Mexican 4-year-old is granted humanitarian parole to continue receiving
lifesaving care in US
[June 04, 2025]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 4-year-old Mexican girl who receives lifesaving
medical care from a Southern California hospital was granted permission
to remain in the country weeks after federal authorities said she could
be deported, her family's attorneys said Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security granted the girl and her mother
humanitarian parole for one year so she can continue to receive
treatment she has been getting since arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border
in 2023, according to a copy of a letter received by Rebecca Brown, an
attorney for the family from the nonprofit Public Counsel.
An email message was sent to the Department of Homeland Security seeking
comment.
The girl’s family said they were notified in April and May that their
humanitarian parole was being revoked and they would be subject to
potential deportation.
The Trump administration has been pushing to dismantle policies from
former President Joe Biden’s administration that granted temporary legal
status for certain migrants and allowed them to live legally in the
U.S., generally for two years.
The girl was taken to a hospital upon arriving on at the U.S.-Mexico
border with her mother in 2023 and released once she was stable enough.
She receives intravenous nutrition through a special backpack for short
bowel syndrome, which prevents her from being able to take in and
process nutrients on her own, and lawyers said the treatment she
receives is necessary at this stage for her to survive and isn't
available in Mexico.
The family's attorneys from Public Counsel said in a statement that
while they were grateful the administration “acted swiftly” to ensure
the girl could continue her life-saving treatment, they hoped the case
highlighted the need for better communication with federal immigration
officials.
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A 4-year-old Mexican girl, who has short bowel syndrome, attends a
news conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, after her
and her mother's humanitarian parole was terminated and they were
ordered to self-deport. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
“We cannot ignore the systemic challenges that brought Sofia to the
brink,” the attorneys said, using a pseudonym for the girl. “Her
parole was terminated without warning ... It took an international
outcry and pressure from elected officials to get a
response—something that used to take a single phone call.”
Humanitarian parole, which doesn’t put migrants on a path to U.S.
citizenship, was widely used during the Biden administration to
alleviate pressure on the U.S.-Mexico southern border. It was
previously used on a case-by-case basis to address individual
emergencies and also for people fleeing humanitarian crises around
the world including Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos during the late
1970s.
In Mexico, the girl was largely confined to a hospital because of
her medical condition, said her mother, Deysi Vargas. After joining
a program at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, she can now receive
treatment at home in Bakersfield, California, and go to the park and
store like other children, Vargas has said.
Lawyers said the girl's medical treatment, which requires 14 hours a
day of intravenous nutrition, will not be necessary indefinitely but
that she is not at the point where she could live without it.
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