SAN ANTONIO – A child suffering from leukemia is in ICE custody. He and his family are being held at a detention center about 90 minutes Southwest of San Antonio.
An attorney on the case tell us her team is fighting for this family’s constitutional rights and their health. They were transferred from California to the Dilley detention center.
That facility has already seen one death. They’re trying to keep their client from becoming another.
A new federal lawsuit against ICE and DHS, specifically calling out the San Antonio ICE office — from attorneys with the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), RAICES and the Columbia Law School ‘Immigrants Right Clinic’ claim a woman and her two children had their constitutional rights violated.
They were arrested outside of immigration court despite having an active asylum case.
“Unfortunately, is not a unique situation,” said TCRP Attorney Kate Gibson Kumar. “This is happening all all across the country right now. A lot of times we hear the rhetoric that immigrants need to ‘do it the right way’, this is the family who did exactly that.”
The mother who the suit refers to as ‘Ms. Z’ was at court with her two children in California when their case was suddenly dismissed. The three were arrested by ICE shortly after.
“They were seeking safety, and they were admitted into the United States, paroled in — to to be able to remain in the country during the duration of their case, and the government made a determination that they didn’t have to be detained.”
They’re currently being held at a detention center in Dilley.
“The family is really struggling,” Kumar said. “Both children have been crying daily and praying, praying to God for their release.. that they can be let out soon. They’ve both lost their appetite. They’re not eating well.”
We’ve also learned the youngest of the two children, a 6-year-old boy, is diagnosed with leukemia; and he’s already missed treatments.
“This is all in a detention facility that has a long history of providing subpar medical treatment or not providing medical treatment at all in some instances,” Kumar said, referring to the 2018 death of a toddler in the same facility.
A spokesperson for immigration advocacy group RAICES, a co-counsel on the case, also commented on the detention center’s condition. They said “families report that the medical care at Dilley is inadequate, disorganized, and indifferent to the urgency of pediatric health needs.”
Kumar tells said their legal team is already seeing forward progress in the case.
On Thursday, a judge ordered responding groups to give an answer by July 1.
We reached out to ICE and DHS officials for comment on the case, their spokesperson said they’re got our request, but couldn’t meet our deadline.
We’ll let you know what they say when we hear back.
FULL RAICES STATEMENT:
“What we have witnessed with the resurgence of family detention under the Trump administration is a humanitarian crisis unfolding in real time — one defined by state-sanctioned harm, the denial of due process, and systemic disregard for the wellbeing of immigrant children and their families. Conditions at the South Texas Family Residential Center (“Dilley”), under the management of private prison contractor CoreCivic, are broadly punitive. Most egregiously, families report that the medical care at Dilley is inadequate, disorganized, and indifferent to the urgency of pediatric health needs, which is crystallized in our case on behalf of a Honduran mother and her two children, including one who is six years old and has a history of leukemia. This family came to the U.S. lawfully, attended their immigration court hearing in compliance with their legal obligations, and yet now suffer life-threatening imprisonment to meet this administration’s arbitrary quotas designed to stoke baseless fear amongst the American public.”