Like many mothers who immigrate to Pennsylvania, a woman with three children in tow says she fled her life in another country because she feared continued violence from her husband. She and her children traveled for several weeks by bus before being apprehended at a U.S. border and placed in a detention center. The woman says the immigration detention experience almost caused her daughter’s death.
The 5-year-old child began complaining that she did not feel well not long after their arrival at the facility. Her mother initially thought it was due to a few bites of food she had been given. However, the woman says it soon became clear there was a much more serious problem at hand, and she asked officials to help her obtain medical attention for her child.
In fact, the woman claims she repeatedly asked for help but was met with disgruntled responses. She says at one point, officials gave her daughter some type of liquid medicine, but it did not help. Her daughter suffered a high fever along with severe, lower-right abdominal pain and other symptoms. The mother ultimately sneaked away with her child to the medical clinic where the child was then taken to an emergency room with a ruptured appendix.
The child survived thanks to the surgery she underwent at the hospital. A doctor who reviewed the chronology of her file says immigration detention officials appeared to have been quite negligent and placed the child’s life at great risk. An experienced immigration law attorney can provide support to any Pennsylvania parent who has experienced a similar situation.