Following a public plea for deportation relief, a young girl with a life-threatening medical condition and her mother will be allowed to remain in the U.S.
Deysi Vargas, the mother of the 4-year-old girl, received a notice Tuesday morning saying that her and her daughter's humanitarian parole had been approved for one year, the family's lawyers said.
In April, the family unexpectedly received notice from the Department of Homeland Security that their parole and work authorization had been terminated.
“If you do not depart the United States immediately you will be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States — unless you have otherwise obtained a lawful basis to remain here,” the notice, which was obtained by NBC News, read.
The family and their attorneys at Public Counsel, the law firm representing them, talked at a news conference last week about what the revocation could mean for the 4-year-old’s health.
“If they deport us and take away my daughter’s access to her specialized care, she will die,” Vargas said in her native Spanish.
Deysi’s daughter, who is being identified only by the initials S.G.V., has short bowel syndrome, which affects the small intestine and causes problems absorbing nutrients from food. As a result, she requires daily treatment to get the proper nutrition, using a portable backpack when she’s not home, according to the family and attorneys.
The family’s lawyers said S.G.V.’s equipment cannot travel outside of the U.S., with few places outside the country able to administer the treatment in the first place.
Both S.G.V. and her mother were born in Mexico and entered with the girl’s father in July 2023 through the CBP One app, after which the family was granted humanitarian parole.
The family’s humanitarian parole was set to expire at the end of July, but Vargas was working to get it extended.
After the news conference last week, a senior DHS official told NBC News that the family was not “actively being deported” and that the family’s May 14 application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was “still being considered.”
