WASHINGTON – Acting officers this week condemned the end of humanitarian protections that a four-year-old girl undergoing critical care in Los Angeles, who is vulnerable to deportation and death.
On Tuesday, The Times released the SGV story. SGV suffers from short bowel syndrome. This is a rare condition that prevents the body from absorbing nutrients completely. She and her parents received temporary permission to legally enter the United States through Tijuana in 2023.
In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security’s Department of Christie Noem on Thursday, 38 Congressional Democrats, including California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, urged her to reconsider the end of the family’s legal status.
“The situation in this family clearly meets the humanitarian needs and encourages you and this administration to reconsider that decision,” the lawmaker wrote. “It is our duty to protect those who are sick, vulnerable and vulnerable.”
Last month, the SGV family, now living in Bakersfield, received notification from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services that their status had ended and had to leave the country immediately. Earlier this month, they applied again for humanitarian protection.
Tricia McLaughlin, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that the families are not actively involved in the deportation process and that their applications are still being considered.
The girl’s doctor, Dr. John Arceneau of Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, wrote in a letter demanding her daily nutritional system “can be fatal within a few days.”
The story about SGV attracted Swift Public Autcry. Online fundraisers for the care of the girl had accumulated nearly $26,000 as of Thursday morning.
The letter to Noem was led by his representatives Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles). Rivas said state legislators and constituents sent her a message about her family and asked her what she could do to help.
The family lives outside the Rivas district, which encompasses northern San Fernando Valley, but she said she is in her role as a California Democrat and can speak up for immigrant electors in districts where Republican representatives don’t.
“That’s why we organize as members of Congress,” Rivas said. “Without Chief Noem and the actions from this administration, this girl would die within a few days.”
In a post on X, Rep. Judy Chew (D. Montapark) called the situation “courtly.” Despite her condition, attempting to expel the girl is “cruel and unforgivable,” Chu added.
In another X post, Rep. Greg Cassar (D-Texas) wrote:
The family and their lawyers held a press conference at the Koreatown office of the Pro Bono Company on Wednesday. The lawyer explained that equipment hospitals administered to SGVs for home use is not available outside the US
“If they deport us and my daughter has access to specialized medical care, she’ll die,” Deysi Vargas said.
Family lawyers pointed out that SGV is not just children affected by the Trump administration’s immigration policy in recent months. To speed up arrests and deportation, they said the children were being swept unnecessarily in the process.
Public Advisor’s lawyer Gina Amato Raff said the girl’s case was “a symbol of the recklessness of this administration’s deportation policy.”
“We see patterns of cruelty and violations of our most precious rights and values,” Amato Laf said. “These are people who come to us for protection and instead we send them to die. It’s not justice and it won’t make us safer.”
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