Immigration agents staking out 10-year-old at Texas hospital: report
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A 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy is facing deportation after crossing a Border Patrol checkpoint on her way to the hospital, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reports.
The girl’s mother, Felipa Delacruz, was told by a Mexican consulate that federal officials were investigating her immigration status, according to the Texas newspaper.
Both the girl and Delacruz are undocumented.
The girl was sent from Laredo, Texas, to Corpus Christi accompanied by her U.S. citizen cousin, Aurora Cantu, to get gallbladder surgery.
On the way to the hospital, they passed a Border Patrol checkpoint and were then escorted by federal agents to Driscoll Children’s Hospital.
The hospital declined to confirm whether immigration agents were stationed outside the patient’s room, citing confidentiality, according to the Caller-Times.
Delacruz said consular officials told her the girl could face deportation once released from the hospital.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said federal agents are staking out the girl’s hospital room, with “plans to rip this ailing little girl from her family, and ship her off, by herself, to a detention center.”{mosads}
“I challenge President Trump and Acting [Department of Homeland Security] Secretary [Elaine] Duke to show that this enforcement operation is prioritizing a dangerous criminal. A small child who just had surgery is not a threat to Texans’ safety or our national security. DHS should focus its resources elsewhere,” he said.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez also jumped into the fray, calling the situation “beyond inhumane.”
“By needlessly targeting this little girl, the Trump administration is proving once again that its capacity for cruelty knows no bounds,” added Perez.
The Border Patrol operates immigration checkpoints within 100 miles of international borders which make it risky for immigrants in the country illegally who live in border areas to go to the interior of the country.
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