Undocumented Immigrants Arrested While Waiting For Infant's Surgery

Texas parents were arrested by Border Patrol May 24 while they waited for their infant son to have a serious medical operation. Oscar and Irma Sanchez wanted to do whatever it took to ensure the health of their son, which meant being arrested when they arrived at the hospital.

A Border Patrol officer followed the Sanchez's to Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas. The pair alleged a nurse may have reported the undocumented pair, NPR reported Wednesday.

Isaac Enrique Sanchez, the two-month-old child, was diagnosed with a rare condition called pyloric stenosis. The medical condition, which affects nearly 200,000 annually, blocks food from entering the small intestine. It results in vomiting, dehydration and weight loss, leaving babies who suffer from it consistently hungry. The condition is treatable.

There wasn't a hospital in the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas that could effectively treat Isaac's condition, so they were recommended to visit a hospital two hours away. This required them to pass through a Border Patrol checkpoint.

A Border Patrol officer showed up to the first hospital in a Harlingen, Texas, hospital while the parents determined their options, NPR reported. The officer informed the couple they would be arrested upon arrival and immediately placed into deportation proceedings. The Sanchez's were forced to make a difficult decision, but ultimately agreed to the agent's terms so their son would get the medical care he needed.

The trek to Driscoll Children's Hospital lasted about 48 hours. The Sanchez family's ambulance was followed by Border Patrol until they reached the medical facility. The officers never left the Sanchezs' sight. Border Patrol even followed the couple to the bathroom.

Issac survived the medical operation.

A representative from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately return International Business Times' request for comment.

The Sanchez family's incident is a reminder of the changes being enforced by President Donald Trump's administration

Undocumented immigrants were initially protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an immigration policy cultivated through former President Barak Obama's administration in June 2012. Obama confirmed he planned to expand the program to also cover illegal immigrants in November 2014. DACA was halted under Trump's administration September 2017.

The Sanchez's aren't the only ones to see the direct outcomes of the changed policy. A Salvadorian woman in need of asylum for her brain tumor was held in a Texas detention center after spending two weeks in a hospital. A 46-year-old male immigrant was also arrested promptly after dropping his 12-year-old daughter off at school. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claimed that his arrest was routine.

Trump's decision to cut DACA will reportedly affect nearly 800,000 people.

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