Every two weeks, an 18 -year -old in Texas buys medications to save lives for his 11 -year -old sister and sends him to Mexico.
He has been doing this during the last six months, since the immigration authorities eliminated their five brothers in the United States, four of whom are US citizens, including their 10 -year -old sister, who is recovering from a rare brain tumor. All were sent to Mexico when the authorities deported their parents, who lacked legal status.
Since then, the absence of the family has weighed it a lot as the older brother, who was alone in the United States.
His house once bustling, where outdoor meals were organized and milestones of life between family and friends were held, now he feels empty, he said. Every time he enters the house, a deep sense of loneliness surpasses him.
“There is no one here. It’s just me,” he said, followed by a long pause. “It has been quite difficult.”
The brother, who spoke exclusively to NBC News, is not being appointed for concern for the safety of his family members after they were sent to an area of Mexico known by the kidnappings of US citizens.
He had planned to go to university after finishing high school to follow the career of his dreams. Instead, he said, he is working on two jobs: one during the day in a fast food restaurant and another at night at a service station. The teenager said he works so many hours a week that sometimes he just eats.
The deportation of his family has forced him to become his line of life. When loneliness and long hours of work become overwhelming, he said, the always present memories of his young sister having seizures and being revived innumerable times in the hospital motivate him to move on.
“At any time, that brain tumor can return, as their doctors said. That is why he needs to continue receiving the medicine I buy,” said the 18 -year -old, who is also an American citizen.
His sister cannot access the medicine he needs from Mexico because specialized doctors who monitor their recovery and prescribe their medications are in the United States.
“It’s not cheap. In a moment, it was like $ 300,” he said. “Insurance does not cover it, so I’m paying for everything.”
After a deportation, waiting for probation
On February 3, the family was driving from the Rio Grande Valley area, where they lived, to Houston, where girls’ doctors are found for an emergency medical check -up. Along the way, they stopped at an immigration control point in the United States, one that has passed several times. But this time, immigration authorities arrested parents.
According to his lawyer, Danny Woodward have never done anything to make them a priority for elimination. The whole family was taken to a detention center and sent to Mexico the next day.
The girl’s health condition has not improved since she has been in Mexico, her mother told NBC News in June. The worsening of headaches and dizziness have become so frequent that the girl’s parents turn to monitor and take care of it during the night.
The symptoms are indicative of some of the lasting side effects of brain surgery that saved his life last year. Because swelling in her brain has not yet gone completely, the girl experiences difficulties with speech and mobility on the right side of her body, as well as memory problems. These require that the girl register routinely with doctors who monitor their recovery, obtain magnetic resonance scan every three months, attend rehabilitation therapy sessions and take medications to prevent seizures.
But he has not been able to constantly access this attention since the family was deported, said his mother.
The family requested humanitarian probation with citizenship and immigration services of the United States in June. They haven’t had news yet.
“It’s very, very stressful, just waiting for them to respond,” said the girl’s brother. “I don’t know why he’s taking so long.”
USCIS did not respond to a request for comments, but according to their website, applicants can demonstrate urgency by establishing a reason to be in the USA that demands immediate actions, including critical medical treatment or the need to visit, help or support a relative who is sick.
A spokesman for the National Security Department, who supervises USCIS, told NBC News that reports on the family situation are “inaccurate” and refused to talk about the details of the case, citing privacy reasons. The spokesman said in a statement that when “someone receives accelerated elimination orders and chooses to ignore them, he will face the consequences.”
A Church community asks for ‘compassion’, and gives it a hand
Marco Polo Coronado Jr., the church’s main pastor, the children’s family began attending last year after his sister’s diagnosis, said that allowing the family to return so that his 11 -year -old son can receive the treatment he needs with the support of his whole family “seems obvious” for him.
“I don’t think it’s about what political spectrum you come. I think compassion is something that is born from us, that God puts there,” said Coronado. “When you find Jesus, when you have a relationship with Christ, it’s hard to avoid.”
“It is a wonderful family, and I think they do everything possible to try to get to the end of the month and do all the right things for them and mention them in the right way,” said Coronado, and added that their “notable children” stand out in music and arts.
Keeping that living hope, the church volunteers appeared last month to help the child fix the house, so it is in good shape when the family returns.
After a few days of work, everything “went better than I expected,” said the teenager.
With his missing family, the 18 -year -old suddenly had to pay and a house to keep up. While struggling to finish his last last year, he said he considered leaving full -time work. But then he thought of his mother and the sacrifices he has done, and that kept him at school.
He spent his 18th and secondary birthday graduation without his family. He had thought that this would be the time when he would apply to universities, the first step to become a neurosurgeon, the same type of doctor who saved his sister’s life last year when she had her first brain surgery.
He remembered the moment he decided to follow that race. It was the first time he met the neurosurgeon who operated with his sister. When the doctor came out of surgery, “his eyes became happy,” recalled the teenager. “I thought, ‘that’s what I want to do’.” He puts it on hold, indefinitely.
