Maria Isabel Bueso’s invitation to participate in a clinical trial when she was just seven years old has helped saved lives, including her own: The medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a result of that clinical trial has helped increased survival for others with her rare genetic disease by more than a decade. Nearly two decades after that trial, the U.S. is now telling her that she must leave the country within 33 days.
She’s among the patients who have been told by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that their medical deferred action, which gave them renewable relief from deportation while they received medical treatment for oftentimes life-threatening conditions, is ending. Cancer, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis—it doesn’t matter. The administration is now telling them to get the hell out.
Bueso’s mom, attorney, and doctor all agree that the Trump administration’s decision is a “death sentence” for her and others. “Neither the drug nor the medical care that she requires is available in Guatemala,” The New York Times reports. “Without the drug, her health is expected to quickly deteriorate. Her breathing could become belabored; she could suffer cardiac arrest and become susceptible to infections.”
In another instance, 16-year-old Jonathan has been successfully undergoing treatment for cystic fibrosis for three years now. “Jonathan missed two years of school in Honduras because of his illness,” MassLive reported, but “in Boston, he has resumed school and gotten help from a tutor when he’s too sick to go to class.” Jonathan already lost his older sister, Samantha, to the same disease. Now this family fears he could be next. This is absolutely a death sentence.
In typical Trump fashion, this decision was made chaotically and has resulted in more chaos. USCIS said it would now consider only medical deferred action for military members and throw all other requests to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “but an ICE official said that the department had not been notified in advance about the change and questioned the agency’s ability to assume that role,” according to the Times.
There are many unjust things about our broken immigration system, but allowing people to stay here while receiving lifesaving treatment is not one of them. USCIS, now under the control of a man who once compared immigrants to rats, made this decision even though Bueso’s “parents have paid for the treatment that keeps her alive with private medical insurance.” Her attorney, Martin Lawler, said he’s been told “there is no appeal, and nobody has told us how to proceed.”
“What’s so troubling about this, beyond the cruelty of it, is the lack of transparency around the process,” said Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who is set to call for a congressional hearing into USCIS’ decision. “There was no public comment period, not even a public announcement of this, and so I’m working with my colleagues to get answers and to urge this administration to change course.”
We need answers, but Maria Isabel, Jonathan, and others like them need relief right now, because they literally have no time to waste. "We have to come to this. The Trump administration is now handing out death sentences in the form of deportation orders to sick migrants,” said Douglas Rivlin of immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice. “It makes no sense. There is no logic. Only bloodthirsty cruelty drives the American President."
