The parents had done the trip at least five other times in the past, passing through an immigration checkpoint every time without any issues, according to attorney Danny Woodward from the Texas Civil Rights Project, a legal advocacy and litigation organization representing the family. In previous occasions, the parents showed letters from their doctors and lawyers to the officers at the checkpoint to get through.
But in early February, the letters weren’t enough. When they stopped at the checkpoint, they were arrested after the parents were unable to show legal immigration documentation. The mother, who spoke exclusively to NBC News, said she tried explaining her daughter’s circumstances to the officers, but “they weren’t interested in hearing that.”
Other than lacking “valid immigration status in the U.S.,” the parents have “no criminal history,” Woodward said.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which detained and deported the family, according to their lawyer, said in an email Wednesday: “For privacy reasons, we do not comment on individual cases.”
On Thursday, a CBP spokesperson said via email that the reports of the family’s situation are “inaccurate” because “when someone is given expedited removal orders and chooses to disregard them, they will face the consequences” of the process. They reiterated they couldn’t speak about the specifics of the case for privacy reasons.
The 10-year-old girl was diagnosed with brain cancer last year and underwent surgery to remove the tumor. Doctors “practically gave me no hope of life for her, but thank God she’s a miracle,” the mother said.
The swelling on the girl’s brain is still not fully gone, the mother said, causing difficulties with speech and mobility of the right side of her body. Before the family was removed from the U.S., the girl was routinely checking in with doctors monitoring her recovery, attending rehabilitation therapies and taking medication to prevent convulsions.
“It’s a very difficult thing,” the mother said. “I don’t wish anyone to go through this situation.”
“What is happening to this family is an absolute tragedy and it is something that is not isolated to just them,” said Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
“This is part of a pattern in practice that we’ve seen in the Trump administration,” Garza said, adding that she has heard of multiple other cases concerning mixed-status families. But for now, this is the only case of this nature the organization has taken on.
The Trump administration’s border czar, Tom Homan, has said “families can be deported together” regardless of status. Homan said it would be up to the parents to decide whether to depart the U.S. together or leave their children behind.
But undocumented parents of U.S.-born children, if picked up by immigration authorities, face the risk of losing custody of their children. Without a power-of-attorney document or a guardianship outlining who will take care of the children left behind, the children go into the U.S. foster care system, making it harder for the parents to regain custody of their children in the future.
Immigration authorities removed four American children from Texas. The Texas Civil Rights Project blurred the photograph for safety purposes.Texas Civil Rights Project
According to the girl’s mother, she recalled feeling like she could “not do anything,” she said in Spanish. “You’re between a rock and a hard place.”
NBC News is withholding the name of the mother and the rest of the family members, since they were deported to an area in Mexico that is known for kidnapping U.S. citizens.
In addition to the parents and their 10-year-old sick daughter, four of their other children, ages 15, 13, 8, and 6, were also in the car when they were detained. Four of the five children were born in the U.S.
According to the mother, the family was taken to a detention center following the arrest, where the mom and daughters were separated from her husband and sons and she realized she wouldn’t be taking her daughter to her doctors.
“The fear is horrible. I almost can’t explain it, but it’s something frustrating, very tough, something you wouldn’t wish on anyone,” she said, adding that her sick daughter was laying on a cold floor beneath incandescent lights.
Hours later, the family was placed in a van and dropped on the Mexico side of a Texas bridge, the mother said. From there, they sought refuge in a nearby shelter for a week.
The family has since moved into a house, but the mom said that safety concerns keep them up at night and the children haven’t been able to go to school.
The 10-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son, who lives with a heart disorder known as Long QT syndrome, which causes irregular heartbeats and can be life-threatening if not treated well, have not received the health care they need in Mexico, their mother said. The teen wears a monitor that tracks his heart rate.
“The authorities have my children’s lives in their hands,” she said in tears.
Both parents arrived to the U.S. from Mexico in 2013 and settled in Texas hoping for “a better life for the family,” the mother said. She and her husband both worked a string of different jobs to support their six children. The couple also has a 17-year-old son they left behind in Texas following their deportation.
Just two weeks ago, another undocumented mother in California caring for her 21-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen undergoing treatment for bone cancer, was detained by immigration authorities and later released under humanitarian parole.
“We are calling on the government,” Garza said, “to parole the family in, to correct the harm that they’ve made and to not do this to anyone else.”
Aqui decian que unicamente iba a deportar criminales…
Bueno, según las panchitas solo iban a deportar a la gente nalgas prieta jajajaja
Yo pienso que eso lo dijeron por decirtelo a ti…Jajaja
Lo sé y por eso es que no se puede hablar por hablar o escupir para arriba 
Pero ustedes fueron quien decian que unicamente iban a deportar a los criminales,Oye deja de enseñar las nalgas,como saben ellas de las nalgas prietas ?
Nunca dijimos eso, dijimos que los nachas prietas votaron por Trump y si votan, es porque son ciudadanos. No los pueden deportar
En lo personal no pienso que Vikiana no es ciudadana pero si tiene algún estatus de protección como residencia permanente
No se como se puede burlar esa mujer por esta niña pero Dios es grande
De ti no, pero de Lara y Juanita si 
Incluso ellas fueron las de la frase “nalgas prieta “.
Así o más racistas? Y después se quejan
Que barbaridad !!! 
Pero yo si recuerdo que ellas decian que trump unicamente iba a deportar a los criminales,No eso de esa niña esta bien inhumano…tambien es ilegal deportarla porque ella es ciudadana americana.
Pero como la deportaron si ella es ciudadana.
En todo caso deportaron a sus papas.
Bueno aunque no nos guste todo el que entra ilegal a un país tiene que saber que puede ser deportado. Hay que entender eso. Obama no iba a deportar a nadie e incluso iba hacer amnistía y lo que hizo fue deportar 5 Millones. No creo que Trump le llegue a Obama
Racista porque ? tener las nalgas negras no es racismo…
Pero segun lo que tu decias el iba a deportar criminales,no me digas que tu entraste legal a este pais…con ciudadania…
Preguntale a tu idolo porque esta deportando ciudadanos americanos…
Porque no decir, personas de color?
Dile nalgas prieta a un afroamericano y no vivirás para contarlo 
Tambien voy a tener problemas si le digo nalgas blancas a una blanca…
El no le importa ningún hispano, tú crees que le va a importar esa niña?
No le importa más que su ego y su esposa Elon que está dejando a USA en n banca rota como las bancarrotas que ha tenido TRUMP