Maria De Loera, an undocumented immigrant and mom of an eight-year-old cancer patient, will not be deported for now, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) accepted a request for a temporary stay of removal while federal immigration officials reexamine her case.
Maria was facing imminent deportation after ICE denied her previous request for a stay, despite the fact that her eight-year-old daughter, Alia, is hospitalized at El Paso’s Children’s Hospital due to complications from lung cancer. While her fight is not over yet, thanks to help from faith and local community leaders, Maria is with her daughter where she belongs:
On Monday, El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz and other religious leaders intervened on De Loera's behalf, joining [attorney Linda] Rivas in asking that ICE officials halt her deportation during a meeting at the El Paso Processing Center on Montana Avenue.
This is the first time Seitz directly intervenes to keep a person from being deported.
"The church’s responsibility is, I think, to speak the gospel and to speak to the conscience of people in our country to call us to something better, to call us to be a place of compassion, even if we deal with these complex issues of immigration," he said.
“We find this to be good news and we do appreciate the cooperation from ICE at this time given that Maria is at her daughter’s side,” Rivas said. “They have the understanding that this is a very critical and special case given the daughter’s condition.”
”De Loera, who wears an ankle monitor so that immigration officials can access her location at all times, was at El Paso Children's Hospital with her daughter on Monday as Seitz and others intervened on her behalf.”
It’s welcome news, but De Loera is not yet in the clear because she could still be vulnerable to deportation depending on ICE’s decision. Her attorneys have asked immigration officials to let her stay in the United States for at least another year, so that she can continue to be with Alia while she receives treatment for a very aggressive form of lung cancer that has resulted in numerous trips to the Intensive Care Unit:
Alia has undergone eight surgeries, some on her right leg, lungs and mouth, to remove the cancer.
The eight-year-old, who is described by her mother as a fighter, beat cancer briefly.
In February, her cancer went into remission but it returned as other tumors soon formed in her lungs.
"She is very strong," De Loera said about Alia. "She has tremendous strength. She does not give up. She wants to keep living."
As someone with no criminal record, De Loera should in no way be a priority for deportation. The right and just thing to do is for ICE to let this mom stay here where she belongs. “I’ve always taken care of my daughter," she told El Paso Times. "Since she was diagnosed with sarcoma, I’ve been by her side day and night. The doctors and the nurses know I’ve been with her at all times."
“It really moves your heart to see any child suffering from something like this, clearly it would be a cruel thing for our country to deport her mother, who fled from Mexico when her husband was murdered with obviously a credible fear for herself and for her children,” said Bishop Seitz.
“It would be cruel at this moment to leave her daughter in the hospital and to be deported from this country.”