The family of a 10-year-old U.S. citizen who was deported to Mexico while going to a check-up has filed a civil rights complaint alleging abuses while in detention.
The filing claims that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) committed "serious abuses" by denying care to the girl and detained her along with her family in "deplorable conditions," NBC News reported.
The family said they were separated by gender at the detention center, and the young girl was forced to lay on a cold floor before the family was dropped off in Mexico. They were also allegedly subjected to inappropriate searches, "including the pat downs of sensitive parts of their bodies," while parents were denied "adequate access to their attorney," reads a passage of the complaint.
The mixed-status family, which remains anonymous, also claims that the deportation to Mexico puts the lives of her and her siblings in danger "because of their status as U.S. citizens."
The president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, which filed the complaint on behalf of the family, told the outlet that the family is given humanitarian parole so the parents can care for their daughter as she continues to properly recover from the tumor removed from her head.
The girl's mother explained that treatment in Texas is "what keeps her (daughter) safe." The ordeal began when the family was heading to Houston from the Rio Grande valley when they were stopped at an immigration checkpoint. The woman said law enforcement officers "weren't interested" in the situation or the paperwork from doctors and lawyers they tried to show them.
The young girl has been attending routine checkups as she recovers from having her brain tumor removed in 2024. She has also been taking medication to prevent convulsions and undergoing rehabilitation therapies, both of which she has been unable to receive since her family was relocated to Mexico.
"This time we were stopped and face the worst decision, an impossible decision, to be permanently separated from our children or be deported together," the woman recalled. Trump border czar Tom Homan said it's up to the parents to decide whether to be deported on their own or take their children to remain together in those cases.
The couple's 15-year-old son also lives with Long QT syndrome, a heart disorder that caused irregular heartbeats and can be life-threatening if not treated. Although the boy wears a monitor to track his heart rate, he, like his sister, has been unable to receive health care in Mexico. Considering the swelling on her brain has not been fully healed, the girl still experiences difficulties with speech and mobility on the right side of her body, her mother said.
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