The Undocumented Mother Of A Young Cancer Patient Is Fighting To Stay With Her Child

The mother of an 8-year-old child who has had cancer twice has been fighting to stay in the United states with her daughter. A local Texas CBS affiliate reported Monday that Maria De Loera, the undocumented mother of Alia Escobedo, who has had both bone and lung cancer and is currently in the hospital for breathing issues, has been facing imminent deportation since Immigration and Customs Enforcement initially denied De Loera's request for a stay due to her child's health condition. ICE approved the request for a stay Monday, but her fight isn't over yet.

“We find this to be good news and we do appreciate the cooperation from ICE at this time given that Maria is at her daughter’s side. They have the understanding that this is a very critical and special case given the daughter’s condition," Linda Rivas, De Loera's attorney and executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, told the CBS affiliate. ICE has not responded to the news organization's request for comment. Bustle has also reached out to ICE for comment.

In 2014, after her husband was killed in Juarez, De Loera applied for asylum, which she was ultimately denied. However, due to her daughter's rare and painful cancers, De Loera's deportation was stayed twice prior to her most recent stay. “How are they going to manage with her? Who is going to take care of her?” De Loera asked, wondering what would happen if she were to be deported from the U.S., since De Loera is often by her daughter's side, taking care of her.

The Trump administration's immigration-related policies and proposals have been highly controversial, especially in some immigrant communities. Many have held protests to rally against Trump's assertion that many undocumented people, whom the president calls "illegal immigrants," are criminals. Trump told Fox News in April:

We’ve gotten tremendous criminals out of this country. I’m talking about illegal immigrants that were here that caused tremendous crime. That have murdered people, raped people — horrible things have happened. They’re getting the hell out or they’re going to prison.

Lawmakers and elected officials have also shown a strong distaste for Trump's policies. On Monday, Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel sued the Department of Justice for the DOJ's attempted crackdown on what Trump likes to call "sanctuary cities," locales with policies that aren't strict enough on undocumented immigrants, according to the Trump administration.

Another flashpoint in the president's stance on immigration is the wall he has proposed building along the Mexican-American border, which the president says Mexico will pay for. Trump even went so far as to, according to a confidential phone call transcript made public last week, urge the Mexican president to stop voicing his opposition to the project. "If you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that," Trump reportedly told the Mexican president in January.

As for what will happen to De Loera and Escobedo, the mother-daughter pair's fate remains somewhat unclear. At a hearing on Monday to determine if De Loera should be deported, De Loera's plea for another stay was ultimately granted — but only for now.

Despite the hardships De Loera has gone through, she is committed to caring for her child. “I don't get tired because she's my daughter, and I'll always be here for her,” De Loera said to the Texas CBS affiliate.