Who Will Trump Remove? Undocumented Immigrant Suffering From Brain Tumor Denied Treatment While Awaiting Deportation Case

UPDATE: 9:49 a.m. EST -- Human rights organization Amnesty International launched a campaign Friday demanding the release of Sara Beltran-Hernandez, a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant suffering a brain tumor who was denied treatment Wednesday night after spending 15 months in a Texas immigrant detention center. The organization asked its 1.2 million members and supporters in the U.S. to call Department of Homeland Security offices and Immigration Customs and Enforcement, requesting her immediate release so she could obtain urgent medical care.

"Sara should never have been detained this long to begin with, let alone locked up while suffering a serious medical emergency," Eric Ferrero, Amnesty International USA spokesperson, said in a statement Friday to International Business Times. "She must get the medical care she needs immediately and be allowed to recover with her family while her asylum claim is reviewed."

Original story:

Sara Beltran-Hernandez, an undocumented immigrant suffering from a potentially deadly brain tumor, remained in an immigrant detention center Thursday after being "forcibly removed" from a Texas hospital, her law offices told International Business Times.

Beltran-Hernandez, a 26-year-old who reportedly fled to the U.S. from domestic violence and other life-threatening issues in El Salvador, was detained in 2015 and has remained in custody at a Texas immigrant detention center ever since. Her family members were fighting for her release for over 13 months before she began experiencing symptoms in February associated with brain tumors, including memory loss and painful headaches.

Doctors working at the Texas Prairieland Detention Center diagnosed Beltran-Hernandez with a brain tumor requiring immediate surgery after she suffered a collapse and was rushed to a nearby hospital last week. The undocumented immigrant was put on a waitlist to receive surgery — but was pulled from the hospital and sent back to detainment without any resolution.

"They had her tied up from hands and ankles, she was brought in a wheelchair and is not being given treatment even though her nose continues to bleed and she has told them her head is exploding," Melissa Zuniga, a paralegal representing Beltran-Hernandez, told NY Daily News Thursday.

Beltran-Hernandez's sudden removal from the Texas hospital came a day after John Kelly, President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of Department of Homeland Security, released new implementation orders for the president’s expansive immigration reforms. Those include increasing detention rates nationwide and deporting any and all undocumented immigrants to Mexico following their deportation cases regardless of nationality.

Meanwhile, Beltran-Hernandez's fate remained in a state of limbo Thursday as family and lawyers worked day and night for any information on her whereabouts and condition.

"We’ve tried calling everyone," Zuniga said. "We’ve called the White House, we tried calling Mayor de Blasio, we tried calling Obama, we’ve tried calling senators… I fear we may be too late."

As of Thursday at 11:30 a.m. EST, Beltran-Hernandez's law offices and family members said they had not received any updates from the Texas Prairieland Detention Center. The detention center declined to comment, citing security concerns.