Imagine being diagnosed with cancer twice by the age of eight, and then finding out that the one person who has constantly been by your side may be ripped away from you. Alia Escobedo, a little girl from Texas, lost her dad to a murder when she was just five. But her mom, Maria De Loera, has been her constant during every moment of her illnesses. “She’d hold my hand and tell me to not cry,” Alia says about her painful treatments. Sadly, Alia is back at El Paso’s Children Hospital due to a breathing problem, but instead of having her mom with her where she’s supposed to be, Maria is being forced to attend court today to find out if she’s getting deported due to her undocumented status:
“They want me to leave but I keep telling them how,” De Loera said.
De Loera could be deported. She and her lawyer say she does not have a criminal record.
They said she applied for political asylum in 2014, after her husband was killed in Juarez. While that was being processed, Alia got sick. Asylum was eventually denied but the family was granted a stay of deportation twice because of Alia's condition. Until this year when their request for renewal was denied.
“At this time we're really pleading with ICE and we're asking for their benevolence and we're asking for them to exercise what they have in their discretion,” Linda Rivas, executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center.
Alia has been fighting cancer for two years now, with her physician, Dr. Mary Lacaze, saying that “Alia unfortunately has a very rare, very rare variant. It tends to be more refractory to treatment.” In the past, ICE had twice let Maria stay due to her daughter’s illness. Alia is still sick, but Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies have made just about any undocumented immigrant vulnerable to deportation, including Maria De Loera.
Alia shouldn’t have to worry about anything else other than feeling and getting better, but instead she’s being burdened with the fear of her mom and only parent being torn away from her.
“I don't get tired because she's my daughter and I'll always be here for her.” But if she’s deported, De Loera pleas, “who is going to take care of her?”
The answer is simple—it should be her mother taking care of her, along with her medical team. But instead of targeting actual “bad hombres,” Trump’s deportation force is targeting hardworking immigrant parents, like De Loera, who are just trying to do what’s best for their kids and for themselves. This kind of attack on families is nothing but a shameful stain on our nation. Remember the next time Trump, John Kelly, and Jeff Sessions tell you they are targeting only "bad hombres," they are lying to you.