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Alabama: Father of 4-year-old leukemia-stricken girl faces deportation by ICE, ‘He is devoted to her’
A man whose four-year-old daughter is fighting leukemia and undergoing chemotherapy treatment was detained by immigration officials in Birmingham, Alabama.
A man whose four-year-old daughter is fighting leukemia was detained by immigration officials in Birmingham, Alabama last week. Family members and his attorney are worried he may never see his daughter again, according to AL.com report.
Attorney Kimberly Fasking, who is representing the couple said, “It was hard witnessing their last goodbye perhaps for their lives."
As per reports, the couple came to the United States from Guatemala six years ago and their daughter is a US citizen, Fasking said.
The man and his wife went to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Birmingham on July 16 for a routine check-in. The duo lived in the Birmingham area.
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Does the man have a criminal history?
The man has no criminal record, according to his attorney. He is one of many people being detained during what used to be routine meetings. He is now temporarily held in an Alabama facility while waiting to be transferred to a facility in Louisiana. He will likely be deported back to Guatemala. The name of the man and family has not been revealed for the safety reasons.
Fasking said, “This separation has had an immensely negative impact on them, and it will continue to do so.”
Fasking added, “This is a 4-year-old who is going through treatment right now for her leukemia and has been separated from a father to whom she is desperately attached. He is devoted to her.”
In a Facebook post, Fasking described asking an ICE officer if the man could “at least say goodbye to his sick child.” “The officer said no, because he did not want to traumatize her with the sight of her father in handcuffs,” Fasking wrote.
He added, “I made a final plea, more as a mother than a lawyer, explaining that this child whose body was still weak with chemo might never see her father again—that this father might never see his baby girl again. Something inside him shifted, and he allowed me to go get the child.”
She said she went to the car, “gently cradled her weak body in my arms and carried her back into the office, trying to shield her delicate eyes and shaved head from that blazing sun. I handed her to her father and stepped outside the office and cried. I gathered myself and returned a few minutes later.”
The man told his other children, ages 13 and 10, “don’t be sad” when he said goodbye to them, she said.
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Daughter receiving chemotherapy treatments
The girl’s mother told that her daughter was diagnosed with leukemia in December. “She’s receiving chemo treatment two times per week,” the mother said. “Sometimes those chemotherapy treatments have her feeling sick and she has complications, and she gets fever from the chemotherapy sometimes.”
Fasking said the girl’s father has worked in construction since they came to the US. He has worked for the same company for the last four years, “so he had a steady job.”
