4-Year-Old Facing Deportation Could Die Without U.S. Medical Care

BAKERSFIELD, CA — A 4-year-old girl in Southern California with a rare medical condition is facing the possibility of deportation, but could die within days if her family returns to Mexico and she loses access to care in the U.S., according to reports.

Deysi Vargas wrote in a GoFundMe that her daughter was born premature and has short bowel syndrome, which means she cannot take in nutrition on her own and receives intravenous nutrition 14 hours per day.

“After several surgeries near our home, the doctors said she would die,” Vargas wrote. “Fortunately, I was able to get specialized help from Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and now, thanks to their amazing care, Sofia is four years old.”

However, Sofia requires hospital visits every six weeks, the GoFundMe said, noting the name “Sofia” is a pseudonym.

“Without the treatment provided by Children's Hospital, Sofia will die,” her mother wrote.

The child spent most of her early life connected to feeding tubes 24 hours per day at a hospital in Mexico, the Los Angeles Times reported, but in 2023, her family received temporary humanitarian permission to come to the U.S. legally.

They settled in Bakersfield, and, by mid-2024, the young girl was discharged from the hospital and experienced the outside world for the first time, according to the Times.

Then, in April, the family learned their legal status was terminated, the newspaper reported, adding Vargas’ employment authorization was revoked in May.

The girl’s doctor, Dr. John Arsenault, wrote in a letter that patients who receive her treatment cannot leave the country because the infrastructure supporting the treatment “depends on our program’s utilization of U.S.-based healthcare resources and does not transfer across borders,” according to the Times.

“This is a textbook example of medical need,” Rebecca Brown, a pro-bono attorney representing the family, told the Times. “This child will die and there’s no sense for that to happen. It would just be a cruel sacrifice.”

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services declined a request for comment from the Times.

“I know the treatment they have there for her is not adequate, because we already lived it,” Vargas told the newspaper. “Those were bad times. Here she is living the most normal life possible.”