A migrant mother and her two young daughters, currently hospitalized, face deportation from the United States in a few days, according to court documents and family defense. The Government's plan is to expel all three, who come from Honduras, not to their country of origin, but to Guatemala.
The two minors are one and six years old, says The Associated Press. Together with the mother, they crossed the border between Mexico and the United States at the end of December. A lawsuit filed by the family, in which their complete identities do not appear, ensures that all three were transferred to a Border Patrol (CBP) center located in McAllen, Texas, where migrants are locked .
Subsequently, they were placed in an installation of tents built in the town of Donna, in the same state, where they were held for several more days than the legally established 72-hour limit, as they say.
Recently, both girls have been hospitalized in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, for health problems that include diarrhea and fever in the case of the youngest, and flu in the eldest. A teenager in custody of CBP died last year from this last ailment.
The Government intends to deport both, as well as the mother, as soon as it receives a medical authorization to travel. According to documents presented in court, the day should be next Tuesday and the destination, Guatemala. The authorities are waiting for this medical review.
The family and their defense attorneys maintain that the two minors arrived in the United States in good health, and that their problems are due to the inadequate medical care they received in Donna's tents and the food provided there (burritos dos times a day and a sandwich at night, as described).
Deportations in Trump's time
Family defenders also accuse the Administration of President Donald Trump of not taking into account the health of children in order to follow their policy - currently under court response - that determines the sending of migrant families to different countries of origin to ask for asylum there and not in the United States.
The Trump Government implemented this plan by reaching an agreement last year with Guatemala, which established that this country would receive asylum seekers from Honduras and El Salvador. Since then he has said he will also send Mexicans there.
The United States has also announced similar agreements with Honduras and El Salvador. As of the beginning of this month, about 100 Hondurans and Salvadorans had been sent to Guatemala.
Amy Cohen, a doctor who oversees government compliance with a historic judicial agreement that determines how migrant children, known as the Flores agreement, must be treated, says the mother of the two girls at risk of deportation “is desperate ” And very worried about them.
The smallest body "trembles every time you cough," adds Cohen. Her mom is afraid of losing her.
Family lawyers have asked a federal judge in South Texas to order the government not to sport them, claiming that in Honduras they are under threat from gangs and in Guatemala they do not have a sufficient support network to be able to maintain themselves.
The government responded that the baby would be monitored by the hospital for a few more days to ensure that she could be deported. He also argued that the judge has no authority to avoid deportation of the family because the higher courts have recognized that the Attorney General's office can decide for itself whether to deport someone and when to do so.
It was not immediately clear when the judge will rule. CBP had not yet responded this Saturday to a request for comments from AP .
Edited by Francesco Rodella with information from AP.
See also: Married man with a US citizen and no criminal record is deported to Mexico