Lucía Méndez, a Mexican mother, tried four times to enter the United States asking for a humanitarian permit to see her daughter before she died, since the young migrant, based in Texas, was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer.
But border agents turned her down time and time again.
"Lucía could not enter the United States to feel her daughter at least breathe, tell her what she wanted to say, kiss her, touch her hands," said journalist Wendy Selene Pérez, who shared the story of this family on Monday. the Twitter social network.
“
These are the borders.
The death, the life, the waiting, the impossibility
,” she pointed out.
The last attempt was just a few days ago.
His daughter, Alma Hernández, 36, had been admitted to intensive care.
“Unfortunately, in this state, she has no cure.
Her breast cancer is very aggressive and affects multiple organs, ”the Parkland hospital, where she was receiving treatment, had warned in a letter issued on June 15.
Méndez tried it with that medical report in hand along with another of her daughters at two crossings in Texas, on Friday and Saturday, but they did not accept her.
Alma died on Sunday June 19
.
Now, his mother hopes to be able to say goodbye to him at his funeral, which will be in just a few days.
The Mexican authorities have assured that there are efforts underway to make it possible.
The Mexican family was left in the middle of a complex humanitarian visa system that works in a discretionary way: it leaves it up to border agents to decide whether or not it is appropriate to let a family enter.
“There have been moments where everything was very confusing.
They told us that the consulate did not intervene.
We also had a lot of ignorance, ”said Adriana Hernández, sister of the sick young woman, in an interview with El País.
[Mother is reunited with her son after crossing alone into the US]
Her case is not unique: just last month, the story of Diana Jiménez, an immigrant mother also with terminal cancer who lived in Texas for 23 years, who asks to see her parents before it is too late, became known.
“
I need a hug from them
”, she said through tears in an interview with Noticias Telemundo.
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just three months
Alma Hernández settled in Dallas almost two decades ago, according to her family, and she lived there in March of this year with her husband and four children when she was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, metastases in the lungs, liver and brain.
The young migrant loved music and makeup, and worked only occasionally because she cared for her four children, her sister said.
"She was a serious woman but very joking as soon as you trusted her," she said in her interview with El País.
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Doctors at Parkland Hospital tried chemotherapy treatment, but it didn't work.
Her condition progressively worsened, until last week she was admitted to intensive care: the cancer was advancing rapidly and she is not responding to treatment, the hospital said in a note issued on June 15.
No humanitarian permit
In the three months since the diagnosis, his mother and sister, who live with part of the family in Aguascalientes, central Mexico, made four attempts to cross the border, with hospital reports in hand, hoping to cross and get to see her on time.
The same thing happened in each attempt: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents denied them humanitarian entry.
On April 1, they were told to return when Alma had "a few days to live," Adriana told El País.
On April 17, they tried again with a sponsor (one of Alma's sisters, who is a citizen), but they were also unsuccessful.
“
They call it a humanitarian permit, but there is nothing humanitarian about it
.
They are not moved by your pain,” Adriana said.
On June 15, the lapidary report from the hospital arrived: the doctors said they could not cure her.
The women then traveled once again from Aguascalientes, a 12-hour bus ride, to the border bridge in Nuevo Laredo, on the Texas border, and introduced themselves.
They were rejected, and tried at another intersection.
"Due to the insecurity in Nuevo Laredo and in the hope that an agent would take pity on the situation, the girl's mother and another of her daughters traveled to Piedras Negras (in Coahuila) to try to get a permit for Eagle Pass," Pérez recounted in his Twitter post on Saturday.
[Many migrants forget the pain when they see the Rio Grande]
Border crossings in Texas have been overwhelmed by thousands of migrant families trying to reach the country to seek asylum.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
But CBP agents told them they couldn't get through because their sick daughter was neither a resident nor a citizen, she said.
"It was even worse there," Adriana said, "they didn't even let you go to the checkpoint to talk to the agents."
Alma died on Sunday.
"Any public servant will help?"
“Now Lucía will continue fighting to see her daughter dead.
Will any public servant help?” Pérez posted on Twitter, continuing the story.
The family wanted to get to the funeral, which will be before the weekend.
But thanks to her and other journalists, the story had already reached the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Aguascalientes, and from there to the Mexican consul in the Texas city of Eagle Pass, Ismael Naveja Macías.
On Monday at noon, the consul announced that they were processing the humanitarian permits so that the two women can enter the country, in collaboration with the CBP.
An hour later, it was reported that they had obtained them.
“We will be waiting for you tomorrow to continue with the procedures,” Naveja wrote on Twitter.
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