Oscar and Irma Sanchez are undocumented immigrants, and parents to a two-month-old American citizen. Their son, Isaac Enrique Sanchez, was born with pyloric stenosis, a condition that prevents food from passing through the small intestine. This disease causes vomiting, weight loss, and other side-effects.
The parents took Isaac to a clinic in Harlingen, Texas, where they informed the couple that treatment would not be possible at that location. Surgery was only possible at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi, which is a two-hour drive from Harlingen. For the Sanchez’s, however, this meant risking deportation.
To get from one hospital to the other, the Sanchez’s would have to pass through an immigration checkpoint. They were reluctant at first, but a nurse contacted U.S. Border Patrol to inform them of the situation. The Border Patrol agent told the couple he would get them past the checkpoint quickly but would get arrested afterward.
For the sake of their son’s health, Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez agreed, and they were at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in no time. They were under surveillance the entire time, even when going to the bathroom or while Mrs. Sanchez was breastfeeding. Border Patrol agents say it’s the protocol they must follow with any detainee.
“Everywhere we went in the hospital,” Oscar told NPR, “they followed us.”
Despite these setbacks, the surgery date changed so both parents could be present. Border Patrol had taken each parent individually to be processed and have their fingerprints taken. They were allowed to go back to the hospital for baby Isaac’s surgery.
Since Isaac Sanchez is a U.S. citizen, Medicaid covered the expenses of the surgery, but money is the least of the family’s troubles. They are now fighting to stay in the United States with their four children, all American citizens, with the help of Lisa Koop. Koop is an attorney who works for the National Immigrant Justice Centre.
She said:
“I can’t pretend to understand any reasoning that would have led anyone up the chain of command to think that Irma and Oscar were flight risks or dangers to the community or in any other way people who needed to be followed into a hospital in order to be placed in deportation proceedings.”
Border Patrol, on the other hand, believes they did their job in the most humane way possible, and feel proud they were able to help. In a statement issued by Manny Padilla, chief of the Rio Grande Valley sector of the Border Patrol, they state:
“We’re happy to have been able to help a human life. We have a job to do, but we do that job as humanely as possible.”
The family is currently home in North Brownsville, Texas waiting to see what the future holds. Baby Isaac is better than ever, although Irma says he does throw up a little bit milk every now and again. This story has not yet seen a happy ending, but it has shown the country what lengths Donald Trump’s administration will go to deport undocumented immigrants.