Up until this month, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) program known as “medical deferred action” allowed immigrant families to remain in the United States for two-year periods if they can prove that a family member needs life-saving treatment for “serious medical conditions.”
Most of the families participating in the medical deferred action program entered the United States through a visa or another legal channel and the program enabled them to stay so the family member could receive medical treatment. Some suffer from epilepsy, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, cancer, cystic fibrosis, and HIV, among other illnesses.
Without formal notice, the Trump administration on August 7, 2019 sent letters to families of sick children containing a dire warning: leave the country in 33 days or face deportation and a years-long ban on returning. The letters simply state that “when you submitted your request [for deferred action] you were present in the United States contrary to law” and have 33 days to leave, or else the federal government will begin removal proceedings. USCIS says “medical deferred action” has been revised and is now limited to the foreign-born relatives of U.S. military service members.
Children who are now receiving medical treatment will be forced to return to countries where the medical treatment they need to survive may not exist.
This abrupt change in policy is a de facto death sentence for those who cannot obtain the same medical treatment in their home country.
Not surprisingly, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts is exploring possible legal action against the federal government over this new policy.
