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.
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 child while undocumented. I am that child.
I write about diaspora communities. I’ve covered immigration for years — spoken to distressed migrants calling from the border, spent hours with refugee families as they shared their most horrifying stories.
But this constant assault on children by the U.S. government feels unbearable.
I commend Lidia, who has been around the clock speaking to the kids at Dilley and following up on their cases and as I write this, is on her way to Mexico to find Juan and his mom.
I can only hope the Mexican government steps in, because for a baby that young, even a common cold can be deadly.
It is a sad day to be American.
There are still hundreds of children stuck at Dilley. Donate to their commissaries so they can access basic essentials. It’s the least we can do.
Abandoned in Mexico without medicine, money or necessities -please correct the language.