{"id":787871,"date":"2026-05-11T02:59:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T02:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/787871\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T02:59:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T02:59:16","slug":"18-year-old-chicago-born-son-kevin-gonzalez-battling-stage-4-colon-cancer-dies-after-mexico-reunion-with-parents-detained-by-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/787871\/","title":{"rendered":"18-year-old Chicago-born son Kevin Gonzalez battling stage 4 colon cancer dies after Mexico reunion with parents detained by ICE"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO (WLS) — An 18-year-old Chicago-born man has died battling terminal cancer just a day after reuniting with his parents<\/a>, who were detained by ICE while trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border to say their final goodbyes, the family confirmed to ABC7.<\/p>\n

Kevin Gonzalez passed away Sunday at a family home in Durango, Mexico.<\/p>\n

The video in the player above is from a previous report.<\/p>\n

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n

Gonzalez was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer while in Chicago visiting his brother over the holidays.<\/p>\n

When the terminal diagnosis came, his mother told ABC7 she and her husband applied for emergency visas. They were denied, because both had been previously deported.<\/p>\n

His parents, who live in Mexico, attempted to cross the border illegally to be with their son. They were detained by ICE and held in federal custody in Arizona.<\/p>\n

The family fought to be reunited<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Knowing he might just have days left to live and wanting to hold his mother and father one last time, Gonzalez checked himself out of the University of Chicago Medical Center hospital last week and flew to his grandmother’s home in Mexico. He hoped that his parents would be released from custody and deported in time for him to say goodbye.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a judge in Arizona ordered the release<\/a> of Gonzalez’s parents. On Friday, they returned to Mexico.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez’s brother in Chicago, Jovany Ramirez, told ABC7 his parents were escorted by ICE to the border. That is where consulate officials helped them board a bus, and then an emergency flight was arranged for them to get home as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez and his parents were finally able to see each other again on Saturday in Durango.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Mexican Consulate in Chicago shared the following statement on Wednesday:<\/strong>
“The case has been closely monitored through our Consular Protection Department. However, it should be noted that, due to the location of the facility where our nationals are detained, direct consular assistance falls under the jurisdiction of the Consulate of Mexico in Tucson, which oversees that region. They are already in contact with the attorney representing Kevin’s parents and following up to further assist them in the repatriation process.<\/p>\n

“This Consulate General remains in constant communication and coordination with our colleagues in Tucson to continue providing consular protection to the family.”<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (WLS) — An 18-year-old Chicago-born man has died battling terminal cancer just a day after reuniting with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":787872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[321927,960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-787871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-321927","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}