4-Year-Old Facing Deportation Despite Life-Saving Treatment in the U.S.

4-Year-Old Girl Under Threat of Deportation from the US, Where She Receives Lifesaving Treatment for Her Rare Condition

After overcoming severe health issues at a young age, Sofia—a pseudonym used to preserve her privacy—now faces the possibility of having it taken away.

Sofia Vargas, Deysi Vargas’s and her husband’s daughter, is four years old and facing the unthinkable: deportation from the United States, where she is receiving life-saving specialized therapy.

Sofia, who was born prematurely in Mexico, has struggled with small bowel syndrome, a rare and sometimes fatal illness that hinders her body’s ability to absorb nutrition.

She has relied on a complicated system of gastric and intravenous nutrition for the majority of her life, and access to specialized medical care is essential to her survival.

Her condition necessitates a high degree of infrastructure and precision, which can only be provided by U.S.-based programs.

Dr. John Arsenault of the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles warned that any disruption to her daily nutrition system, known as Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), might be lethal in a matter of days.

“As such, patients on home TPN are not allowed to leave the country because the infrastructure to provide TPN or provide immediate intervention if there is a problem with IV access depends on our program’s utilization of U.S.-based healthcare resources and does not transfer across borders,” Arsenault, who sees Sofia on a six-week

Immigration policy is now at odds with that reality. The girl’s family was notified last month that their legal status had been revoked after they were given temporary humanitarian entrance into the United States through Tijuana in July 2023.

In order to prevent deportation, which could put the child’s life in urgent jeopardy, the letter suggested that they depart the country voluntarily.

The repercussions of such an order are severe, according to Rebecca Brown, the girl’s lawyer from the pro bono firm Public Counsel. “This is a classic case of medical need.

This youngster will pass away, and that is not a good thing. Simply put, it would be a harsh sacrifice,” she said.

After her parents, Vargas, 28, from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and her husband, 34, from Colombia, relocated to Playa del Carmen for employment, Sofia was born there.

Before relocating to Playa del Carmen so that Sofia’s dad could work as an Uber driver, the couple met while they were both employed in Cancun.

Sofia was admitted to intensive care in Playa del Carmen right away after her premature birth. After diagnosing her illness, medical professionals removed an intestinal blockage through six surgeries.

Vargas said that the girl had small bowel syndrome as a result of having too much of her intestine removed. She had several bloodstream infections, including one that almost killed her.

Her weight fluctuated a much. She seemed to be significantly underweight during some months, with slender limbs and a bloated stomach that seemed to conflict with her family’s access to necessities. At other times, her cheeks were plump, like any baby in good health.

A doctor recommended that the family relocate to Mexico City when she was 7 months old because it provided the most cutting-edge pediatric care in the nation for her problem.

Although there were early indications of improvement in her health, the infections continued to return.

Vargas was unable to work, so she and her daughter spent every day in the hospital. Medication errors, nurses ignoring her daughter’s needs, and discovering her in dirty clothes because no one had washed her overnight were among the many problems she remembered.

Vargas claimed that despite her attention to detail, a nurse once unintentionally sped up the feeding device, which caused the girl to quickly urinate the fluids out.

Her blood sugar soared and she became dehydrated, necessitating another stay in critical care until her condition stabilized.

Vargas had read of youngsters in other areas of the world who had been diagnosed with similar conditions and went on to lead healthy lives.

However, by the time her kid turned two in Mexico, her condition had not changed. Vargas signed up for a CBP One app after learning about it, which enabled migrants to schedule meetings with US border agents.

Those that were accepted were given work authorization and a two-year reprieve from deportation. The family traveled to Tijuana prior to their July 31, 2023, appointment.

With her baby still hooked up to IV nourishment bags, Vargas cautiously took her out of the hospital.

Her husband revealed at the border that he had once been abducted and extorted by cartel members. The child’s delicate state was also noted by border officials.

The family was sent to Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego later that day. The girl’s condition rapidly improved there.

As her digestive system improved, doctors progressively decreased her reliance on 24-hour intravenous feeding, which she had previously relied on. She was referred to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which has one of the top pediatric gastroenterology departments in the nation, a year later.

After taking up part-time careers, both parents moved to Bakersfield in September 2024. At last, their daughter was released. Her parents were pleased that she was able to experience life outside of the hospital for the first time.

She watched in awe as her mother wheeled the trolley through the aisles of a Walmart. She still needs 14 hours of IV feedings every night, and when she is outside, she has a backpack to sustain the system.

Nevertheless, Vargas uses a gastric tube to provide a different kind of nutrients to her daughter’s stomach four times a day for around an hour at a time.

The school nurse takes care of the girl’s noon feeding at preschool, and she carries a bigger backpack that is filled with a milky liquid.

Vargas disconnects her daughter’s IV lines, rinses them with saline, and covers her chest with a plastic sheet before bath time to keep water from getting to the area and infecting her.

Vargas clothed her in black Puma sneakers, a Hello Kitty T-shirt, and pink leggings one morning.

The moment gave Vargas a sense of normalcy and hope as they went hand in hand to preschool, her large backpack hanging behind her legs and her moist curls bouncing.

Although Medi-Cal pays for her medical bills, everyday living in the United States is still expensive. Only the necessities are kept in their little living area: an IV stand, a single chair, a mini-fridge filled with nutrition packs, and a hot pan on a folding table.

Vargas frequently makes simple meals like soups or sandwiches because he doesn’t have a fully equipped kitchen.

Things felt more steady for a while once she started working regularly as a restaurant cleaner. However, she was notified by immigration authorities through a series of emails in April.

She discovered that her work permission had been canceled this month.

Vargas stated that despite paying for rent, utilities, diapers, and other necessities, they may only eat once a day because her husband is injured and unable to work. She worries that they might become homeless if she loses her work.

It is terrifying to think about going back to Mexico, where her daughter’s illness was previously untreated. Vargas thinks there is still not enough treatment accessible there.

If not for the severity of her daughter’s sickness, she said, they would have stayed in Mexico.

They intend to remain for as long as treatment is required, though it’s unclear how long that would be. They’re still optimistic that she won’t require extra feedings in the future.

Citing the girl’s continued medical needs, Brown filed a plea to restore their temporary humanitarian protection. She thinks the family’s legal status was mistakenly revoked.

“Helping the most vulnerable who require attention here is the intended goal. “We can prevent the child and the family from suffering harm,” she said.

“They were not given any reason as to why,” added Gina Amato, one of several lawyers who worked for the family unpaid. They have not been accused of breaking any rules or anything similar. Their parole was set to expire at the end of July.

Amato underlined that experts had stated that the kid would die within days if therapy was not continued, and that this was crucial to her survival. The family must therefore remain in the United States.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to restrict the use of humanitarian parole on his first day in office.

He instructed that it be strictly used case-by-case and only in circumstances when there is an obvious public benefit or an urgent humanitarian need.

Many immigrants without criminal backgrounds, including Vargas, who entered through CBP One, have since been issued notices to leave voluntarily or risk prosecution, despite campaign promises that enforcement would target individuals with criminal records.

“These are being sent out indiscriminately across the country, but to see it sent to a family whose 4-year-old child depends on this lifesaving treatment is really shocking,” Amato said.

CBP Home, the software Vargas initially used to obtain entrance, now helps users with the self-deportation procedure. The notice states that if they don’t comply, the federal government may find them.

Vargas has already started a GoFundMe page, stating that Sofia’s continued care at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is in jeopardy due to the sudden change in their circumstances.

Any assistance, she said, would enable them to maintain their attention on Sofia’s care at a trying and unpredictable period. The campaign had raised $25,595 of its $30,000 target by the time of publication.

In the meantime, the family’s attorneys are trying to get the government to change its mind, reinstate their humanitarian parole, and prolong it past its initial expiration date of July 2025.

In addition to looking into their legal alternatives through the courts, they are trying to attract the notice of immigration authorities.