Border Patrol Arrests Parents While Their Infant Preps for Major Surgery

Two-month-old Isaac Enrique Sanchez was diagnosed with pyloric stenosis, a serious, but curable, condition that causes vomiting, dehydration, and weight loss. Oscar and Irma Sanchez were told that there were no pediatric surgeons capable of performing the surgery nearby, so they’d have to bring their baby to a hospital a few hours away.

Unfortunately, the undocumented parents would need to pass a Border Patrol checkpoint to get there. A Border Patrol agent offered to escort the family through the checkpoint so that Isaac, who is a U.S. citizen, could get to the hospital, but informed the parents that they would be arrested once there and have to go through deportation proceedings.

No parent should have to worry about deportation while trying to save their child’s life. Please sign this petition demanding that the family be allowed to remain in the U.S.

With Trump now in the White House, hospitals are no longer considered sensitive locations, or places off-limits to immigration officers, as they were under President Obama. The Sanchez family’s experience illustrates just why hospitals should remain sensitive locations.

While they waited in fear for their son’s surgery, Oscar and Irma were constantly monitored by Border Patrol agents. The parents then had to ask the hospital to delay the surgery while they were taken into custody to get fingerprinted and booked. Luckily, they were allowed to return to the hospital.

Baby Isaac is doing well now, but Oscar and Irma’s future still hangs in the balance. An immigration judge will decide in December whether the Sanchezes can stay in the U.S.

Though Oscar and Irma are undocumented, having overstayed visas issued over a decade ago, their four children are all U.S. citizens. With no criminal records between them, there is no compelling reason to deport them. They should be allowed to remain with their children.

We need to stand with the Sanchez family. Please sign this petition demanding that the Sanchezes be allowed to stay in the U.S. with their four children who need them.