'Death Sentence': US deport immigrants receiving vital treatment

The Trump administration eliminated a protection program that allowed immigrants to stay in the country and avoid deportation while they or their relatives receive life-saving treatment, immigration officials said in letters sent to families.

Фото: Depositphotos

Critics have condemned this decision and called it a brutal change that could make desperate migrants face much worse conditions in their poor countries, writes New York Times.

Mariela Sanchez, a native of Honduras who recently applied for a special exemption, said denial would be tantamount to a death sentence for her 16-year-old son Jonathan, who has cystic fibrosis. Mariela and her son are one of many families who have settled in Boston to seek care from the best hospitals in the country.

Sanchez, who came to the United States with her family in 2016, said she lost her daughter due to the same illness several years ago after doctors in her home country were unable to diagnose the disease. Hereditary disease affects the lungs and digestive system and cannot be cured.

“He would have died if the family had stayed in Honduras,” the woman said of her son. “I have panic attacks every day because of this.”

In Boston alone, this Trump administration decision could affect about 20 families with children who are struggling with cancer, HIV, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy and other serious illnesses, said Anthony Marino, head of immigration legal services at the Irish International Center for Immigrants.

On the subject: Immediately and without trial: the Trump administration tightened the rules for the deportation of immigrants

Lawyers say similar letters from the Citizenship and Immigration Services were sent to immigrants in California, North Carolina and elsewhere.

“Can anyone imagine the government ordering your child to be taken off life-sustaining care, to be taken out of a hospital bed, knowing that it would cost him his life?” Marino asked.

“This is a new low,” said Democratic Sen. Ed Markey. “Donald Trump is literally deporting children with cancer.”

A spokesman for the Citizenship and Immigration Services said the policy change came into force on August 7.

This affects all pending requests, including those requesting a two-year permit extension and those applying for the first time. The only exception is military personnel and their families.

The special status is similar to the DACA program, which former President Barack Obama created in 2012 to protect from deportation immigrants who were brought to America as children — another policy the Trump administration tried to eliminate.

According to agency estimates, it receives about 1000 pending requests per year, which are not related to either the military or the DACA. Most of them refer to medical or financial difficulties.

On the subject: Another obstacle: who and why cannot get a green card according to the new rules

According to the spokeswoman, in the future, applicants will be able to request a deferment of deportation to another agency, the ICE and law enforcement agencies.

The letters sent to the Boston families last week and reviewed by the Associated Press, however, do not mention this option. They simply order applicants to leave the country within 33 days or threaten deportation, which could damage future visa or immigration requests to the United States.

Eliminating the special status for those receiving Medicaid is one of several aggressive steps the Trump administration has taken in recent weeks to crack down on immigrants.

The administration also wants to ban the issuance of green cards to many immigrants who use Medicaid, food stamps, coupons for housing or other government assistance, and terminate the long-term agreement limiting the length of detention of migrant children in custody.

On the subject: US will not issue green cards to immigrants who benefit from social assistance

President Donald Trump expressed the idea of ​​ending the right to citizenship for children born to foreigners on American soil, and the administration also wants to ban immigrants from seeking asylum on the US-Mexico border.

Medical experts in Boston say that without special delays, immigrant families with serious health problems have few other options for getting help.

According to experts, such delays do not provide families with a path to citizenship, although people can apply for state medical benefits and obtain legal work permits while their children are being treated.

“They don’t come for a free trip. They come to save their children,” said Joe Chabot, director of the Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center in Boston. “It’s discouraging.”

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