Federal immigration authorities in Texas have released an undocumented 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy after detaining her following emergency surgery last week.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced Friday evening that the federal government released Rosa Maria Hernandez after the group filed a lawsuit seeking her release.
“Rosa Maria is finally free. We’re thrilled that she can go home to heal surrounded by her family’s love and support,” Michael Tan, an attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement. “Despite our relief, Border Patrol’s decision to target a young girl at a children’s hospital remains unconscionable. No child should go through this trauma and we are working to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
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Hernandez was detained last week by Border Patrol agents after the ambulance she was riding in passed through a checkpoint, according to The New York Times.
The agents reportedly followed the ambulance to the hospital and waited outside the girl’s room until she was released from the facility.
After she was released, the girl was reportedly taken to a facility in San Antonio for migrant children who come to the U.S. alone.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday seeking Hernandez’s release. The group argued it wasn’t legal to detain the girl, who “is completely dependent on her mother” and “needs this care, stability, routine and support.”
“Rosa Maria should not have been detained for even a second. She was ripped from her family without authority by the federal government. We will continue to challenge the government to stop this kind of heartless and unlawful conduct,” Andre Segura, the legal director of the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement Friday.