Reunite the Hernandez Family Now
WASHINGTON, DC — On Wednesday, the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) sounded the alarm on the story of the Hernandez Garcia* family. Parents María and Juan were traveling to an emergency medical appointment with five of their six children—most of whom are U.S. citizens—when they were stopped in South Texas. Though they had previously traveled to medical appointments without issue, this time the family was detained. The parents were given an impossible choice: leave your U.S. citizen children behind and face permanent separation or take them with you, knowing your children’s life-saving medical care will suffer. They chose deportation with their five children. Their sixth child remains alone in the U.S. while the rest of the family is now stranded in Mexico unable to access critical medical care. Kelly Albinak Kribs, Co-Director, Technical Assistance Program for the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, released the following statement:
“Deporting a 10-year-old U.S. citizen child recovering from a brain tumor and their family is not making our country or any child “safer” – it is instilling trauma and life-threatening consequences on entire communities. We are appalled, but sadly not surprised, to hear of the inhumane treatment and conditions the Hernandez Garcia* family endured while detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Detention is no place for children or families.
No family should ever have to make this impossible choice. All children deserve to safely access medical care with their families, without the fear of incarceration or family separation. We call on members of Congress to take immediate action to protect families from separation and to support efforts to reunite the Hernandez family in the United States.”
See below for more background information.
Five of the six children of a Rio Grande Valley family were deported to Mexico along with their parents in early February, despite two of the children having complex medical conditions. The Hernández García* Family, including parents María and Juan and their 6 children (5 of whom are American citizens), built their home in Texas for more than a decade- working, paying taxes, and involving their children in community activities. In 2024, it was discovered that one of their daughters (a U.S. citizen) was diagnosed with a brain tumor, while another of their children is living with a serious heart condition. This required the Hernández García* family to make the risky journey across immigration checkpoints frequently, but in previous trips, the letters from their doctors and lawyers sufficed.
While in detention, the mother of the family, María*, recalls the agents treating her family like dogs, making unnecessarily invasive searches of the children and calling them degrading slurs. Agents even repeatedly attempted to take the children’s medicine from them despite the children explaining its purpose. These agents gave María* and her husband Juan* an impossible choice: to have their children remain in the United States in government custody and never see them again, or to have the children removed from the U.S. alongside their parents.
TCRP respectfully requests that the press refrain from contacting the family directly. If you have any questions, please contact TCRP media representatives.
*- denotes name change for safety purposes
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The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is a non-profit organization that protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children and advocates for an immigration system that treats children as children first.