A young girl with a rare disease, who legally came to the United States with her family from Mexico for life-saving treatment, was threatened with deportation, putting her medical care at risk of being disrupted and potentially fatal.
According to her lawyers, on June 2, she was granted permission to stay in the country for another year.
Attorneys from Public Counsel, a nonprofit law firm, confirmed that a girl known as Sofia legally entered the United States with her family in 2023 after being granted “humanitarian parole” to receive specialized care for her rare disease.
“Sofia’s case was a matter of life or death,” her attorneys, Gina Amato Lough, Director of Public Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, and Rebecca Brown, Staff Attorney with Public Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, told PEOPLE via email.
“While deportation can be a death sentence for many immigrants, Sofia’s doctors warned that even a brief interruption in care could be fatal. What made her case particularly cruel was the betrayal of our government’s promise: Sofia was legally admitted to this country for life-saving treatment, only to have that welcome mat abruptly yanked away. No government should break its promise and send a child to her death.
Sofia suffers from short bowel syndrome, which occurs when a portion of the small intestine is missing or malfunctioning, according to the Cleveland Clinic. “This can be life-threatening if left untreated.”
Her attorneys told PEOPLE that she requires extensive care: “She cannot absorb nutrition on her own. She is on Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), which delivers nutrients intravenously 14 hours a day… she is also fed four times a day via a g-tube. Sofia also visits Children’s Hospital Los Angeles every six weeks to have her medical condition monitored by the specialized staff there. TPN carries the risk of infection, so she should see her doctor on a regular basis.”
Amato stated in a press conference that “Sofia’s doctors have been clear that she will die within days” if she discontinues treatment.
Public Counsel’s attorneys told PEOPLE that “once her humanitarian parole was revoked, she was no longer in the country legally and was in grave danger of deportation. The government also demanded that she and her parents leave the United States immediately, threatening to find them if they did not. There was no explanation given for why the family received letters terminating their humanitarian parole… It appeared to be part of a broader policy shift, rather than being based on Sofia’s specific circumstances or medical urgency.
Public Counsel stated that following public support for Sofia’s family, they were contacted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) about the family’s status, and they have now been “granted Humanitarian Parole for a period of one year.” “The parole will expire on June 1, 2026.”
Her attorneys told PEOPLE, “Depending on Sofia’s medical progress, we may seek to extend that status.”
Right now, “Sofia is thriving,” Public Counsel stated. “As any four-year-old should be, Sofia is laughing, playing with friends, and dancing.”
According to their statement, “Sofia’s story is one of many, but life-or-death decisions like hers are not always visible.” Many families seeking refuge in the United States are fleeing threats that cannot be seen, and while their wounds may be invisible, the danger they face is just as real.
The case comes amid a national outcry against the Trump administration’s ICE raids, which the administration claims are removing violent offenders who are in the country illegally. However, according to a recent report, only 10% of those arrested have a violent conviction.
Amato and Brown told PEOPLE that Sofia’s success was due to the overwhelming support of elected officials and the public. Sofia is one of many children who are subjected to arbitrary and cruel immigration policies. We hope and fight for a more humane and just immigration system in which no child or person with urgent humanitarian needs faces harm as a result of deportation.
