A Two-Month-Old With Bronchitis Was Deported by the U.S. Government

As a baby fought for breath, ICE sent him back to detention—and then out of the country.

courtesy of American Immigration Council

I’m sitting in a new café that just opened in my neighborhood — Pyo Chai — started by two brothers, the sons of Nepali and Pakistani immigrants. Young South Asians are hanging out, working on their laptops. Bollywood music blares through the speakers.

It’s the kind of utopia I imagined growing up — and now it’s here, at home.

But I’m too busy on my phone, scrolling journalist Lidia Térraza’s page, looking for updates about two-month-old baby Juan Nicolas. He’s been sick for weeks and developed bronchitis. He was taken to the hospital, but ICE wouldn’t let him stay. He was sent back to the Dilley detention center.

He and his mother have since been deported to Mexico.

A few months ago, my two-year-old almost stopped breathing after developing asthma from a bad cold. We were in the hospital for three nights. Unironically, it was the night Zohran Mamdani was elected.

My daughter is the grandchild of people who also crossed the border and dared to have a …