Sara Hernández García’s parents were concerned when she complained of dizziness and pain at the age of ten. They packed her and their four other children into a car and drove from their Rio Grande Valley home to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
It had been a year since the child’s emergency surgery for a brain tumor, but she still needed constant monitoring to avoid seizures.
That morning, Sara’s parents, Maria and Juan, prayed she would receive the medical attention she required, but as she passed through the Sarita Checkpoint on February 3 en route to the hospital, a new nightmare for the family began.
Maria and Juan were detained, along with their four young children, and taken to a US Customs and Border Patrol facility, where they were held for 24 hours before being loaded into a van and deported to Mexico. Maria and Juan are also separated from their eldest child, 17-year-old Fernando, a US citizen who has remained in America.
The family’s desperate search for medical care has shattered their home, thrown them into the middle of a political battle, and left them terrified.
“They were on their way to take their child to the emergency room when they were abruptly picked up and deported.”It’s absurd,” the family’s immigration attorney Daniel Woodward told The Independent. “They are really struggling right now,” she said.
Maria and Juan have six children: ages 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, and 17. Five are US citizens who have never lived anywhere other than America. The undocumented couple has lived in the United States since 2013 and has no criminal history.
None of this mattered because the parents were quickly deported once they entered the system. Now, they are fighting for the right to return to America so that they can care for their daughter as a family.
The Texas Civil Rights Project filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, detailing their plight.
According to the filing obtained by The Independent, the family alleges that customs officers confiscated some of Sara’s medication and kept the children in “deplorable conditions” for 24 hours after the deportation process. They additionally allege that “CBP denied urgent medical care to a vulnerable and disabled U.S. citizen child.”
Hilton Beckham, Customs and Border Protection’s assistant commissioner of public affairs, described the allegations as “false and irresponsible.”
“CBP abides by strict legal and humanitarian standards, with processing facilities—including those in the Rio Grande Valley Sector—under continuous internal and external monitoring to ensure proper medical care, nutrition, welfare checks, and humane conditions,” Beckham said in an interview with The Independent.
“The health and well-being of those in custody remain a top priority, with access to necessary medical attention always ensured.”
Maria and Juan, who have no legal status, came to America in 2013 in search of a better life. They worked hard and are “valued members of their community,” according to the complaint.
“They are dedicated members of their local church,” the notice stated. “Maria and Juan have no criminal records and have spent decades working to provide a better life for their children.” The children excel in school, particularly in music and art. Fernando, the eldest, hopes to join the United States military after graduating from high school.
In addition to Sara’s complex medical needs, her 15-year-old brother, Manuel, and 13-year-old sister, Elizabeth, were born with a rare heart rhythm disorder known as Long QT Syndrome. They require regular medical attention, and Manuel wears a heart monitor.
Sara’s health rapidly deteriorated in 2023, when she started experiencing symptoms.
“Her left foot began to turn at an unusual angle. The complaint states that she suffered from stomach pain. “She was performing worse in school. She started pulling her hair and complaining about headaches.
Doctors diagnosed her with autism, but Maria and Juan were concerned that they were overlooking something. Their fears were realized when Sara had a seizure in February 2024 and was rushed to the hospital. There, doctors discovered a brain tumor and airlifted her to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
Sara nearly died at one point, and “Maria thought she was holding her daughter’s lifeless body in her arms,” according to the complaint.
Surgeons performed an emergency procedure to remove the tumor, and Sara survived. “They told the parents it was a miracle.”
Sara and her family struggled in the aftermath of the surgery for a year. Her right side is partially paralyzed, so she wears a leg brace and frequently forgets words. Every day, the child must take medication to prevent seizures, and her parents keep an emergency nasal spray on hand in case one occurs. Maria stopped working to care for her daughter, which cost the family money.
When Sara complained of a painful headache last month, Maria and Juan did not hesitate to refer her to the specialists in charge of her care. However, they never made it.
Instead, the family was stopped at the Customs and Border Patrol’s Sarita Checkpoint. They presented Sara’s medical records, as they had done previously when passing through to get to the hospital in Houston.
This time was different. The Trump administration’s directive for large-scale mass deportations was in effect.
Maria and Juan explained their situation to the officers and showed them the children’s birth certificates to prove they were US citizens.
They also handed officers a letter explaining that Sara is a hospital patient receiving treatment for a brain tumor and that she must be able to travel to the hospital due to “the grave nature and complexity of her disease.”
“Rather than let Sara proceed to Texas Children’s, CBP officers detained the entire family,” according to the petition. Customs and Border Protection denies the allegations. According to the complaint, an officer then called Texas Children’s Hospital and confirmed Sara’s status as a patient.
“At this point, officers neither allowed the family to proceed to Texas Children’s nor brought her to a local facility to address her potential medical,” a complaint states. “Officers did nothing to ensure Sara received the necessary care. Instead, they seized her medication.
After six hours at the checkpoint, the family was taken to a nearby detention facility, where they claim they were subjected to a series of “abuses and humiliation” by customs officers. After 24 hours, the entire family was loaded into a van and dropped off in Mexico.
“These children grew up in the United States.” They went to US schools and did well,” Woodward told The Independent. “And their mother once told me that the children were always interested in learning about Mexico and seeing where they and their parents came from. “But not like this.”
The family is now living in rural Mexico with relatives and keeping a low profile for fear that gangs will kidnap the children once they learn they are US citizens. They are also fighting to get back to the United States.
“As a result, Maria and Juan are keeping the children on their relatives’ property. They cannot attend school or see a doctor. “They have not left the property in nearly a month,” the complaint states.
Sara urgently requires access to additional medication as well as visits with the doctors in charge of her care. Meanwhile, their 17-year-old son Fernando remains in the United States, separated from his family.
“She is due for an MRI in the United States right now,” Woodward explained. “And then she’s also struggling with the medication,” he added, explaining that the family’s logistics and loss of income have made this nearly impossible.
Woodward suggested that Customs and Border Patrol may have made a “mistake” in the case and “didn’t know what they were doing at the time.” If it wasn’t a mistake, he said the case reflected an administration with “complete lack of humanity.”
“If this wasn’t a mistake, I think it speaks to a complete lack of humanity and recognition that families deserve to belong together,” Woodward told reporters. “That U.S. citizen children deserve to get healthcare in the U.S.”
