square Sept. 28 for “removal,” a notice dated Aug. 31 and reviewed by the Daily News states.
“A lot of people have shown up to the meeting only to get deported. My fear is that they might deport me, too,” the 26-year-old mother of two (photo inset) said as she stood outside Bellevue Hospital on Thursday morning. “I’m undergoing a delicate medical treatment here right now. I can’t lose that.
“If my treatment is interrupted, it can cost me my life,” she said.
The illegal immigrant with no criminal record stroked the side of her face as she spoke softly in Spanish. Behind her right eye, a large mass is pressing on her brain and nerves, causing migraine headaches, dizziness and loss of vision.
Beltran Hernandez learned about the mass when it began hemorrhaging and caused her to collapse inside Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Tex., last February. She’d already been in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for 15 months following her arrest as she crossed the border in November 2015.
The health scare landed Beltran Hernandez in Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth. Her story gained national headlines when she was yanked from her bed on Feb. 22 and returned to Prairieland in a AN ENVIRONMENTAL activist protesting President Trump’s rejection of the Paris environmental accord poured oiled blue chalk on the head of the iconic “Charging Bull” statue in the Financial District early Thursday.
Courtney Fallon, 33, said she splashed paint over the bull’s head and draped a ribbon over the “Fearless Girl” statue opposite the bull around 6 a.m.
“I’m putting up blue lines throughout New York City to represent rising sea levels as a comment on the United States’ potential withdrawal from the Paris Accord,” she told the Daily News Thursday evening. “And I’m hoping they become so ubiquitous that members of the UN will see them and reaffirm their commitment to the agreement.”
Fallon, 33, purposely used corn oil and chalk as part of her protest so it could be easily removed. Police had the bull cleaned up by 9 a.m. Mayor de Blasio, who has spoken out against the Trump administration to withdraw from agreement, was not pleased.
“You don’t deface property and you don’t destroy property," he said.
The city would ensure there were “consequences” for those who deface statues as an act of protest, he added.
Fallon, of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, said her protest should not be considered vandalism.
“I’m doing things that are temporary and removable,” she said. “They hosed it down. It’s fine.” wheelchair. Her Queens-based relatives worried she might die. Lawyers filed emergency paperwork and won her release on bail. Beltran Hernandez flew to LaGuardia and has been living with her mother and stepfather in Jamaica, Queens, while receiving specialized treatment at Bellevue. At an appointment Thursday, she learned her tumor had grown yet again. “If you notice, my right eye is smaller than my other eye,” she told The News, clutching a bag of pain medication. “I’m scheduled to undergo brain surgery. We are trying to schedule that. It’s very painful.” Beltran Hernandez said she worries the stress of her deportation notice is making her bad situation worse. During her appointment, her doctor noticed her pulse was racing and urged her to relax.
“I had to tell him about the ICE letter,” she said. “I’m afraid it may lead to paralyses or hemorrhage.”
Beltran is also afraid the violent gang Mara 18 is waiting for her back in El Salvador. She said they harassed her and threatened her in her home when they learned she was dating a cop.
“The gangs are going to say, ‘She’s coming back.’ I’m afraid,” she told The News.
A judge previously denied an asylum claim by Beltran Hernandez, but her case is now under appeal in federal court.
In the meantime, Beltran Hernandez said she’s trying to stay positive and safeguard her health so she might see her young kids — ages 6 and 9 — again.
“I love my children. I miss them. But if I go back, they won’t have a mother,” she told The News. “I’m worried about them, (but) they are stable, with their father.”